26 December 2016

Studies of the neurobiology of reward are important to    advance affective neuroscience, and they provide insights    into a variety of psychopathologies, including drug addiction,    eating disorders, obsession and depression. Progress    has been helped by the ability of neuroscientists to manipulate    an ever-expanding number of brain components.    Future studies will be most useful for elucidating the roles    of brain components if they can similarly parse behavioral    reward into its actual psychological components.   

Hochschild, Arlie R. 2003. The managed heart: Commercialization of human feeling. The book is a bona fide analysis of what its author calls selling emotions. According to this book we can imaging most internal traits of a human mind, such as joy or pleasure, under control of the narrative ego and even certain outside (hereby management) needs. Check your smile motto isn’t just for supermarket workers. It’s for nearly every sphere of public life. Resorting to what Karl Marx once said, we have to objectify our thoughts constantly (Verdinglichung, eng. Reification). It means turn some of our mental vibes to things (material and ideal).