NEUROSCIENTIST explains How to do Nofap | Andrew Huberman

Summary

The script delves into the impact of intense stimuli like pornography on dopamine levels, potentially skewing real-world interactions. It discusses the neurobiological aspects of dopamine release and how it can affect our perception of time and pleasure, especially in activities like hard work. The speaker emphasizes the importance of intrinsic motivation over extrinsic rewards to foster a growth mindset and harness dopamine's power for discipline and effort, suggesting that we can rewire our brains to find pleasure in the process rather than the outcome.

Takeaways

• 🚫 The accessibility and intensity of pornography can negatively influence real-world romantic and sexual interactions due to altered neurobiological responses.
• 🧠 Dopamine release from activities like pornography can make it harder to achieve the same level of satisfaction through subsequent real-world interactions.
• 🌟 The discussion on pornography is not about passing judgment but understanding the underlying mechanisms that affect behavior.
• 🎯 Many individuals who are addicted to pornography face challenges in real-world romantic relationships, which underscores the impact of dopamine on behavior.
• 🏆 Rewards, whether monetary or social, can be beneficial, but they can also alter our perception of time and pleasure, especially when they are extrinsic to the activity itself.
• 🎨 A classic Stanford experiment showed that children who were rewarded for an activity they enjoyed intrinsically were less likely to engage in it without the reward, highlighting the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
• ⏳ Dopamine controls our perception of time, and focusing on end rewards can make activities feel more arduous and less enjoyable, which is counterproductive for developing a growth mindset.
• 💪 Cultivating a growth mindset involves learning to find pleasure in effort and challenge, which can be achieved by accessing the prefrontal component of the dopamine reward circuit.
• 🏋️‍♂️ Focusing solely on end goals can undermine the ability to generate dopamine from effort, making the process less enjoyable and less efficient.
• 🏅 It's beneficial to associate the feeling of effort with an internally generated reward system rather than relying on external rewards, which can amplify performance in all endeavors.

Q & A

How does the accessibility and intensity of pornography potentially impact real-world romantic and sexual interactions?

The accessibility and intensity of pornography can negatively shape real-world romantic and sexual interactions by altering neurobiological mechanisms and dopamine release, making it harder to achieve the same level of dopamine through subsequent real-world interactions.

What is the ethical and moral discussion surrounding pornography mentioned in the script?

The ethical and moral discussion is about whether or not people should engage with pornography, which is a personal decision that each individual has to make based on their values and beliefs.

Why does engaging in activities that release a lot of dopamine make it harder to achieve the same level of dopamine through other interactions?

Activities that release a lot of dopamine set a high baseline, making it more challenging to achieve the same level of pleasure or satisfaction through other, less intense interactions.

How does the concept of intrinsic versus extrinsic reinforcement relate to the dopamine system?

Intrinsic reinforcement is the enjoyment derived from an activity itself, while extrinsic reinforcement involves external rewards. The dopamine system is more strongly engaged by intrinsic rewards, and introducing extrinsic rewards can reduce the pleasure associated with the activity itself.

What is the significance of the Stanford experiment with children and drawing mentioned in the script?

The Stanford experiment demonstrated that when children who enjoyed drawing were given rewards for their drawings, they became less likely to draw without the reward, showing how external rewards can diminish intrinsic motivation.

How does the dopamine system affect our perception of time in relation to rewards?

Dopamine controls our perception of time by marking the duration and intensity of experiences. When rewards are expected at the end of an activity, the dopamine system extends the perceived time of the activity, making it feel more challenging.

What is the growth mindset theory and how does it relate to dopamine and effort?

The growth mindset theory, developed by Carol Dweck, emphasizes the value of effort and the process of striving for improvement over the outcome. It encourages focusing on the effort itself, which can help cultivate a dopamine release from the activity, enhancing performance and enjoyment.

Why is it beneficial to associate effort with an internally generated reward system rather than external rewards?

Associating effort with an internal reward system can lead to a more consistent dopamine release during the activity, enhancing focus, energy, and the overall experience. Relying on external rewards can lead to a decrease in intrinsic motivation and pleasure from the activity itself.

How can one learn to spike dopamine from effort itself rather than from external rewards?

One can learn to spike dopamine from effort by consciously focusing on the activity and its challenges, telling oneself that the effort is pleasurable and by choice, and repeating this mindset over time until it becomes reflexive.

What is the role of the prefrontal cortex in cultivating a growth mindset and accessing dopamine from effort?

The prefrontal cortex is involved in executive functions like self-regulation and decision-making. It plays a crucial role in cultivating a growth mindset by allowing individuals to consciously choose to find pleasure in effort and to access the associated dopamine release.

Why is it important not to spike dopamine prior to or after engaging in effort?

