Towards a Neuroscience of Well-Being: Implications of Insights from Pleasure Research

摘要: Despite the best efforts of many people to maximize well-being, human condition is still marred by great levels unhappiness. Here we discuss how recent advances in understanding brain may offer some insights. In particular, progress has been made pleasure or positive affect (hedonia) and underlying processes wanting, liking learning. Yet, are far from its sister element, eudaimonia, sense meaningfulness engagement life. We survey key findings showing that hedonic mechanisms shared between humans other mammals, which have useful facilitating hedonia. Evidence also grown indicate for humans, networks higher pleasures strongly overlap with more basic sensory pleasures. This provide a window into circuitry generates all pleasures, perhaps including even quality pervasive well-being. Pleasure plays crucial role guiding survival-related decision-making involved optimizing resource allocation processes. systems perspective on well-being calls careful balancing rather than maximization one process at expense others. turn, successfully wanting could be linking hedonia states eudaimonia assessments create balanced approach happiness.