How Dopamine Works

Most people think of willpower as a virtue, an admirable trait that we strive for but don't always achieve. But science tells a different story. Willpower—the ability to exercise self-control when you need it—is an instinct that's wired into our brains. Yet it seems like willpower vanishes at crucial moments, like when your coworker shows up with a box of donuts.

To harness your innate willpower, you need to understand what factors make you give up your self-control. In The Willpower Instinct, Stanford psychology professor Kelly McGonigal details how our natural willpower gets compromised by stress, distraction, lack of sleep and exercise, and a host of other factors. Using the latest psychology and neuroscience research, she offers strategies to help us defeat procrastination, control cravings, and achieve our goals.

Could a single molecule drive all of your ambitions, decide when you fall in love, and influence how you think? According to The Molecule of More, the answer is yes; a chemical called dopamine does all of that and much more. In this book, psychiatrist Daniel Z. Lieberman and educator Michael E. Long explain the many ways that dopamine affects your behavior, your emotions, and even your beliefs.

In this guide, we’ll explain what dopamine is and how it affects us. We’ll also discuss how some other chemicals in your brain work with—and against—dopamine, and why finding the right balance in your brain chemistry is the key to happiness.

Our commentary adds background information about the biology and chemistry of your brain. We also clarify how dopamine interacts with other chemicals, and even the structure of your brain itself, to produce the behaviors that the authors discuss.

Is there something you indulge in more often than you'd like? Maybe it's checking social media, eating junk food, or binging shows and movies on streaming platforms. In Dopamine Nation, addiction treatment specialist Anna Lembke explores what causes these behaviors and how you can take back control. She explains both the neurological and emotional causes of overindulgence and provides clear actionables to help you stop.

In this guide, you'll learn about how pleasure and pain motivate you to consume, strategies for keeping your brain’s natural chemicals in balance, and solutions to the psychological reasons so many people have a hard time stepping away from their favorite indulgence. Our guide supplements Lembke’s advice with targeted strategies while placing her principles in context with broader conversations on the nature of addiction.

Could a single molecule drive all of your ambitions, decide when you fall in love, and influence how you think? According to The Molecule of More, the answer is yes; a chemical called dopamine does all of that and much more. In this book, psychiatrist Daniel Z. Lieberman and educator Michael E. Long explain the many ways that dopamine affects your behavior, your emotions, and even your beliefs.

In this guide, we’ll explain what dopamine is and how it affects us. We’ll also discuss how some other chemicals in your brain work with—and against—dopamine, and why finding the right balance in your brain chemistry is the key to happiness.

Our commentary adds background information about the biology and chemistry of your brain. We also clarify how dopamine interacts with other chemicals, and even the structure of your brain itself, to produce the behaviors that the authors discuss.

Most people think of willpower as a virtue, an admirable trait that we strive for but don't always achieve. But science tells a different story. Willpower—the ability to exercise self-control when you need it—is an instinct that's wired into our brains. Yet it seems like willpower vanishes at crucial moments, like when your coworker shows up with a box of donuts.

To harness your innate willpower, you need to understand what factors make you give up your self-control. In The Willpower Instinct, Stanford psychology professor Kelly McGonigal details how our natural willpower gets compromised by stress, distraction, lack of sleep and exercise, and a host of other factors. Using the latest psychology and neuroscience research, she offers strategies to help us defeat procrastination, control cravings, and achieve our goals.

Is there something you indulge in more often than you'd like? Maybe it's checking social media, eating junk food, or binging shows and movies on streaming platforms. In Dopamine Nation, addiction treatment specialist Anna Lembke explores what causes these behaviors and how you can take back control. She explains both the neurological and emotional causes of overindulgence and provides clear actionables to help you stop.

In this guide, you'll learn about how pleasure and pain motivate you to consume, strategies for keeping your brain’s natural chemicals in balance, and solutions to the psychological reasons so many people have a hard time stepping away from their favorite indulgence. Our guide supplements Lembke’s advice with targeted strategies while placing her principles in context with broader conversations on the nature of addiction.