Spike dopamine prior to or after engaging in effort can interfere with the natural dopamine release that occurs during the activity itself. This can lead to a decreased ability to experience pleasure from the effort and can make the activity feel more painful or less rewarding.

Outlines

00:00

🚫 Impact of Intensity in Media on Real-Life Interactions

The paragraph discusses the negative influence of pornography, particularly its intensity, on shaping real-world romantic and sexual interactions. It emphasizes that the discussion is not about passing judgment but understanding the neurobiological mechanisms behind dopamine release and addiction. The speaker clarifies that while dopamine release from any activity can be addictive, the challenge lies in achieving the same level of dopamine through subsequent real-life interactions. The paragraph also introduces the concept of intrinsic versus extrinsic reinforcement and how external rewards can diminish the pleasure derived from an activity, using the example of children drawing for rewards and then losing interest once the rewards are removed.

05:03

💪 Cultivating a Growth Mindset Through Effort

This paragraph delves into the challenge of associating effort with pleasure, which is crucial for cultivating a growth mindset. It explains that focusing solely on end goals can lead to a decrease in the enjoyment and efficiency of the process due to the way dopamine, which is linked to our perception of time, works. The speaker suggests that instead of seeking external rewards, one should learn to derive pleasure from the effort itself, which can be achieved by engaging the prefrontal component of the mesolympic circuit. This involves telling oneself that the effort is pleasurable, even in the face of physical pain or discomfort. The paragraph also touches on the idea that this mindset can become reflexive over time, leading to an increase in dopamine release from effort, which can enhance focus and energy.

10:05

🏋️‍♂️ The Power of Effort and Dopamine Release

The final paragraph reinforces the importance of not spiking dopamine levels before or after engaging in effort, but rather learning to derive dopamine release from the effort itself. It highlights that by doing so, one can prevent interference with the natural dopaminergic circuitry that is designed to reward effort and challenge. The speaker encourages individuals to recognize the power of this circuitry and to access it by focusing on the effort and the choice to engage in it, rather than the external rewards that may follow. The paragraph concludes by emphasizing that this ability is accessible to everyone and has been a key factor in human evolution and success.

Keywords

💡Pornography

Pornography refers to the depiction of explicit sexual content, often for the purpose of sexual arousal. In the video, it is discussed as a factor that can negatively shape real-world romantic and sexual interactions due to its intensity and accessibility. The script suggests that the neurobiological impact of pornography can lead to addiction and challenges in forming intimate relationships, as it affects the dopamine system.

💡Dopamine

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter associated with the brain's reward and pleasure centers. The video script explains that activities that evoke a lot of dopamine release, such as pornography, can make it harder to achieve the same level of dopamine through subsequent real-world interactions. Dopamine is central to the discussion of how rewards and activities are perceived and how they can shape behavior.

💡Neurobiological mechanisms

Neurobiological mechanisms refer to the processes and pathways within the nervous system that underlie behavior and cognition. The video discusses how understanding these mechanisms can help explain the impact of pornography on sexual and romantic interactions, as well as the role of dopamine in motivation and reward.

💡Addiction

Addiction is a complex condition where a person engages in rewarding stimuli despite adverse consequences. The script mentions that many people are addicted to pornography, which can lead to difficulties in real-world romantic interactions. This concept is tied to the dopamine system and how it responds to intense stimuli.

💡Intrinsic versus extrinsic reinforcement

Intrinsic reinforcement refers to the inherent satisfaction derived from an activity itself, while extrinsic reinforcement involves rewards external to the activity. The video uses the example of children drawing to illustrate how introducing external rewards can diminish intrinsic motivation, thus affecting the pleasure derived from the activity.

💡Growth mindset

A growth mindset is a concept introduced by psychologist Carol Dweck, which emphasizes the belief that abilities and intelligence can be developed through dedication and effort. The video contrasts this with a focus on end results, suggesting that a growth mindset can lead to better performance and a more rewarding experience of effort.

💡Effort and friction

Effort and friction in the context of the video refer to the challenges and difficulties one encounters while working towards a goal. The speaker suggests that learning to associate effort with an internally generated reward system can lead to increased dopamine release and a more positive experience of the activity itself.

💡Dopaminergic circuits

Dopaminergic circuits are neural pathways involving dopamine. The video explains that these circuits are responsible for the brain's response to rewards and that they can be influenced by the way we perceive and engage with activities, which in turn affects our motivation and pleasure.

💡Reward system

The reward system in the brain is a group of neural structures that are involved in motivation, desire, and the experience of pleasure. The video discusses how this system can be 'tuned up' to respond to effort and discipline, rather than just external rewards, which can lead to a more fulfilling and efficient approach to hard work.

