For other uses, see Pleasure (disambiguation).
"Pleasant" redirects here. For other uses, see Pleasant (disambiguation).
Comic mask on the façade of the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm
Weekend pleasure in France
Gentlemen's Pleasures by Adolphe-Alexandre Lesrel, 1885
Pleasure describes the broad class of mental states that humans and other animals experience as positive, enjoyable, or worth seeking. It includes more specific mental states such as happiness, entertainment, enjoyment, ecstasy, and euphoria. The early psychological account of pleasure, the pleasure principle, describes it as a positive feedback mechanism, motivating the organism to recreate in the future the situation which it has just found pleasurable and to avoid situations that have caused pain in the past.[1]
The experience of pleasure is subjective and different individuals will experience different kinds and amounts of pleasure in the same situation. Many pleasurable experiences are associated with satisfying basic biological drives, such as eating, exercise, hygiene, sex or defecation. Other pleasurable experiences are associated with social experiences and social drives, such as the experiences of accomplishment, recognition, and service. The appreciation of cultural artifacts and activities such as art, music, dancing, and literature is often pleasurable.
In recent years, significant progress has been made in understanding the brain mechanisms underlying pleasure.[2] One of the key discoveries was made by Kent C. Berridge who has shown that pleasure is not a unitary experience. Rather, pleasure consists of multiple brain processes including liking, wanting and learning subserved by distinct yet partially overlapping brain networks.[3] In particular, this research has been helped by the use of objective pleasure-elicited reactions in humans and other animals such as the behavioral ‘liking’/‘disliking’ facial expressions to tastes that are homologous between humans and many other mammals.[4]
Recreational drug use can be pleasurable: some drugs, illicit and otherwise, directly create euphoria in the human brain when ingested. The mind's natural tendency to seek out more of this feeling (as described by the pleasure principle) can lead to dependence and addiction. Berridge and Robinson have proposed that addiction results from drugs hijacking the ‘wanting’ system through a sensitization of the mesolimbic dopamine system.[5]
Contents
- 1 Neurobiology
- 2 Psychology
- 3 Philosophical views
- 3.1 Philosophies of pleasure
- 4 As a uniquely human experience
- 5 See also
- 6 References
- 7 Further reading
Neurobiology
The pleasure center is the set of brain structures, predominantly the nucleus accumbens, theorized to produce great pleasure when stimulated electrically. Some references state that the septum pellucidium is generally considered to be the pleasure center,[6] while others mention the hypothalamus when referring to the pleasure center for intracranial stimulation.[7] Certain chemicals are known to stimulate the pleasure centers of the brain.[citation needed] It has been suggested that physical exertion can release endorphins in what is called the runner's high, and equally it has been found that chocolate and certain spices, such as from the family of the chilli, can release or cause to be released similar psychoactive chemicals to those released during sexual acts.[citation needed]
Psychology
The degree to which something or someone is experienced as pleasurable not only depends on its objective attributes (appearance, sound, taste, texture, etc.), but on beliefs about its history, about the circumstances of its creation, about its rarity, fame, or price, and on other non-intrinsic attributes, such as the social status or identity it conveys. For example, a sweater that has been worn by a celebrity will be more desired than an otherwise identical sweater that has not, though considerably less so if it has been washed.[8] Another example was when Grammy-winning, internationally-acclaimed violinist Joshua Bell played in the Washington D.C. subway for 43 minutes, attracting little attention from the 1,097 people who passed by, and earning about $59 in tips.[8][9][10] Paul Bloom describes these phenomena as arising from a form of essentialism.
Some people find things pleasurable which have adverse objective attributes, such as horror films and spicy food.
