Are humans addicted to novelty?

I can answer your question and will in a second but first I want to add I do own a set of fine cutlery and have yet to take any of the knives for granted. Each time I have them in my hand I know that I am about to perform surgery on the food I am preparing for our meal and that never gets old for me.

That said I once had a very romantic relationship with Vodka. It started when I got a good paying job and coming home after a hard days work to have a martini with my wife was heavenly. As stresses of the job, raising two young kids and a stressed out wife trying to manage her own career, I found a new friend…alcohol. So over the years me and this friend had lots of good times together. Long story short the relationship soured and vodka was no longer my friend….it was my medicine that made all the pressures of work and home doable. Problem being I no longer got joy or pleasure from drinking…it became a game of cat and mouse and the next morning I felt like poo. It became automatic and not only did I no longer get joy from drinking…I now cursed it for the carnage it was causing in my life and to my health. Something I once loved was now ruining my life. So I quit.

Do I know why people become addicted??? Yes….I think so. I am an analytical kind of guy and have done 6 years of research on my addiction and the best way to truly understand this it to learn how the brain works. The brain is our first line of defense for survival and when we experience something good for us even pleasurable…that experience is recorded in a part of our brain that says that was good…let’s do that again soon…like sex or some tasty morsel of food that did not make us sick. So now you can add in anything we do that stimulates our brains and we are hard wired to repeat that activity. Very powerful chemical are released that record these pleasurable activities and make sure we end up repeating them sometimes without forethought. It can become automatic like my drinking did.

Controlling these potentially addictive activities now becomes a matter of choice. I once made the choice to drink….now I choose not to drink.

To really get a very intelligent scientific explanation watch this whole 10 video series made by a Doctor who was once addicted to Prescription Meds. Really opened my eyes to why I was doing what I was doing to myself with my addiction to drinking and will also give you the best answer I can come up with for your question.

There are not many things I get addicted to; maybe because I am fortunate to have, and know I have, enough. But I do have a tendency to get addicted to certain people and feel that their presence in my life will make me happy. This is a deep, deep issue, stemming from the early death of a beloved brother, and one that I struggle with.

If this doesn’t apply to you, move on and find a “jelly below me” thread. Does this mean you only want nice people to answer?~

Without going back to do the research, I’ll just share that I read about how humans are hardwired to light up at “new.” It’s a survival thing. If you’ve been hunting and gathering and suddenly see a “new” food – you better heighten your awareness to it, as it might kill you if not approached with caution and attentiveness. Same with a “new” face. If it’s a rival tribe, he might be after your head. The brain’s response is anything from a gentle rush of dopamine to a wild surge of dopamine and adrenaline. When the “new” thing becomes old, our brains stop with the response. I shy away from use of the term “addicted” to anything other than substances that create a genuine physical dependency. I’d use the word “preference,” and yes, I think that we are definitely drawn to novelty for that release of dopamine, endorphins, and serotonin and the sensation of pleasure.

Damn. Now I feel like I have to go do some research. Just for the novelty…

Most definitely are YES,some are not but most are.

I think it happens with behavior as well, and that it can be unrelated to physical dependency. I have a friend who used to have a problem with honesty. Over the past 15 years, with the help of support groups and therapy, he has struggled to remain honest and genuine, especially with those who are important in his life, and with whom he desired a strong relationship.

During a long, late-night conversation we had several years ago, he confided in me. He told me that he was very insecure when he was young, and had started lying to bolster what he felt was an insignificant biography. He also started lying to avoid uncomfortable confrontations. This behavior served him for a long time, although he had few friends and moved a lot. He became so comfortable with the behavior that he no longer saw anything wrong with it. His turnaround came about when he realized 1) that his dishonesty was (or had already—he wasn’t sure at the time) destroying his marriage to the woman he truly loved, 2) that he had raised a 10-year-old who had no trouble lying to avoid conflict, and 3) that he no longer had control over his lying; he was lying to cover up lies.

His epiphany came about in a family counselling session, where he was referred to individual counselling and a support group. He told me that he struggles every day to remain honest and avoid even the slightest little white lie. In speaking about his situation, he used a lot of words I would associate with addiction, such as “backsliding” (which he said he had to fight everyday) and “recovery”. He refers to himself as a recovering liar.

What we’re addicted to is the neurotransmitter dopamine, which is what supplies the rush of good feeling in response to a stimulus. We’re all natural dopamine addicts. This addiction has evolved to drive us to keep doing activities that promote the survival of our species. We’ve come up with plenty of non-healthy ways to hijack the dopamine reward system (heroin, for instance co-opts the dopamine system), but overall, the natural version of the mechanism has been essential for keeping us motivated.

The dopamine system responds more strongly to novel stimuli. The very same pleasurable stimulus repeated over time will elicit a diminishing release of dopamine with each repetition. That compels us to keep looking for new stimuli to satisfy our dopamine craving.

This is both a blessing and a curse. It ‘s been the cause of the breakup of many relationships, because novel sexual partners will tend to provide a greater dopamine rush than will a familiar partner. This habituation response also means that we never remain satisfied for long with something that used to please us very much. But on the other hand, this has been a constant driver of human exploration and cultural development.

<- Can’t seem to get enough dopamine.

Is that why they call it dope?

@Yetanotheruser No, apparently no connection. Drugs were called “dope” before dopamine was even identified, and the “dopa-” part of dopamine is an anagram of the chemical name of its precursor, “dihydroxyphenylalanine”

@thorninmud, I know that. I’ve been involved with addictI’ve behavior for many years. I was trying to lighten it up a little.