Research on overeating and self-regulation has associated eating pleasure with short-term visceral impulses triggered by hunger, external cues, or internal emotional urges. Drawing on research on the social and cultural dimensions of eating, we contrast this approach with what we call "Epicurean" eating pleasure, which is the enduring pleasure derived from the aesthetic appreciation of the sens...

In the 15th century a middle-aged Italian citizen of noble ancestry, Luis Cornaro, had been living a life of gluttony. His indulgent lifestyle included extravagant food and, shall we say, frequent indulgence in sensual pleasure. Upon realizing that his health was slipping away, Cornaro consulted a physician who advised him that his habits would lead to his early demise. The recommended dietary ...

Impairments in social motivational processes may partially explain the differences in social interaction seen among individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The social motivation hypothesis would predict an association between reduced hedonic capacity and ASD. However, to date, findings have been mixed regarding hedonic deficits among individuals with ASD; adults report lower levels of ...

The book How Pleasure Works, by Paul Bloom, is less about how pleasure works and more about exactly what pleasure is—or rather what the essence of pleasure is. Nevertheless, it is a delightful treatise from an evolutionary psychologist's point of view on why we enjoy certain things more than others. Obviously, there is a direct biological need for food, shelter, and reproduction of the species ...

Most theories describe motivation using basic terminology (drive, 'wanting', goal, pleasure, etc.) that fails to inform well about the psychological mechanisms controlling its expression. This leads to a conception of motivation as a mere psychological state 'emerging' from neurophysiological substrates. However, the involvement of motivation in a large number of behavioural parameters (trigger...

BACKGROUND As students' hookah use has become a widespread problem in the developing countries, it is time to understand the cognitive determinants of students' decisions to do so. This study aimed to investigate the roles of psychological and demographic factors associated with hookah use among male high school students. METHODS This descriptive-analytical study was performed among 601 high ...

In this article, I propose a sex-positive framework for research on adolescent sexuality in which I consider consensual sexual activities in adolescence as developmentally normative and potentially healthy. The sex-positive framework is contrasted with the predominant "risk" perspective that presumes that abstinence from sexual activity is the ideal behavioral outcome for teenagers. Evidence fr...