Philosophical views
| Part of a series on |
| Hedonism |
Thinkers
Ajita Kesakambali · Jeremy Bentham · Julien Offray de La Mettrie · Aristippus · Epicurus · Fred Feldman · Theodorus the Atheist · Michel Onfray · Aristippus the Younger · Hermarchus · Lucretius · Pierre Gassendi · Metrodorus of Lampsacus · David Pearce · Zeno of Sidon · Yang Zhu · Torbjörn Tännsjö · Esperanza Guisán
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Schools of hedonism
Cārvāka · Cyrenaics · Epicureanism
Christian hedonism · Utilitarianism · Abolitionism · Yangism
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Key concepts
Aponia · Ataraxia · Eudaimonia · Happiness · Hedone · Pain · Pleasure · Sensation · Suffering · Tetrapharmakos
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Related articles
Paradox of hedonism · Hedonic treadmill
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Epicurus and his followers defined the highest pleasure as the absence of suffering[11] and pleasure itself as "freedom from pain in the body and freedom from turmoil in the soul".[12] According to Cicero (or rather his character Torquatus) Epicurus also believed that pleasure was the chief good and pain the chief evil.[13]
In the 12th century Razi's "Treatise of the Self and the Spirit" (Kitab al Nafs Wa’l Ruh) analyzed different types of pleasure, sensuous and intellectual, and explained their relations with one another. He concludes that human needs and desires are endless, and "their satisfaction is by definition impossible."[14]
The 19th-century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer understood pleasure as a negative sensation, one that negates the usual existential condition of suffering.[15]
Philosophies of pleasure
Utilitarianism and Hedonism are philosophies that advocate increasing to the maximum the amount of pleasure and minimizing the amount of suffering.
As a uniquely human experience
See also: Reward system § Animals vs humans and Animal sexual behaviour § Sex for pleasure
There has been debate as to whether pleasure is experienced by other animals rather than being an exclusive property of humankind. Jeremy Bentham (usually regarded as the founder of Utilitarianism)[16] and Beth Dixon[17] both argue that animals do experience pleasure — the latter, however, in a carefully worded manner. People who believe in human exceptionalism might argue that it is a form of anthropomorphism to ascribe any human experience to animals, including pleasure. Others view animal behaviour simply as responses to stimuli; this is the way behaviourists look at the evidence, Pavlov's dogs (or rather his explanation of their behaviour) being the best-known example. However, it may be argued that we simply cannot know whether animals experience pleasure, and most scientists, indeed, prefer to remain neutral while using anthropomorphisms when needed.[18] It appears, though, that those who recognise emotions in other animals are in the ascent: many ethologists, for example Marc Bekoff, are prepared to draw the conclusion that animals do experience emotions, though these are not necessarily the same as human emotions.[19]
See also
| Part of a series on |
| Utilitarianism |
Predecessors
- Epicurus
- David Hume
- Claude Adrien Helvétius
- William Godwin
- Francis Hutcheson
- William Paley
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Key people
- Jeremy Bentham
- John Stuart Mill
- Henry Sidgwick
- Richard Mervyn Hare
- Peter Singer
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Types of utilitarianism
- Preference
- Rule
- Act
- Two-level
- Total
- Average
- Negative
- Hedonism
- Enlightened self-interest
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Key concepts
- Pain
- Suffering
- Pleasure
- Utility
- Happiness
- Eudaimonia
- Consequentialism
- Felicific calculus
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Problems
- Mere addition paradox
- Paradox of hedonism
- Utility monster
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Related topics
- Rational choice theory
- Game theory
- Social choice
- Neoclassical economics
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| Politics portal |
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Wikiquote has quotations related to: Pleasure |
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Look up pleasure in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
- False pleasure
- Flow (psychology)
- Gratification
- Leisure
- Orgasm
- Pain and pleasure
- Sadomasochism
References
- ^ Freud, Siegmund (1950). Beyond the pleasure principle. New York: Liveright.
- ^ Kringelbach, M.L; K.C. Berridge (2010). Pleasures of the brain. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-533102-8.
- ^ Berridge, K.C., Kringelbach, M.L. (2008) Affective neuroscience of pleasure: Reward in humans and other animals. Psychopharmacology 199, 457–80.
- ^ "Kent Berridge Biopsychology Lab: Action Syntax & Neuroethology Research". umich.edu.
