Procedure: students read the questions and watch the video
Video length: 4 min 28 seconds
Vocabulary:
- Serotonin is the key hormone that stabilizes our mood, feelings of well-being, and happiness
- Dopamine is a type of neurotransmitter. Your body makes it, and your nervous system uses it to send messages between nerve cells. That's why it's sometimes called a chemical messenger. Dopamine plays a role in how we feel pleasure
If you want to download the video or the KEY to the questions, please click HERE
Questions:
According to Dr. Lustig, pleasure and happiness cannot be equated.
1. What are the 7 differences between pleasure and happiness?
2. Can you summarize the impact of dopamine and serotonin in the human brain?3. What are the locations Dr. Lustic mentions as places where dopamine is king? Do you know what these places represent?
4. Why did Dr. Lustic write this book?
The video
16 comments:
I found this talk to be very captivating, and it has given me some things to think about. I think it's very interesting how he was able to explain such abstract feelings so easily.
Taking what's said in the talk into consideration, I think we should change our way of approaching life, and look for long-time happiness instead of short time pleasure.
Lastly, I do not see any connection at all between this talk and the current pandemic.
-Rosó
I think it is a very interesting video, it has given me a new insight about the true meaning of both concepts. This video has made me think about how I approach life and how I should be looking forward not the feeling of pleasure to content myself but to enjoy this tiny mundane moments of life that in a big scale make your life happy.
I do think that this could be applied in the situation that we’re living, instead of thinking about the things we can not longer do try and find new bits of life that can bring us happiness.
I really liked this talk, it has definitely left me with the need of buying this book and reading it. I feel like it would be one of those books that change the way you see things.
I think that everyone should be aware of the difference between pleasure and happiness so that they don't get them mistaken, and everyone should seek for long-time happiness. But in the way of finding it I don't think there's anything wrong in also getting a little bit of pleasure. But obviously not to the point of getting addicted. It's just a way of having fun.
I don't see a huge connection between the talk and the lockdowns caused by the current pandemic, but I see how some people would. In the video, Robert Lusting talks about how happiness is something you achieve when you are not alone, whilst being with other people. But during the lockdowns that was impossible so some people probably looked for happiness in pleasure, mistaking the two and provoking more damage to themselves than they think.
-Lola McIver
This talk has given me, some things to think about and thanks to the video now I know the correct meaning of pleasure and happiness. I did know they were different things, but I thought pleasure had something to do to achieve happiness. I do think that everyone has to know the real meaning of each term, so they can achieve long-time happiness, instead of spending all their life trying to achieve it.
But I think having pleasure in your life is healthy and important. If you get addicted to the pleasure you're receiving, that's when it gets unhealthy, and it should be cut off from your life.
At first, I didn’t see any relation with the pandemic or the lockdown, but once I was formulating my answers to the questions, I started to see where it could be a relation. In the lockdown all our lives changed our daily routines vanished, and people had to find new routines, new hobbies… so the things we did before lockdown that gave us happiness were gone, so we started new hobbies o new activities that at the moment we received pleasure by doing it, and that's when people really mixed pleasure with happiness. That's why a lot of people in lockdown suffered because they weren’t receiving happiness.
Mora Kiara
I found the talk interesting and really eye opening, it has definitely given me a different insight. I think we have to seek for long-time happiness, but not by going after the ideal, instead, by living every moment with contentment. I can see the connection of the crisis that made Dr. Robert Lustig write this book, within the one that we’re suffering right now. And the way that some people tried to find happiness in pleasure, which caused unhappiness or dissatisfaction. I think Dr. Robert Lustig aims to prevent addiction, by explaining how people get driven to it (being alone, having access to substances, etc.) and saying that the human being needs to have a social life, something that we didn’t have in those days. - CB
I was very interested watching the video since, many of us had no idea on the meaning of pleasure and happiness, throughout the years I though that pleasure is heavily linked to happiness, but I realized I was wrong
Yes, personally I am a person that cannot get enough, I am continuously working on what I want to achieve, that it can be, not toxic but exhausting sometimes. I guess I need to calm down, and relax.
Yes, I see that the lockdown has affected us, and happiness was not something could have got back then, the only thing we got was pleasure, such as food, online shopping, etc… This is probably one of the biggest reasons why quarantine has affected our mental health so much.
