This explains why it feels good to tell people about your latest PR.
From the article -
"Talking about ourselves whether in a personal conversation or through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter triggers the same sensation of pleasure in the brain as food or money, researchers reported Monday…
Bragging gives the same sensation of pleasure as food and money. The same areas of the brain are activated, scans show.
“Self-disclosure is extra rewarding,” said Harvard neuroscientist Diana Tamir, who conducted the experiments with Harvard colleague Jason Mitchell. Their findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “People were even willing to forgo money in order to talk about themselves,” Ms. Tamir said.
…Generally, acts of self disclosure were accompanied by spurts of heightened activity in brain regions belonging to the meso-limbic dopamine system, which is associated with the sense of reward and satisfaction from food, money or sex.
“It rings true to me,” said psychologist James Pennebaker at the University of Texas at Austin who studies how people handle secrets and self-disclosure, but was not involved in the project. “We love it if other people listen to us. Why else would you tweet?”
I just wanna brag about my son! THAT says more about me than anything else.
;)[/quote]
In a sense, our kids are an extension of ourselves. I suspect it’s lighting up the same part of your brain.
This explains why everybody puts pictures of their kids all over Facebook. Judging by how many grandparents are talking about the accomplishments of their grandchildren, it must hold for the next generation as well.
I just wanna brag about my son! THAT says more about me than anything else.
;)[/quote]
That you aren’t hitting many PRs? I kid, I kid.
About half of the book “Your Brain At Work” by David Rock is actually dedicated to this exact topic. Excellent read for pretty much everyone that has subordinates.
He expands on the topic though and simply refers to anything that increases “status” as being on the same level as food or sex, and suggests that all three trump money.
Status improvements against ones prior self are just as rewarding as status gains versus others, which is why hitting PRs and improving your lifts is what drives most people to continue to work out after they achieved their initial goals.
People will find status scales in any part of their lives that they can - not just at work but at the gym, video games, having a better lawn, etc. The Diablo series is so damn addicting despite repetitive gameplay because improving your status (i.e. finding better items) is fast and very rewarding.
^ Having telemarketers think they have James Earl Jones on the line is just a side benefit, but having people on the street mistake me for Lou Ferrigno is becoming a problem.
You guys are hilarious. Thanks! It was pretty exciting.
That must be ten times better, and some of the wonderful members of T Nation here (I’m looking at you Iron Dwarf you Doric column of virtuous comradely generosity) are great providers of support and encouragement.
I have a friend that does that. Every workout she does is her status update. And all of her status updates are only about workouts.[/quote]
Nope. I get those updates from guys on my Facebook too. I know for a fact these guys are on and off lifters since I occasionally hang out with some of them. That picture hit the nail on the head when I saw that lol
I just wanna brag about my son! THAT says more about me than anything else.
;)[/quote]
In a sense, our kids are an extension of ourselves. I suspect it’s lighting up the same part of your brain.
This explains why everybody puts pictures of their kids all over Facebook. Judging by how many grandparents are talking about the accomplishments of their grandchildren, it must hold for the next generation as well. [/quote]
personally, I feel putting pics of your kids on facebook or anywhere on the net, is stupid. With all the nut cases out there, why put your kids at risk, despite how small it may be.
