• givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Yeah, theres some good studies on it you can look up if you want. But I was dumb enough to major in psych in college and they can still be a bit wordy for me.

      Think about a slot machine. People will dump thousands of dollars into one a night for the brief dopamine of a single $200 win.

      Meanwhile everyone going 10 mph over the speed limit keep doing it despite knowing at any minute they may get a speeding ticket.

      Even if the negative is consistent after a certain threshold, all that does is get the bare minimum to avoid it.

      What is surprising is a random positive reward is better at motivating than a consistent one. To take it back to slot machines, if everytime you put in a dollar you got a dime, no one would ever play. Even if the result is the same at the end of the day, the randomness makes our brain want to keep trying.

      • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Agreed. Our brain keeps thinking “the next one could be it”.

        I think I see what you’re saying about speeding. Negative reinforcement can influence behavior, but it’ll go as far as to avoid the negative, no further. You won’t get a compulsion like you do with random rewards. I see your point.