💡Perception of time

The perception of time refers to how individuals experience the passage of time, which can be influenced by various factors, including dopamine levels. The video script explains that the anticipation of a reward can alter our perception of time, making an activity feel more drawn out and less enjoyable.

💡David Goggins

David Goggins is mentioned in the video as an example of someone who has mastered turning effort into reward. He is a former Navy SEAL and motivational speaker known for his extreme physical training and resilience. His example is used to illustrate the concept of accessing pleasure from effort through the dopaminergic system.

Highlights

The impact of pornography's intensity on shaping real-world romantic and sexual interactions is a serious concern.

Understanding the neurobiological mechanisms behind the effects of pornography on dopamine release.

The ethical and moral discussions around pornography should be individualized.

Dopamine release from activities can make it harder to achieve the same level through subsequent interactions.

Many people are addicted to pornography, which can lead to challenges in real-world romantic interactions.

The positive and negative aspects of rewards for behavior and how they relate to the dopamine system.

A protocol to achieve a better relationship with activities and the dopamine system is suggested.

Hard work is generally challenging, and rewards can make it more difficult to engage in future hard work.

The classic Stanford experiment on intrinsic versus extrinsic reinforcement and its impact on children's drawing.

Receiving rewards can lead to associating less pleasure with the activity that evoked the reward.

Dopamine controls our perception of time and how we experience activities.

Focusing on end goals can make the process of hard work less enjoyable and more painful.

The growth mindset principle by Carol Dweck emphasizes the importance of effort over end results.

Cultivating a growth mindset involves learning to access rewards from effort and doing.

The misolympic reward pathway allows for internal generation of rewards from effort.

Attaching the feeling of friction and effort to an internally generated reward system is beneficial.

David Goggins is an example of someone who has turned effort into reward through his mindset and actions.

The ability to access pleasure from effort is a powerful aspect of our dopaminergic circuitry.

To prevent interference with dopamine release from effort, avoid spiking dopamine before and after engaging in effort.

