Pavlov's Dog & Psychological Connection to Food

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Discussion Overview

The discussion explores the psychological motivations behind the desire for food, drawing connections to Pavlov's conditioning experiments and evolutionary perspectives on survival and pleasure. It touches on the interplay between enjoyment, survival instincts, and the neurological responses associated with eating.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant questions the psychological reasons for wanting food, suggesting a need for scientific explanations beyond basic survival and energy needs.
  • Another participant argues that the enjoyment of food is tied to happiness and the release of neurotransmitters, proposing that the desire for food is part of a reward system, similar to Pavlov's dog but with a greater emphasis on pleasure.
  • A different perspective relates the desire for food to evolutionary survival, positing that a species would struggle to survive if eating was associated with negative feelings.
  • This evolutionary perspective is reiterated with an emphasis on the connection between feelings and survival, suggesting that positive feelings associated with eating and reproduction are crucial for species continuity.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants present multiple competing views regarding the psychological and evolutionary motivations for eating, with no consensus reached on the primary drivers of food desire.

Contextual Notes

Some assumptions about the relationship between pleasure and survival are not fully explored, and the discussion does not resolve the complexities of psychological motivations versus evolutionary imperatives.

Who May Find This Useful

Readers interested in psychology, evolutionary biology, and the interplay between behavior and survival instincts may find this discussion relevant.

thegonz186
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why do we feel good when we get our hands on some food? maybe a few scientific reasons like energy, survival, etc. but I am really wanting to know why we psycologically want food? this is in relation to the dog in Pavlov's conditioning experiments
 
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Because it's yummy and fun! There's such an eclectic variety of stuff to eat that no matter who you are there's probably lots of things you like. The mind wants stuff that makes it happy, it must be crankin' out the hapiness neurotransmitters, maybe as part of a rewards system. Brusselsprouts and cowchip crunch could even make you happy, (if you were REALLY hungry) because survival is still the #1 mental motivation. As far as the dog, it's basically the same, but perhaps a higher percentage is driven by enjoyment (dogs are hedonistic sons of b|tches).
 
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Relating it to evolution and survival of the fittest: Would a species be able to survive if it felt bad every time it ate? The same thing can be said with sex. A species would not reproduce if sex made it feel awful.
 
cyfin said:
Relating it to evolution and survival of the fittest: Would a species be able to survive if it felt bad every time it ate? The same thing can be said with sex. A species would not reproduce if sex made it feel awful.

come to think of it, everything we feel is directly related to surviving..

pain = :(
eat = :)
sex = :)
painful sex = :) :( :) :(
 
haha awesome replies! thanks
 

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