Michael Long

Dopamine was discovered in the brain in 1957 by Kathleen Montagu

dopamine activity is not a marker of pleasure. It is a reaction to the unexpected—to possibility and anticipation.

Sweat is salt water, which conducts electricity better than dry skin. The more aroused a person is, the easier the electricity flows.

Conservatives are more likely than liberals to focus on threat. At the same time, when people of either inclination feel threatened, they become more conservative.

Dopamine, they discovered, isn’t about pleasure at all.

Dopamine delivers a feeling much more influential. Understanding dopamine turns out to be the key to explaining and even predicting behavior across a spectacular range of human endeavors: creating art, literature, and music; seeking success; discovering new worlds and new laws of nature; thinking about God—and falling in love.

Why does love fade? Our brains are programmed to crave the unexpected and thus to look to the future, where every exciting possibility begins.

But when anything, including love, becomes familiar, that excitement slips away, and new things draw our attention.

That happy error is what launches dopamine into action.

It’s not the extra time or the extra money themselves. It’s the thrill of the unexpected good news.