> temp > à-trier > why-do-we-find-satisfying-things-so-satisfying-neuroscience-and-pleasure-what-i-ve-learned

Why do we find Satisfying things so Satisfying? (Neuroscience and Pleasure)

What I've Learned - 2020-04-29

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Books:
Jeffrey Schwartz's "Brain Lock" - https://amzn.to/2VP0dKI
Jaak Panksepp's "Affective Neuroscience" - https://amzn.to/3f3fv5U
Anjan Chatterjee's "The Aesthetic Brain" - https://amzn.to/3bTQGre
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's "Flow" - https://amzn.to/2WaIfkH
Gregory Bern's "Satisfaction!" - https://amzn.to/2SmmfSL

---
I actually started out working on this video with the aim to understand why "oddly satisfying" videos are satisfying. I figured the first step with that was to figure out why *anything* is satisfying. Since we call a lot of things satisfying, this was harder than I expected. When things are in perfect sync it's satisfying, when things are in perfect order is satisfying, it's satisfying when you are arranging your new living room and then the short square table you have fits perfectly between your two sofas and the surface of the table is flush with both sofa's arm rests. (Fun fact: in Japanese, you just say "feels good" (kimochi ii) for things like this) Unsurprisingly, there's not much research on the concept of "satisfying."  

Then I started looking into why we find things pleasurable. Jaak Panksepp says that things that are pleasurable are *biologically useful* . So it was even more curious that things seemingly irrelevant to keeping us alive should make us feel good.  

This video is the result of cobbling a bit of logic with information from books on Satisfaction, neuroscience, 'what the brain finds beautiful' as well as various research papers on the brain. I hope it's satisfying. 

(If editing videos didn't take so gotham long,  this video would be about an hour)

I still plan on making a "why oddly satisfying videos are satisfying" video at some point. I'd rather not dig through tiktok for asmr and slime videos just yet so it'll be a little while before that's done
---

Link to PDF of Script with Links to sources: https://www.patreon.com/posts/36551819

Warm Thanks to Eliana Vassena (her paper "Overlapping Neural Systems Represent Cognitive Effort and Reward Anticipation" appears at 5:18) she took the time to answer various questions I had about her papers and research. 

For Business inquiries: joseph.everett.wil@gmail.com

What I've Learned - 2020-04-29

What part of the video did you find most satisfying?

E4zyp34zyl3m0nsq33ZY - 2020-11-05

Nice .... Noice ....

Tritone - 2021-05-01

The part where I find the follow up video

Hamish - 2021-05-28

“you’re thirsty, cold, thirsty, and hungry”

Judah Callum - 2021-06-17

You probably dont care but if you guys are stoned like me atm then you can watch all the new movies on instaflixxer. Been streaming with my brother for the last few months =)

Julian Jackson - 2021-06-17

@Judah Callum Yea, I have been watching on instaflixxer for since december myself :)

timangar - 2020-04-29

"I'm thirsty, I'm cold, I'm thirsty, I'm hungry" I see what you did there

Pulse - 2020-05-02

@The Teenage experiment Thank you! Now I gets it lol

OVXX - 2020-05-23

i was just boutta say

Arraia - 2020-06-10

I was just coming to comment the same thing! Lol

Ian Cárdenas - Spanish, but Comprehensible - 2020-09-05

3:53

birb the topic man - 2020-09-07

There are other parts like this too

Robin Hi - 2020-04-29

You know what is satisfying ? A new upload from you

Louie Nasad - 2020-04-29

@Connor Singley you mean "noice!"

Tom Long - 2020-05-04

Yup, all his videos are excellent

Penn Ryan - 2020-05-05

<3

Spark FPV - 2020-05-09

Keep it up

Teó Faragó - 2020-05-25

420th like is from me on this comment

Let's Find Out ASMR - 2020-04-29

im trying to research what makes the asmr in humans. thanks for this.

i think the natural suppression of anxiety is the result of environmental sounds and visuals that signify safety, which is the prerequisite for the brain to reduce alertness and allow sleep.

babyyumo - 2020-04-29

You make a great point! Super interesting.

pookey - 2020-06-22

I suppose I should also add that I've not got any mental health issues, anxiety or sleep disorders. I'm a person that's happy with his life and a successful long-term relationship.

That girl from hell that kidnaps bad people. - 2020-04-29

Stacking the dirty dishes by size & washing in order: +10
No stray suds/ water splashes: +5
No oily dishes to wash: +20
Final cup still has small amount of water that poured on the dried dishes below: -50

Lucroq - 2020-04-29

Oof, that last one was instant dissatisfaction

What I've Learned - 2020-04-29

Can confirm

Dakinilover - 2020-05-01

All my favorite coffee mugs (really big ones) are dirty, so in order to drink my morning coffee I need to wash one: -5000

BrainPower - 2020-04-29

i'm so satisfied by the "nice" sound

Rosario Candelero - 2020-04-30

Me too

Dulhov - 2020-05-01

@Ulti Mator Thanks, now I can rest easy! That poem is quite hilarious 😄

AnonymIkognito - 2020-05-01

Nice!

