Monday, August 15, 2016

Chicken-pecking Problem

Eating cake every day causes my brain to crave cake to take away the craving that has been created by eating cake. Arrghh!

It's like a protection racket: if you don't eat cake, I'm going to make you regret it. I need to eat cake to keep me from torturing me. I have to eat cake to protect myself from my brain. But my brain started it to begin with.

I feel bad, so I eat cake, which makes me feel better--until I feel bad again, but this time it's because I didn't eat cake. And I need to eat more cake to feel the same as I did before I ate the cake. Oh, it's bad.


Negative reinforcement: doing something to prevent a negative outcome. Like those poor chickens in the experiment: keep pecking the lever or you'll get shocked. Keep paying the enforcer or you'll get your business burned down. Keep eating cake or you'll feel bad.