Why Do We Choose Suffering?

Would you bet a male college student who is left alone in a room with no distractions except for an electric shock machine that creates a painful shock for them, would or would not shock themselves? If your local liquor store happens to be out of your favorite japanese whisky, is it worth driving across town to get it, or should you just stay at the local liqor store and just get your second favorite? Honestly, you should just stay at liquor stor just just tin a pick up some makers. You know, in a blind taste as youy, not going to be able to tellsoa ha, ha,ha, ha, ha,. good. And and it's

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Why do people train for a marathon? Listen to sad music? Eat really spicy food? All of these activities induce a painful response, yet they also bring us pleasure. We often set ourselves up for negative experiences because it primes us for positive ones further down the line. There is a balance, a sweet spot if you will, between the amount of pleasure we experience and the suffering that it takes to get us there.

World-renowned psychologist and author Paul Bloom, joins us on this episode to discuss his most recent book The Sweet Spot: The Pleasures of Suffering and the Search for Meaning (https://amzn.to/3Kmpweh). He challenges our definition of a fulfilling life, and why we actually NEED suffering to be part of it.

We are so conditioned in our culture to only seek out pleasure that even the notion of reading about suffering was not particularly appealing to us, well to Tim - it turns out Kurt might be somewhat of a benign masochist! But from the get-go, Paul’s compelling narrative convinced us that suffering can be motivating. Listen in and tell us if you think there is a sweet spot, and then reach out to us on email (info@behavioralgrooves.com), on Twitter (@behavioralgroov) or write us a quick review about the show (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/behavioral-grooves-podcast/id1303870112). Thanks!