Francisco Berenguer - 2020-06-04

I would like to get the "nice/complete" meme/figure so I can use it on my Slack, can anyone help please? 🙏🙇‍♂️

BrainPower - 2020-06-05

@Francisco Berenguer search for "noice" , you'll find a video with 15 mln views. Then Just download the audio.

Marie Krátká - 2020-05-01

I thoroughly enjoyed the extra couple of seconds with otters juggling rocks, thank you.

Mark Gulish - 2020-04-29

I like all the text overlays and graphics. Your quality keeps getting better! Keep it up man!

Andrei Severin - 2020-04-29

I wish the video uploads would also increase...

Aadi Sam - 2020-04-29

@Andrei Severin quantity vs quality

Tales of Horror - 2020-04-29

"they will always be hard" shows David Goggins running an ultra marathon Nice.

Ryan Rankin - 2020-04-30

Nice

Tiny Tina - 2020-05-04

3:55 "I'm thirsty, I'm cold, I'm thirsty, I'm hungry" - my life

Maxi Montano - 2020-04-29

Oh yes, the Daigo parry. I get chills every time

Ubai Kamal - 2020-04-29

We've been waiting for ages

TheOutofgame - 2020-04-29

so for the waiting this videos is satisfying

Andrei Severin - 2020-04-29

Well at least Every time the Content is of Great quality and very informative. If you watch it multiple times😅

gamescomgamer - 2020-04-29

And now our wait begins

Aaron M - 2020-04-30

@TheOutofgame yupppp

MatthewNJDavis - 2020-05-01

I'm definitely referring to COD as Carlton's Duty from now on.
I hope they put his dance in a new patch for showboating.

Brutal_Wizerd - 2020-04-30

I really liked how you were mildly memeing throughout the video

Akshay Sreedhar - 2020-04-29

Hands down.. the best channel I've found on YouTube

Relachi - 2020-05-19

noice

SWAT team gaming - 2021-01-13

👍

GambitRaps - 2020-05-11

I laughed literally every time the “noice” sound effect played

sulf fojus - 2020-05-14

Noice

zeljkodjokovic - 2020-05-02

Otters juggle freakin' rocks. Well isn't that the cutest thing i have ever seen!

Jay Kessler - 2020-04-29

The sound design and animations were awesome. This is my favorite channel on YouTube and the quality just keeps getting better.

Andrei Severin - 2020-04-29

Let's hope the uploads too

Jay Kessler - 2020-04-29

You right my man

WebmediArt - 2020-04-29

I agree in every point you made. This is High quality content. Way more satisfying to watch than the mass media flood out there these times... :-)

Syren Lush - 2020-04-29

The release of this video was at the perfect time. I just sat down and was thinking about how satisfying scraping dried acrylic paint off my glass palette was as I cleaned it.

Makar Lock - 2020-05-04

The production quality and science of WIL are what’s satisfying here.

Corbono - 2020-04-29

No one's commented about him sayin Carrollton's Duty

KanedaSyndrome - 2020-05-06

That annoyed me lol.

swordchucks777 - 2020-05-16

The fact that he also said "River City Robertson" and "Super Smash Bradley" makes me think this vid might also be a low-key way to annoy people with OCD.

ivanaviNiebla - 2020-06-04

@swordchucks777 That's what I thought when he left the puzzle unfinished at the beggining

birb the topic man - 2020-09-07

He also said, “In thirsty, I’m cold, I’m hungry, I’m thirsty”

Dismissive drive-by posting in a sensitive topic. - 2020-04-29

Inventory management in Escape From Tarkov is like Tetris combined with amazing sound effects that convey the composition and weight of the manipulated items.

School of Ideas - 2020-05-01

I can’t wait for part two of this video! The most dissatisfied thing about it was to hear about the moneys that could be more time focusing than me (10 hours of focusing work is unbelievable amazing) I hope one day I can be like those moneys!

Thomas Hauer - 2020-05-01

6:18 Your ability to enjoy certain things depends on your understanding of its difficulty.




Nice

Matthew Motte - 2020-06-09

This speaks volumes to me. I used to have these moments of recognition on a daily basis, through the recognition of obscure samples used in movies overlayed onto hip-hop tracks, deriving pleasure from social situations despite not being naturally sociable and reading about science, philosophy and eastern religion and connecting dots in my brain...
Now I spend my life on YouTube

joshy josh - 2020-04-30

Anyone feel satisfied after finishing reading a book?

