The Psychology Of Novelty And Dopamine Release In The Brain

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Our brains thrive on novelty and new experiences, as they stimulate us and make us happy. A study published in the journal Courneuron showed that when participants were shown mostly ordinary images, their pleasure centers were activated much more when they encountered unexpected, out-of-the-ordinary images. This demonstrates the power of novelty in bringing us joy and activating our brains.

We have all had that experience of feeling bored with our everyday life, whereby we look around and our daily experiences have lost some of the colour and excitement. Why is that the case? Psychology can provide some explanations including:

A lack of novelty and new experiences
Seasonal affective disorder
Overstimulation from our phones and social media
Social comparison
The benefits of a dopamine detox

We discuss all these reasons and more, as well as what we can do to change that! How can we break out of this boredom cycle and feel like our lives and everyday experiences are meaningful by embracing the beauty of an anti-routine, challenging ourselves to try new things once a week, keeping ourselves open to opportunities (even ones that are scary) or even trying a dopamine detox. Listen now for when life feels boring!

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