An Examination of Pleasure Blake Cowan

1. An Examination of PleasureBlake Cowan “The secret of success is learning how to use pain and pleasure instead of having pain and pleasure use you. If you do that, you're in control of your life. If you don't, life controls you.” – Anthony Robbins

2. “Personally, I experience the greatest degree of pleasure in having contact with works of art. They furnish me with happy feelings of an intensity such as I cannot derive from other realms.” - Albert Einstein

3. Pleasure • More than absence of pain • Happiness, Enjoyment, Euphoria • Ephemeral • Not Just Sexual • Emotional Experience Don’t Google Image search Pleasure!

4. Role in Emotions • “Emotions are coordinated states, shaped by natural selection, that adjust physiological and behavioral responses to take advantage of opportunities and to cope with threats that have recurred over the course of evolution. “ - Nesse and Berridge (1999) • Pleasure and pain shape behavior • ". . .the pleasure or displeasure of a sensation is not stimulus bound but depends on internal signals." – Cabanac 1971

5. Emotions (Cont’d) Input/Integration/Output Emotions determine pleasure

6. Evolution • Pleasure (and pain) are devices for steering organism in right direction • Environmental pressures ultimately shape, but pleasure is immediate pay off • Pleasure encourages repetition (see picture)

7. Pleasure Center • Limbic System • Endocrine system • Autonomic nervous system • Emotions

10. Addiction “Pleasure is the bait of sin” – Plato Pleasure points the way, it is not the destination. Pleasure is unsustainable as it is based on a neuro-chemical reaction, which must then stabilize. This creates an addictive cycle and a need for continual excitement – “32 Building Blocks to Happiness”

11. Pleasure in Animals • A growing number of scientists agree that animals are conscious and capable of experiencing basic emotions, such as happiness, sadness, boredom or depression • Bradbury, The Seattle Times

12. Dolphins