Transcripts

should become obvious why things like

pornography not just the accessibility

of pornography but the intensity of

pornography can negatively shape real

world romantic and sexual interactions

this is a serious concern the discussion

is happening now the underlying

neurobiological mechanisms You Now

understand this isn't to pass judgment

on whether or not people like or don't

like pornography that's an ethical

discussion it's a moral discussion that

has to be decided for each individual

but again any activity that evokes a lot

of dopamine release will make it harder

to achieve the same level and certainly

the greater level of dopamine through a

subsequent interaction yes indeed many

people are addicted to pornography and

yes indeed many people who regularly

indulge in pornography

experience challenges in real world

romantic interactions You Now understand

the mechanisms behind what I'm telling

you now I'd like to talk about the

positive aspects of rewards for our

Behavior and the negative aspects of

rewards for our behavior and from that I

will suggest a protocol by which you can

achieve a better relationship to your

activities and to your dopamine system

in fact it will help tune up your

dopamine system for discipline hard work

and motivation hard work is hard

generally most people don't like working

hard some people do but most people work

hard in order to achieve some end goal

end goals are terrific and rewards are

terrific whether or not they are

monetary social

or any kind because of the way that

dopamine relates to our perception of

time working hard at something for sake

of a reward that comes afterward can

make the hard work much more challenging

and make us much less likely to lean

into hard work in the future let me give

you a couple examples by way of data and

experiments there's a classic experiment

done actually at Stanford many years ago

in which children in Nursery School and

kindergarten

Drew pictures and they drew pictures

because they like to draw the

researchers took kids that liked to draw

and they started giving them a reward

for drawing the reward generally was a

gold star or something that a young

child would find rewarding then they

stopped giving them the gold star and

what they found is the children had a

much lower tendency to draw on their own

no reward now remember this was an

activity that prior to receiving a

reward the children intrinsically

enjoyed and selected to do no one was

telling them to draw what this relates

to is so-called intrinsic versus

extrinsic reinforcement when we receive

rewards even if we give ourselves

rewards for something

we tend to associate less pleasure with

the actual activity itself that evoked

the reward now that might seem

counter-intuitive but that's just way

the way that these dopaminergic circuits

work

and now understanding these Peaks and

baselines in dopamine which I won't

review again

this should make sense

if you get a peak in dopamine from a

reward it's going to lower your Baseline

and the cognitive interpretation

is that you didn't really do the

activity because you enjoyed the

activity you did it for the reward now

this doesn't mean all rewards of all

kinds are bad but it's also important to

understand that dopamine controls our

perception of time when and how much

dopamine we experience is the way that

we carve up what we call our experience

of time when we engage in an activity

let's say school or hard work of any

kind or exercise

because of the reward we are going to

give ourselves or receive at the end the

trophy the Sunday the meal whatever it

happens to be we actually are extending

the time bin over which we are

analyzing or perceiving that experience

and because the reward comes at the end

we start to dissociate the neural

circuits for dopamine and reward that

would have normally been active during

the activity

and because it all arrives at the end

over time we have the experience of less

and less pleasure from that particular

activity while we're doing it now this

is the antithesis of growth mindset my

colleague at Stanford Carol dweck as

many of you know has come up with this

incredible

Theory and principle and it actually

goes beyond theory in principle called

growth mindset which is this striving to

be better to be in this mindset of I'm

not there yet but striving itself is

the end goal and that of course delivers

you to tremendous performance has been

observed over and over and over again

that people that have growth mindset

kids that have growth mindset end up

performing very well because they're

focused on the effort itself and all of

us can cultivate growth mindset the

neural mechanism of cultivating growth

mindset involves learning to access the

rewards from effort and doing

and that's hard to do

because you have to engage this

prefrontal component of the mesolympic

circuit you have to tell yourself okay

this effort is great this effort is

pleasureful even though you might

actually be in a state of physical pain

from the exercise or I can recall this

from college just feeling like I want to

get up from my desk but forcing myself

to study forcing myself and forcing

myself what you find over time is that

you can start to associate a dopamine

release you can evoke dopamine release

from the friction and the challenge that

you happen to be in

you completely eliminate the ability to

generate those circuits and the

rewarding process of being able to

reward friction while in effort if you

are focused only on the goal that comes

at the end because of the way that

dopamine marks time so if you say oh I'm

going to do this very hard thing and I'm

going to push and push and push and push

for that end goal that comes later

not only

do you enjoy the process of what you're

doing less you actually make it more

painful while you're engaging in it you

make yourself less efficient at it

because if you were able to access

dopamine while in effort dopamine has

all these incredible properties of

increasing the amount of energy in our

body and in our mind our ability to

focus by way of dopamine's conversion

into epinephrine but also you are

undermining your ability to lean back

into that activity the next time the

next time you need

twice as much coffee and three times as

much loud music and four times as much

energy drink and the social connection

just to get out the door in order to do

the run or to study so what's more

beneficial in fact can serve as a

tremendous amplifier on all Endeavors

that you engage in

especially hard Endeavors is to a not

start layering in other sources of

dopamine in order to get to the starting

line not layering in other sources of

dopamine in order to be able to continue

but rather

to subjectively start to attach the

feeling of friction and effort to an

internally generated reward system and

this is not meant to be vague this is a

system that exists in your mind that

exists in the minds of humans for

hundreds of thousands of years by which

you're not just pursuing the things that

are innately pleasureful food sex warmth

water when you're thirsty but the beauty

of this misolympic reward pathway that I

talked about earlier is that it includes

the forebrain so you can tell yourself

the effort part is the good part I know

it's painful I know this doesn't feel

good but I'm focused on this I'm going

to start to access the reward you will

find the rewards meaning the dopamine

release inside of effort if you repeat

this over and over again and what's

beautiful about it is that it starts to

become reflexive for all types of effort

when we focus only on the trophy only on

the grade only on the win as the reward

you undermine that entire process

so how do you do this

you do this in those moments of the most

intense friction you tell yourself this

is very painful and because it's painful

it will evoke an increase in dopamine

release later meaning it will increase

my Baseline in dopamine but you also

have to tell yourself that in that

moment

you are doing it by choice and you're

doing it because

you love it and I know that sounds like

lying to yourself and in some ways it is

lying to yourself but it's lying to

yourself in the context of a truth which

is

that you want it to feel better you want

it to feel even pleasureful now this is

very far and away different from

thinking about the reward that comes at

the end the hot fudge Sunday for after

you cross the finish line and you can

replace hot fudge Sunday with whatever

reward happens to to be appealing to you

we Revere people who are capable of

doing what I'm describing

David Goggins comes to mind as a really

good example many of you are probably

familiar with David Goggins former Navy

SEAL who essentially has made a

post-military career career out of

explaining and sharing his process of

turning the effort into the reward

there are many other examples of this

too of course throughout evolutionary

history there's no question that we

revered people who were willing to go

out and forage and hunt and gather and

caretake

in ways that other members of our

species probably found exhausting and

probably would have preferred to just

put their feet up or soak them in a cool

stream rather than continue to forage

the ability to access this pleasure from

effort aspect of our dopaminergic

circuitry is without question the most

powerful aspect of dopamine in our

biology of dopamine and the beautiful

thing is it's accessible to all of us

but just to highlight the things that

can interfere with and prevent you from

getting dopamine release

from effort itself

don't Spike dopamine prior to engaging

in effort

and don't Spike dopamine after engaging

in effort learn to spike your dopamine

from effort itself