Psychology 458/558<br>
Judgment and Decision Making<br>
Prof. Bertram Malle<br>
Fall 1995<P>
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<center><font size = 6> Lecture 15:  Nov 21<br>
<font size = 8> Self-regulation of<br> pleasure and pain </font></center><p> 
<p>
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<ul>
<li>Distinction between (unconscious) <b>self-deception</b> as described by
Quattrone &amp; Tversky and (conscious) <b>self-transformation</b> as described
by Robert Frank (book <i>Passion within reason).</i><p>
<li><b>hedonic apparatus  rational apparatus</b><p>
<li><b>The value of uncertainty</b> (e.g., why we don't want to know the outcome
of games, the ending of movies or books); without uncertainty there would be no
anticipatory joy, goal-striving, surprise, hope, or pride.<p>
<li><b>The value of pain</b>: On a cognitive level, negative experiences make us
value positive ones that much more (contrast effect, breaking habituation); on
a physiological level, opponent processes mobilize positive feelings in
response to negative ones.<p>
<li><b>Happy endings</b>: People are extremely sensitive to changes in pleasure
or pain--the most powerful change being the one from pain to pleasure.
Researchers Kahneman and Fredrickson (1993) demonstrated that people prefer 90
sec of pain over 60 sec of pain if the last 30 sec of the 90 gave slight
relief.  <p>
<li><b>Before and after</b>: Many pleasures we seek can be extended: seeing a
movie is not only a 2-hour enjoyment but contains, for example, anticipation,
feelings of self-reward before the event and memories, knowledge, topics for
conversation after the event.<p>
<li><b>The value of fiction and fantasy</b> lies in mind-change on many levels:<p>
1.	State of consciousness (e.g., different time flow during movies or books;
cf. the book <i>Flow</i> by M. Csikszentmihalyi)<p>
2.	Identity (e.g., acquiring different perspectives through empathizing and
identifying with different characters)<p>
3.	Escape (through forgetting, distraction, sometimes denial) <p>
4.	Excitement (through unpredictability, wish fulfillment)<p>
<li><b>How do we get enjoyment? </b> Self-regulation of pleasure must overcome
negativity effects, especially combined with recency (e.g., you have just
received a bad grade on an exam and you suddenly feel too stupid for college,
or you have just been rejected by someone you found attractive and you feel
like you will never find the right partner...).  People quickly habituate to
positive things and disproportionately dwell on negative ones--self-regulation
implies that a person can both withstand habituation (i.e., value positive
things <i>as they exist</i>--through increased awareness) and also experience
negative things in the right perspective (i.e., seeing that most negative
events have great momentary power over one's experience but only limited impact
in the long run; recognizing the value of pain to re-evaluate pleasure).<br>
What <b>tools</b> do people use for this task of self-regulation?<p>
<ul>
<li>Outside tools (e.g., TV, movies, games, people, food, drugs, activities,
work)
<li>Inside tools (e.g., conscious perception, thinking, insight, sleep,
meditation)<p>
</ul>
<li><b>Perception vs. belief</b>:  In all decision making, perception is more
powerful than belief.  This is why Ulysses asked to be tied to the mast before
his ship sailed around the island of the sirens and why the cake in front of
you lets you forget your strongly held dietary beliefs.  The power of
perception makes us weigh short-term benefits and costs much more than
long-term ones.  Successful self-regulation therefore focuses on regulating
<i>perception--</i>what things you are exposing yourself to (e.g., don't ask
for the dessert tray in the first place), what thoughts fill your mind <i>here
and now </i>(e.g., active recall of positive events to avert the powerful
impact of momentary negative experiences). <p>
</ul>
Knowing all this, ask yourself again--would you rather have a blissful life
ended by one hour of the greatest pain before you die or one hour of greatest
pain now and then a blissful life?  <p>
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