This talk has been pretty cool to hear/see. I think it was a really interesting way of thinking about the two concepts. I do think that some people need to hear this talk, and, maybe, to change their way of seeing things. Most of 'em people who really think that "pleasures" like drugs can give them happiness. I don't really find a correlation between this talk and the pandemic. Maybe that serotonin (happiness) is created by being in groups so, that's why we were all very sad and kinda depressed during lockdown? But that's the only thing I can really relate to what happened.
This talk has been very intriguing to say the least. Before watching this section of the interview I already had in mind the two feelings were very different, the problem is I never knew why that was. Now that I do, not only do I feel more informed, but I feel more conscious about my actions and what in my life could be the routine of a pleasure-seeking addiction I had never known about. This video has surprised me, taught me, educated me and made me reflect and think on the true point and the results of attaining happiness and seeking pleasure.
I for sure am no professional over this matter but there's some parts I don't agree on, for example that happiness is only achieved in social environments. Either way it is true that this video has given me new insights. I cant't talk for others, i'm sure there's people who are happy with their approach on life and it is working just fine for them. Personally I've got so much to learn about my surroundings and myself, I wouldn't even be able to express how do I approach life... Maybe as a viewer of my own life? A secondary character? This for sure gives me new ways of questioning my existence. On the other hand I guess the relation between this matter and the pandemic especially the lockdown is the fact that so many people have reconsidered their way of living and their lives. People are reonsidering everything they had built since the pandemic and eventhough i think this is a very important exercise we all should do from now and then, it is also very dangerous as you can get caught up in negative feelings and thoughts which may lead to severe unmotivation.
Ingrid Masip
Personally, watching this video makes me think about the topic of the video, that is about the differences between pleasure and happiness, which are discussed in the video.
I found the interview very interesting given that it expalin things about how our cells work ans how they are so important for us, the dopamine and serotonin. Besides, I think that the man of the interview explain it very understandable and thanks to this I've been able to understand it.
In my opinion, I think that dopamine and serotonin are so essential for our lifes because whit them we can experiment the hapiness and pleasure that gives sence to live.
IKER NONURA ZAMBRANO
I have never thought about it before. When I used these two words I didn’t care too much about their differences but now that I have watched the interview, maybe I will be more careful. Although I found it interesting, personally I disagree with some facts that the man has said. Firstly, I think that you can also buy happiness and you can experience it alone. For example, I am happy when I take photos or when I edit them, but to do this I need to buy a camera.
My conclusion is that these terms are related to each other so as the pleasures make you happy.
Xènia Mariano Sala
What is the difference between contentment and happiness? The answer to this simple question is given in this talk, in a way that everyone can see why it's important to seek long-term happines, and not short-teem joy.
The writer explains seven basic differences, and I agree with them, but I have to say that I doubt the one that says that pleasure is experienced alone, while happiness - in social groups. I believe that happiness is equally possible alone: how about Christian monks or hermits who achieve happiness in solitude? I am certain that in today's world, we need to learn to find happiness alone. The recent confinement is a good example of that.
Another point that I would like to mention is that the author raises the problem of addiction in relation to pleasure. He proves that on the chemical level, our neurons die, and so the more contentment you try to get, the more unhappy you become. I found this information hugely useful, and I'm sure young people need to be taught this early.
Maria Obukhova
This video has been very interesting to me. Because it shows you to distinguish two concepts that at first are very similar, but they are not. Personally, I agree that the emotions of pleasure and happiness are different. Happiness is what all people are constantly looking throughout their lives because it is more long-lasting. But also, pleasure can lead you to happiness.
It is a bit difficult to relate this talk with the situation of confinement. Because it says that happiness can only be found in society, as opposed to pleasure. I think it is important that a person finds his own happiness alone, before trying to find it with others, just to see that he/she do not depend on anyone to be happy.
Sara Jun Botella
Having heard his speech, I believe that it was objective and clear, and that it helped me to better understand what happiness is. However, I would like to discuss how to obtain them.
As he stated, pleasure can only be obtained alone, but I'm certain you can experience pleasure with someone else, for example, in consensual sex, both of you are having a good time, giving each other pleasure. In addition, he said that society is the only place to find happiness. Again, I disagree. You can also achieve inner happiness by doing the things you love, for example, reading in your living room while you drink a cup of coffee, isn't that an instance of inner happiness?
It can't just be like he said; we can be happy with someone else, and we can also be happy alone, and it's important that we work at it.
Catalina R.
Thanks Iker, Xenia, Maria O, Sara Jun and Calalina R., my students of English for commenting on this post. I am happy to hear you found the video interesting and it shed some light on the importance of the distinction between happiness and pleasure. I totally agree with you that we need to be able to find happiness on our own.
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