Pigeons, dopamine and social media
The reason why you are hooked to the screen
🏷️ Categories: Social relationships, Behavior
Introduction
Have you ever wondered why you spent the afternoon procrastinating on your phone even though you knew exactly what you had to do? Well, let’s analyze the psychology behind this behavior and the mechanisms that social media use to keep you glued to the screen.
Skinner Box Experiment
Let’s start by discussing the famous Skinner Box experiment (1948), which demonstrated operant conditioning, a universal law of learning. In his experiment, Skinner placed pigeons in cages where a fixed amount of food would drop inside depending on the button the pigeon pressed. The pigeons learned to differentiate which button was correct, but they soon lost interest because the amount of food was always the same. This is a fixed reinforcement, “whenever I do something, the same thing happens.”
What if, when pressing the food button, the amount was random? That would be a pattern of intermittent reinforcement. Skinner observed that when receiving rewards intermittently, pigeons developed repetitive behaviors and kept pressing the button. Random reward is very rewarding.
And what if we don’t even give rewards? At the end of the experiment, when the pigeons had already learned that the button gave food, the food was removed. Nothing mattered anymore to the pigeons; they kept pressing the button hoping to receive their coveted reward, having learned that it was a matter of persistence.
The same happens on social media; we are always checking our phones because we are concerned about whether there is a reward in the form of “likes” and comments on the latest photo, video, or story. We have learned that the reward won’t always come, but if we upload more content and spend more time using the app, we know it will come, it’s just a matter of persistence.
Dopamine
Dopamine, associated with motivation and pleasure, is released in the brain when experiencing a reward, such as food or social interaction. From an evolutionary perspective, this mechanism rewards individuals for beneficial behaviors and motivates them to repeat them (Watson, 2021).
This positive reinforcement occurs when receiving a “like” on social media, further incentivizing its use. This process is combined with the intermittent reinforcement we discussed earlier. The uncertainty of winning on slot machines or the TikTok algorithm keeps people motivated to stay because they know the reward will come; it’s just a matter of persistence (Petrillo, 2021).
Low (Null) Response Cost
Response cost is a very interesting tool for behavior modification. It’s basically the level of effort, time, or resources required to carry out a behavior. In simple terms: “the more it costs us to do something, the less likely we are to do it.” It’s known that the higher the response cost, the less likely the behavior will be repeated.
In this regard, social media is very convenient. Sending messages, uploading photos, videos, retweeting, it’s all very easy, and you always have your phone with you. This allows you to stay connected anytime, anywhere. The cost of emission is not just low, it’s null, which increases the temptation to check your phone.
Social Approval in Numbers
Receiving “likes” and comments on our posts acts as a reinforcement similar to the food given to a pigeon in the Skinner experiment, incentivizing our desire to stay online.
This type of approval is especially powerful because it is quantifiable: we can compare our number of followers, “likes,” and other metrics with those of other people, which can create emotional dependency around a number; you will feel gratification if you surpass someone you consider to be at a similar level to yours, but you will feel insecurity and low self-esteem if you have fewer numbers.
An added problem is the search for social approval above our own preferences, stopping doing something when we see it receives less feedback. We focus on pleasing others and it leads us to lose our authenticity out of fear of not receiving this reinforcement, the reward of the “likes.”
Fear of Missing Out
The fear of missing out (FOMO) is the feeling of concern a person has about not being aware of information, events, or experiences, which makes them miss out on supposed rewarding opportunities. This phenomenon increases anxiety and creates regret for not having paid attention to the rewarding opportunity (Elhai et al., 2016; Milyavskaya et al., 2018; Baker et al., 2016).
The constant updating of content makes us feel like we always have to be connected to not miss out on these events. The best example is Instagram stories: People basically post stories and not many photos because it’s less of a commitment for the user who posts it and it’s temporally limited for people to see, so more daily interactions are generated, people have to see daily what’s happening and if they don’t, they’ve missed out.
Nothing New Under the Sun
Don’t think that what we’ve been seeing here is something new or exclusive to mobile phones. Social comparison has been a constant in human history; in some sphere, we want to outdo the neighbor. These reinforcement patterns are not recent either, as I mentioned earlier, they were already present in slot machines and other games of chance, and they have probably been used even before. The concept of response cost, dopamine release, and other phenomena are intrinsic to human beings, universal behaviors observed in dogs, rats, pigeons, and other species. What has changed is the ease with which we can now enter into these dynamics, thanks to technology and the omnipresence of social media.
Your turn now, were you aware of the mechanisms behind the excessive use of social media?
Related Information
If you enjoyed this read, you might be interested in learning about the psychological effects of the digital age on our attention span and the quality of social relationships.
📚 References
Baker, Z. G., Krieger, H., & LeRoy, A. S. (2016). Fear of missing out: Relationships with depression, mindfulness, and physical symptoms. Translational Issues in Psychological Science, 2(3), 275–282. https://doi.org/10.1037/tps0000075
Elhai, J. D., Levine, J. C., Dvorak, R. D., & Hall, B. J. (2016). Fear of missing out, need for touch, anxiety and depression are related to problematic smartphone use. Computers in Human Behavior, 63, 509–516. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.05.079Skinner, B.F. (1948). ‘Superstition’ in the pigeon. Journal of experimental Psychology, 38(2), 168–172. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0055873
Milyavskaya, M., Saffran, M., Hope, N., & Koestner, R. (2018). Fear of missing out: prevalence, dynamics, and consequences of experiencing FOMO. Motivation And Emotion, 42(5), 725–737. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-018-9683-5
Petrillo, S. (2021). What makes TikTok so addictive?: An analysis of the mechanisms underlying the world’s latest social media craze. Brown Undergraduate Journal of Public Health. https://sites.brown.edu/publichealthjournal/2021/12/13/tiktok/
Watson, S. (2021). Dopamine: The pathway to pleasure. Harvard Health. https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/dopamine-the-pathway-to-pleasure
Great piece and the Skinner Box experiment (1948) is such a brilliant example. It reminds me of my conversation with Audrey Watters, edtech journalist and author of Teaching Machines 🐦 🍬 💻
All good reads. Thanks.