4,000 years of the pursuit of happiness: overcoming the dark side of hedonism and reward

When a behavior is rewarded, it becomes more frequent. Rewards also help people focus their attention on particular aspects of a task. And of course, being rewarded is by definition pleasurable. However, previous research has also identified a dark side to being rewarded: Once a behavior has been rewarded, it persists even when it is no longer optimal. A recent article shows how this can be overcome. You just have to reward people even more.

Source: Psychonomic Society News - August 5, 2015 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: news