Most people think of willpower as a virtue, an admirable trait that we strive for but don't always achieve. But science tells a different story. Willpower—the ability to exercise self-control when you need it—is an instinct that's wired into our brains. Yet it seems like willpower vanishes at crucial moments, like when your coworker shows up with a box of donuts.

To harness your innate willpower, you need to understand what factors make you give up your self-control. In The Willpower Instinct, Stanford psychology professor Kelly McGonigal details how our natural willpower gets compromised by stress, distraction, lack of sleep and exercise, and a host of other factors. Using the latest psychology and neuroscience research, she offers strategies to help us defeat procrastination, control cravings, and achieve our goals.

Is there something you indulge in more often than you'd like? Maybe it's checking social media, eating junk food, or binging shows and movies on streaming platforms. In Dopamine Nation, addiction treatment specialist Anna Lembke explores what causes these behaviors and how you can take back control. She explains both the neurological and emotional causes of overindulgence and provides clear actionables to help you stop.

In this guide, you'll learn about how pleasure and pain motivate you to consume, strategies for keeping your brain’s natural chemicals in balance, and solutions to the psychological reasons so many people have a hard time stepping away from their favorite indulgence. Our guide supplements Lembke’s advice with targeted strategies while placing her principles in context with broader conversations on the nature of addiction.

Could a single molecule drive all of your ambitions, decide when you fall in love, and influence how you think? According to The Molecule of More, the answer is yes; a chemical called dopamine does all of that and much more. In this book, psychiatrist Daniel Z. Lieberman and educator Michael E. Long explain the many ways that dopamine affects your behavior, your emotions, and even your beliefs.

In this guide, we’ll explain what dopamine is and how it affects us. We’ll also discuss how some other chemicals in your brain work with—and against—dopamine, and why finding the right balance in your brain chemistry is the key to happiness.

Our commentary adds background information about the biology and chemistry of your brain. We also clarify how dopamine interacts with other chemicals, and even the structure of your brain itself, to produce the behaviors that the authors discuss.

Could a single molecule drive all of your ambitions, decide when you fall in love, and influence how you think? According to The Molecule of More, the answer is yes; a chemical called dopamine does all of that and much more. In this book, psychiatrist Daniel Z. Lieberman and educator Michael E. Long explain the many ways that dopamine affects your behavior, your emotions, and even your beliefs.

In this guide, we’ll explain what dopamine is and how it affects us. We’ll also discuss how some other chemicals in your brain work with—and against—dopamine, and why finding the right balance in your brain chemistry is the key to happiness.

Our commentary adds background information about the biology and chemistry of your brain. We also clarify how dopamine interacts with other chemicals, and even the structure of your brain itself, to produce the behaviors that the authors discuss.

Most people think of willpower as a virtue, an admirable trait that we strive for but don't always achieve. But science tells a different story. Willpower—the ability to exercise self-control when you need it—is an instinct that's wired into our brains. Yet it seems like willpower vanishes at crucial moments, like when your coworker shows up with a box of donuts.

To harness your innate willpower, you need to understand what factors make you give up your self-control. In The Willpower Instinct, Stanford psychology professor Kelly McGonigal details how our natural willpower gets compromised by stress, distraction, lack of sleep and exercise, and a host of other factors. Using the latest psychology and neuroscience research, she offers strategies to help us defeat procrastination, control cravings, and achieve our goals.

Robert Sapolsky, a professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University, wrote Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst to explore the myriad influences on human behavior.

As a child, Sapolsky became both fascinated and horrified with the atrocities of the Holocaust, and strove to understand the science behind how people could do such terrible things. That fascination grew into a lifelong study of science and people and led directly to this book.

In this guide, we’ve divided Sapolsky’s ideas along classic “nature versus nurture” lines—in other words, how much are we influenced by our own innate tendencies versus our surroundings and how we were raised? Our commentary will provide background information on Sapolsky’s ideas, explore interesting details to deepen your understanding of the subjects, and examine some scientific theories that conflict with Sapolsky’s.