Any research leads on cognitive effects of desire

April 6, 2006 5:59 PM

I was interested in buddhist or other religious or even philosophical doctrines on the notion that desire enslaves the MIND. Scientific references, too, but my guess is that religion and philosophy have devoted more thought to this area. To clarify, I am interested in the COGNITIVE effects of desire, not moral issues (as in the 7 deadly sins, gluttony, lust, etc.) Any leads greatly appreciated! Thanks a bunch!
posted by adamrobinson to Religion & Philosophy (11 answers total)

i'm no expert, but Spinoza's Ethics sounds like it might be worth your while.
posted by soma lkzx at 6:05 PM on April 6, 2006

Alan Watts may be of some interest.
posted by unmake at 6:23 PM on April 6, 2006

Here's a Nature Neuroscience review: Multiple Reward Signals in the Brain (PDF).
posted by Gyan at 6:39 PM on April 6, 2006

I'm pretty handy with PsycINFO, and the best I was able to find was this article:

Sexual peak: Socially shared cognitions about desire, frequency, and satisfaction in men and women
From: Personal Relationships. Vol 9(3), Sep 2002, pp. 287-299
Abstract: Is a man's sexual peak earlier than a woman's? Three studies were conducted to examine (a) whether the perception that men achieve their sexual peak at a younger age than do women is shared across individuals of different ages and sexes, (b) whether sexual peak is defined differently for men and women, and (c) whether differences between definitions contribute to differences in the age at which men and women are perceived to reach sexual peak. Study 1 (three samples, aged 17-77 yrs) suggested that participants believed that females reach their sexual peak at an older age than do males. Study 2 (subjects aged 18-36 yrs) indicated that the defining feature of sexual peak for males was sexual desire and for females was sexual satisfaction. Study 3 (subjects aged 40-62 yrs) suggested that predictions of male sexual peak coincided with participants' predictions of male age of highest desire and frequency, but not satisfaction, and that female sexual peak coincided with participants' predictions of female age of highest satisfaction but not frequency or desire. Discussion focuses on potential reasons for differences between the perception of male and female sexuality, as well as the social and evolutionary importance of each of the dimensions of sexuality for both males and females.

Also possibly of note...

Images of desire: Cognitive models of craving
From: Memory. Special Issue: Memory : Mental imagery and memory in psychopathology. Vol 12(4), Jul 2004, pp. 447-461
Abstract: Cognitive modelling of phenomena in clinical practice allows the operationalisation of otherwise diffuse descriptive terms such as craving or flashbacks. This supports the empirical investigation of the clinical phenomena and the development of targeted treatment interventions. This paper focuses on the cognitive processes underpinning craving, which is recognised as a motivating experience in substance dependence. We use a high-level cognitive architecture, Interacting Cognitive Subsystems (ICS), to compare two theories of craving: Tiffany's theory, centred on the control of automated action schemata, and our own Elaborated Intrusion theory of craving. Data from a questionnaire study of the subjective aspects of everyday desires experienced by a large non-clinical population are presented. Both the data and the high-level modelling support the central claim of the Elaborated Intrusion theory that imagery is a key element of craving, providing the subjective experience and mediating much of the associated disruption of concurrent cognition.

The effect of a cognitive-behavioral group treatment program on hypoactive sexual desire in women
From: Sexual and Relationship Therapy. Vol 16(2), May 2001, pp. 145-164
Abstract: The present paper describes the first extensive controlled study designed to assess and treat Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder (HSD) following an innovative, short-term, cognitive-behavioral group treatment program. HSD is well known to be among the most complex and difficult sexual disorders to treat. While the clinical literature reports positive treatment outcomes and descriptions of successful sex therapy techniques for sexual desire disorders, most of these are based primarily on single or multiple case studies following various therapeutic approaches. To date, there are no comprehensive controlled treatment outcome studies on the effect cognitive-behavioral treatment has on HSD. 74 couples (20-55 yrs old) participated in the study. Results of this study are presented, as well as some descriptive information on women presenting with HSD. In general, results indicate that the treatment protocol is effective. It not only decreases the symptoms of this sexual disorder, but also improves overall cognitive, behavioral and marital functioning associated with HSD.

