Found this as part of a larger discussion about the anticipation of rewards ("wanting") as opposed to achieving the actual reward itself ("liking"):
"Your brain has far more neural circuitry allocated for wanting rewards than for liking them. The wanting centers in the brain are large: the brain stem, the nucleus accumbens, the ventral tegmental area, the dorsal striatum, the amygdala, and portions of the prefrontal cortex. By comparison, the liking centers of the brain are much smaller. They are often referred to as 'hedonic hot spots' and are distributed like tiny islands throughout the brain. For instance, researchers have found that 100 percent of the nucleus accumbens is activated during wanting. Meanwhile, only 10 percent of the structure is activated during liking.
"The fact that the brain allocates so much precious space to the regions responsible for craving and desire provides further evidence of the crucial role these processes play. Desire is the engine that drives behavior. Every action is taken because of the anticipation that precedes it. It is the craving that leads to the response."
—Atomic Habits by James Clear, "p. 108" in the digital file
So there's that settled.
I think I wrote once about undergoing an intense period of shopping (strangely, I can't remember what for now), finally buying the camera I wanted, and then suffering the very peculiar feeling of missing shopping—I had the real camera right there, sitting on the desk, but I still wanted to look at it online and read reviews about it. At the time I thought that was just a little bit crazy. And yet, maybe you can relate.
Mike
Book o' the Week
Grit and Grace: Women at Work in the Emerging World. Unfortunately, this will be the posthumous swan song of the indefatigable documentarian Alison Wright, whose untimely death at 60 in the Azores this year meant she never got to see it published. Wright's photography was inextricably entwined with her life's dedication to social justice, a sense of acceptance of humanity, and a roving search for beauty and color.
The book link is your portal to Amazon from TOP, should you wish to support this site.
Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:
David Brown: "The way you described buying the camera and then still wanting to 'shop' is the experience I've had with my last new car!"
Timothy Auger: "‘GAS explained’ also accounts for the sex lives of a few people I know. The chase is more fun than the actuality. That doesn’t apply to me, of course. Of course."
There are times when I wonder why I have accumulated so many compacts, both 35mm film and digital.
I can rationalise it two ways. On the one hand, internet auction sites makes the acquisition of second hand cameras easy. On the other - especially in regard to film compacts - I have suffered the loss of three due to theft, theft or loss and in one case a design fault that leads to annoying electro-mechanical failures. I have replaced two of the three 35mm film compacts but why did I buy four more, three of which were unkown quantities to me?
I put it down to a period of madness! Thanks for the medical explanation. :-) I am relieved.
Posted by: Olybacker | Friday, 22 July 2022 at 02:37 PM
"regions responsible for craving and desire" Is this why we have the gawd-awful white flight McMansion neighborhoods ringing American cities and pretentious bling-filled SUVs? The search and acquisition is the reward.
Posted by: Kodachromeguy | Friday, 22 July 2022 at 03:19 PM
In fact, I've gone back online to read reread reviews of things that I'd already bought and possessed. Sometimes there were legitimate owner concerns like maintenance or usage quirks, but other times it was for no real reason other than maybe to pat myself on the back, or to indulge in some second guessing. But I suppose there's more than one way to enjoy a purchase, and I wasn't harming anyone.
Posted by: robert e | Friday, 22 July 2022 at 05:07 PM
One thing I have learned is that for me GAS starts becoming a problem when I'm between periods of really intense work on a project.
If I'm eyeballs deep in a photography project, I'm not shopping for things, and I'm not looking for new options.
When I'm really working hard on a project, something amazing happens: all the gear I have already turns out to be fine. In fact, it's more than fine because I spent so much time carefully choosing and modifying it when I didn't have a project.
This is going to sound trite as can be, but if you're experiencing GAS, the solution might be to dive into a new project, and use what you already have...
Posted by: Rob de Loe | Friday, 22 July 2022 at 07:46 PM
Related, I think: When I have nothing from Amazon or B&H arriving on my porch, I miss it. Even when there's nothing that I currently want.
Posted by: MikeR | Friday, 22 July 2022 at 09:30 PM
As Mr. Spock said, "After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true."
Posted by: Steve Renwick | Friday, 22 July 2022 at 09:36 PM
Isn’t is just human nature that getting is more exciting than having?
Posted by: Bear. | Saturday, 23 July 2022 at 11:04 PM
Long known.
See Motörhead – The Chase Is Better Than The Catch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PktB0bxo2oQ
Posted by: clemens | Sunday, 24 July 2022 at 06:40 AM
The Spock quotation has it down right.
Cameras not so much, because as a pro, I only bought that for which I had a use; there were drains sufficient on income without GAS, a term that I’d never heard of back in the day.
Cars, though, were something else. I think I got the greatest acquisitive buzz the day I took delivery of my brand new Humber Sceptre, back in ‘74, and finally got to own the same machine as my wife’s Dad. At last I no longer felt any residual sense of being the poor relation. Of course, that I could buy the car didn't signify that I had the same earning capacity or bank balance! He ran his own company of surveyors whereas I ran, well, my one-man band of image makers.
I kept that car for four years, at the end of which time the sills had been painted black to hide the incipient rust damage. Cutting losses, I took advantage of my first middle-age crisis and bought myself what was then a rare (in the UK) Fiat X/1.9 that shared my life for just under two years, by which time it had driven me crazy with its lack of power, key to my venture into Alfa Romeo ownership. Eleven months later, the Alfa was gone as we moved from the UK to a life in Spain.
That X/1.9 would, today, be perfect for the singular lifestyle I unfortunately have to lead since the loss of my better half. Speed no longer means anything to me, and that Targa top would, in this climate, be ideal.
I suppose it kinda illustrates that GAS isn’t all bad, that the timing of the object of desire is key to a delighted relationship. Buying new, I’d currently opt for a Mazda MX5 [known as the Miata in the USA —Ed.], except for the fact that it costs too much (for me, in retirement) and does not have the relatively generous luggage capacity of the old Fiat.
For what it’s worth, my son has owned at least two such Mazdas, and keeps going back to them after ventures into hot saloons [sedans —Ed.] Maybe, one day, a cast-off may come my way? :-)
Talk about academic headaches!
Posted by: Rob Campbell | Sunday, 24 July 2022 at 10:53 AM
Hardly surprising. Without the impulse to hunt and gather being stronger than consuming the results, it is unlikely humans would have survived and thrived. Then gone on to invent farming, photography, and better mousetraps.
Trouble is, in a time-frame barely longer than a human life, the incremental benefits of better mousetraps and their support structures have become exponential pathologies. With increasingly catastrophic outcomes.
Posted by: John G | Tuesday, 26 July 2022 at 12:17 PM