Arquitetando Ideias EI - 2020-05-02

I am actually getting satisfied after reading some pages everday.

Tumble Sensei - 2020-04-29

That RING when you clear and entire enemy camp in MGS5. Most pleasurable sound in any game.

Andrei Severin - 2020-04-29

Don't forget to not get spotted!

KayLow - 2020-04-29

I am satisfied just by seeing an upload from this channel

Michelle Glo - 2020-04-29

Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Love your content. Can’t wait to watch this half a dozen times.

__zajklar - 2020-04-29

How could some people disliked this meticulously crafted video? So dissatisfying...pls help

FromTheWoods - 2020-04-30

It takes too long to get to the point

S E B - 2020-05-01

@FromTheWoods Genuinely find something as basic as being impatient worth clicking dislike lol. I just click off the video unless it genuinely angers me

Arquitetando Ideias EI - 2020-05-02

It is not everyone, unfortunatelly, that have enough skills to see what is truly satisfying.

Dark Project - 2020-10-17

it's not perfect.

Sean Wood - 2020-05-06

I've been playing Sekiro lately, and the sharp clanging noise when you successfully parry an attack is 100% this.

Bilal Kawsara - 2020-04-30

The most satisfying part was Can we actually make use of this information in our daily lives? I'm So Excited!! I love this channel and your work, and I'm now officially on board for turning on notifications :) !!

aleidius - 2020-04-29

I found seeing this channel upload a new video to be deeply gratifying.

Joshua Anderson - 2020-04-29

I find the majority of instagram “satisfying” content unsatisfying. They tend to do the exact opposite of what I would like

Veritas - 2020-05-11

YOU'RE THE REASON I STARTED MY OWN YOUTUBE BASED ON PSYCHOLOGY AND NEUROSCIENCE.
Please don't ever stop making videos? glad to see you back :)

Bander Adel - 2020-04-29

I cannot wait already for pt.2 🤷🏻‍♂️

X M - 2020-05-07

Love all of your videos!
Thank you so much for the immense effort you put in everyone of them.

Nicolás Real - 2020-05-04

It's satisfying: to complete things (particularly difficult things), receiving feedback and recognizing things.

Lone Ranger - 2020-04-29

Since we live in a universe which fundamentally works on the principles of Entropy and eventual disorder, maybe a glimpse at what is considered order soothes our minds and keeps us at peace. Because as humans it is more harmonic to feel satisfied than to try to understand how our very existence is reliant on disorder.

Gibby Splendid - 2020-04-30

Micheal Ellis Dude saying that is absolutely asinine. Entropy is just as simple as saying that the nature of things is in disorder. Take atomic structures for example some of them have ridiculously close to a whole number in terms of atomic weight but have .999.... infinitely. It is in a state of incompleteness which can be interpreted as disorderly. Atomic structures are so incomplete many often need to complete themselves as closely as they can given the laws of physics and thus satisfies one need but almost never become complete in every sense of the word. Fibonacci sequence is another example incomplete things become the building blocks of larger incomplete things. To some degree no matter how you view the world it has to be incomplete or in a state of disorder to exist.

Nouamane Bourdaoui - 2020-05-02

Thanks to your channel, I started to love science and chose to go to medschool. Thank you very much

Insatiable Lechery - 2020-04-30

Every time I read a chapter and get a 100 on a quiz, I go on YouTube and play the victory theme of persona 5 lmaoo

YOUFORIA - 2020-04-29

LETSSSSSSSSSSSS GOOOOOOOOO

NEW VIDEO. WE MISSED YOU.

CoolTomnoddy - 2020-05-09

Hearing your voice has become (oddly) satisfying for you always seem to hit the nail on the head with your reasoning.

Milica Ivanić - 2020-04-29

finally a new video!!! was starting to develop a severe deprivation of WIL content, rewatching old videos stopped helping at one point

Clayton Weyl - 2020-04-29

15:55 not to mention the amazing sound of hitting a meteor smash and the delightful KO sound at the end of a match.

Brandon Tymkow - 2020-04-30

“Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.”
-St Augustine

Adam M - 2020-04-29

You sure exploited the Zeigarnik Effect at the end of video. Now, I'm looking forward to the 2nd part more than ever!☺️

Elizabeth - 2021-01-31

hey, I found this video really informative. i've struggled with a mild form of compulsive disorder and people around me haven't really understood why I do what I do I hurt myself. it's hard to explain that these compulsions are a result of trying to scratch an itch.

daniel_960_ - 2020-05-26

Imagine all these accomplishment sounds from video games in real life when you did something productive. That would be awesome 😂
People definitely would be more motivated to do stuff.