DOMINATIONvisited pornography site, is all the way down at number 67, which
should give us all faith in humanity’s ability to resist the less healthy
parts of desire dopamine.)
AA participants freely hand out their phone numbers so that strug-
gling alcoholics have people to call for support and encouragement.
If an AA member slips and experiences a relapse, no one condemns
him, but he will inevitably feel like he has let them down. The H&N
experience of guilt is a powerful motivator (as your mother knows). The
combination of emotional support and the threat of guilt helps many
addicts maintain a long-lasting sobriety.
A more dramatic example of H&N activity suppressing
dopamine-driven addiction is the observation that when women smok-
ers become pregnant, the quit rate spikes upward. Dr. Suena Massey
of the Women’s Health Research Institute at Northwestern University,
who has done an in-depth study of this rapid change, notes that the
usual steps a smoker goes through on the road to quitting are com-
pletely skipped. The level of H&N empathy for the developing fetus is
so high that many women smokers jump right to the finish line and stop
smoking without any conscious effort at all. Once the dopaminergic
rationalization of I’m not hurting anyone but myself breaks down, the door
opens for a rapid readjustment in the H&N–dopamine balance.
The dopamine system as a whole evolved to maximize future resources.
In addition to desire and motivation, which get the ball rolling, we also
possess a more sophisticated circuit that gives us the ability to think
long term, make plans, and use abstract concepts such as math, reason,
and logic. Looking into the longer-term future also gives us the tenac-
ity we need to overcome challenges and accomplish things that take
a long time, things like getting an education or flying to the moon. It
also gives us the ability to tame the hedonistic urges of the desire cir-
cuit, suppressing immediate gratification to achieve something better.
The control circuit suppresses H&N emotion, allowing us to think in a
cold, rational way that’s often required when hard decisions need to be