- ^ Robinson, T.E., Berridge, K.C. 1993 The neural basis of drug craving: an incentive-sensitization theory of addiction. Brain Res Brain Res Rev. 18(3):247-91.
- ^ Walsh, Anthony (1991). The Science of Love – Understanding Love and its Effects on Mind and Body. Prometheus Books. ISBN 0-87975-648-9.
- ^ Kandel ER, Schwartz JH, Jessell TM. Principles of Neural Science, 4th ed. McGraw-Hill, New York (2000). ISBN 0-8385-7701-6
- ^ a b Paul Bloom. How Pleasure Works: The New Science of Why We Like What We Like (2010) 280 pages. Draws on neuroscience, philosophy, child-development research, and behavioral economics in a study of our desires, attractions, and tastes.
- ^ "A Concert Violinist on the Metro?". NPR.org. 11 April 2007.
- ^ "Pearls Before Breakfast: Can one of the nation’s great musicians cut through the fog of a D.C. rush hour? Let’s find out.". Washington Post.
- ^ The Forty Principal Doctrines, Number III.
- ^ Letter to Menoeceus, Section 131-2.
- ^ About the Ends of Goods and Evils, Book I, From Section IX, Torquatus sets out his understanding of Epicurus's philosophy.
- ^ Haque, Amber (2004). "Psychology from Islamic Perspective: Contributions of Early Muslim Scholars and Challenges to Contemporary Muslim Psychologists". Journal of Religion and Health 43 (4): 357–377 [371]. doi:10.1007/s10943-004-4302-z.
- ^ Counsels and Maxims, Chapter 1, General Rules Section 1.
- ^ Bentham, Jeremy (1996). An Introduction to the Principles of Moral Legislation. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-820516-6.
- ^ Ethics & the Environment, Volume 6, Number 2, Autumn 2001, pp. 22–30, Indiana University Press, Johns Hopkins University Press, see also: Emotion in animals
- ^ Horowitz A. 2007. Anthropomorphism., In M. Bekoff, ed., Encyclopedia of Human-Animal Relationships, pp 60–66, Greenwood Publishing Group, Westport, CT.
- ^ Do animals have emotions?, From The Sunday Times, August 24, 2008.
Further reading
- Bloom, Paul (2010). How Pleasure Works: The New Science of Why We Like What We Like. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0393340006. Draws on neuroscience, philosophy, child-development research, and behavioral economics in a study of our desires, attractions, and tastes.
- M.L. Kringelbach. The pleasure center: Trust Your Animal Instincts (2009). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-532285-9. An general overview of the neuroscience of pleasure.
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Emotions (list)
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| Emotions |
- Adoration
- Affection
- Agitation
- Agony
- Awe
- Amusement
- Anger
- Anguish
- Annoyance
- Anxiety
- Apathy
- Arousal
- Attraction
- Caring
- Compassion
- Contempt
- Contentment
- Defeat
- Depression
- Desire
- Disappointment
- Disgust
- Ecstasy
- Embarrassment
- Empathy
- Enthrallment
- Enthusiasm
- Envy
- Euphoria
- Excitement
- Fear
- Frustration
- Grief
- Guilt
- Happiness
- Hatred
- Homesickness
- Hope
- Horror
- Hostility
- Humiliation
- Hysteria
- Infatuation
- Insecurity
- Insult
- Interest
- Irritation
- Isolation
- Jealousy
- Loneliness
- Longing
- Love
- Lust
- Melancholy
- Mono no aware
- Neglect
- Nostalgia
- Panic
- Passion
- Pity
- Pleasure
- Pride
- Rage
- Regret
- Rejection
- Remorse
- Resentment
- Sadness
- Saudade
- Schadenfreude
- Sentimentality
- Shame
- Shock
- Sorrow
- Spite
- Suffering
- Surprise
- Sympathy
- Tenseness
- Wonder
- Worry
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| World views |
- Nihilism
- Optimism
- Pessimism
- Reclusion
- Weltschmerz
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