Do you want it – or do you need it? Here's how you know | Oliver Burkeman

Next time you have the urge to check your phone, or have a second cocktail, remember you might not enjoy it as much as you thinkAs anyone who counts a three-year-old among their acquaintances will know, there ’s a fiery purity to the will of a small child that’s difficult to oppose. Once my son has figured out that there’s ice-cream in the freezer, and decided he wants some for dessert, my role is equivalent to that of the ineffectual UN diplomat attempting to persuade a major nation-state to stock pile fewer weapons: good luck with that. Yet frequently, on receiving the ice‑cream, he’ll decide to let it melt before consuming it – then forget about it completely. Hewants ice cream, monomaniacally, with a force his little frame almost can ’t contain. But he doesn’tlike it so very much that some other absorbing activity can ’t banish it from his mind.I only clearly grasped this distinction – and realised how it applies to me, too – when I encountered the findings of a study of coffee drinkers reportedon the Research Digest blog. Using various psychological tests, researchers showed that “heavy” drinkers (those consuming three or more cups per day) had a much greater desire for coffee than those who consumed less of it, or none. But they took roughly the same, far lower level of pleasure as light drinkers when it actually came to drinking it. More serious addictions – to alcoh ol, or hard drugs – are characterised by a similarsplit between wanting a...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Life and style Social media Psychology Source Type: news