Freud and Fechner, desire and energy, hermeneutics and psychophysics
From: Cognition, information processing, and psychophysics: Basic issues. Scientific psychology series. (pp. 23-42). Hillsdale, NJ, England: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. xiv, 333 pp.
Abstract: Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory owed much to . . . the scientific writings of the physicist-psychophysicist Gustav Fechner / among Fechner's contributions to Freudian theory two stand out / one is the notion that different mental processes take place at different psychological locations / the second is the principle that mental/biological systems seek to maximize pleasure and minimize pain / his concept of "inner psychophysics," may help to link two disparate aspects of psychoanalytic theory: the energetic or economic aspect, which deals with quantity and energy, and the hermeneutic aspect, which deals with layers of meanings recount some of the natural-science origins of Freudian psychoanalysis / use the relations between Freud and Fechner to comment on . . . how one might relate the positivistic and hermeneutic approaches to psychoanalysis.

...not looking like psychology is the field that you should focus your search on. If you do not have access to the above articles and would like to peruse them, drop me an e-mail.
posted by charmston at 7:01 PM on April 6, 2006

Very roughly speaking, Buddhism says that desire (usually 'attachment') consumes our attention, leaving us out of touch with our true selves. What we usually call our mind -- the thing making all the judgements and comparisons about the world -- is, itself, a construct of attachments, and has no real existence (leading to lots of scary sounding rhetoric about needing to "destroy the self.")

So I wouldn't say that Buddhism quite says that desire enslaves the mind. It's more that the mind itself is slavery.

Buddhist practice is designed to allow you to come to your true self, which is something that can't be put in words -- in fact, most Buddhist rhetoric avoids explicit labels like "true self" and stick to returning to center or something more vague like that.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 9:04 PM on April 6, 2006

I'm not so sure Spinoza will do you any good. His ethic system does focus on our attitudes (and thus desires) but it is supposed to be intimately related to his rather unique metaphysical picture.

I would recommend Aristotle, specifically the Nicomachean Ethics. He argued that our desires were both the product of cognitive processes and helped shape our future mindset. (The preceding was a gross oversimplification, naturally.)
posted by oddman at 9:11 PM on April 6, 2006

Are we talking romantic desire, or material, or something else?

Why did you categorize the 7-deadlies as moral issues? I think that might be part of your obstacle -- discounting the reference material from which you're seeking answers before you've even analyzed it.... ?
posted by vanoakenfold at 10:58 PM on April 6, 2006

vanoakenfold: I think he means he would like confirmation of certain religious doctrines regarding desire from science or science-like fields. As far as philosophy goes, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari detail quite a bit on desire in a positive sense (using it sort-of as a substitution for Marx's 'abstract labor'). It doesn't sound like exactly what you're looking for, but perhaps a different perspective on desire would be useful, even if only to understand your own position by distinction.
posted by Frankieist at 11:50 PM on April 6, 2006

Also, on second thought, "desire" in and of itself is not generally used in scientific literature very often, as far as I'm aware - the term, as you pointed out, carries some moral baggage, which most scientists hope to avoid (except for those that have a moral agenda behind their research).
posted by Frankieist at 11:53 PM on April 6, 2006

If you take the leap of assuming that lack of motivation means lack of desire, and note that lack of motivation is one of the hallmarks of depression, this might lead you to look into the literature on so-called "depressive realism," the hypothesis holding that depressed people (therefore, by the above reasoning, less-desiring people) are more realistic in their judgements than non-depressed people.
posted by paul! at 9:14 AM on April 7, 2006

Plato thinks the soul/mind has three parts: the rational part, the "spirited" part, and the bodily desiring part (aka the appetites). He thinks a person is in good order if their reason rules the other two parts, but that this requires special training and discipline. Most people are ruled by their desires, and this is bad. This is why he doesn't believe in democracy.

Here are two places to start with Plato. Each is available online in harder-to-read, but public domain, translations. If you find you are really interested, get the big "Plato's Complete Works" volume edited by John Cooper, which has good translations; your library should have it.

Phaedrus
Most famous image here: The reasoning part of the soul is like a charioteer, who must rein in the other two parts as if they are unruly horses.

Republic, book 4
posted by LobsterMitten at 12:31 AM on May 2, 2006