Craving superficially looks like it cares about outcomes. However, it actually cares about positive or negative feelings (valence).
Really? My model has been that you can want something without really enjoying it or being happy to have it. (That comes mostly from reading Scott’s old post on wanting/liking/approving.) Or maybe you’re using “feelings (valence)” in a broader sense that encompasses “dopamine rush”? (I may be misunderstanding the exact meaning of “valence”; I haven’t dived deep into it, although I’ve been meaning to.)
Isn’t this kind of craving about avoiding negative valence? Having an addiction (a wanting) that’s not fulfilled is very unpleasant. My model of this is that the addiction starts from a model based place of choosing a behavior, then the pavlovian part takes offer as the behavior leads to a positive or avoiding a negative, then the model free system starts to get a handle on what’s happening with the palovian.
Ah yeah, this definitely describes my experiences with a lot of addiction-like behaviors. The behavior itself isn’t necessarily enjoyable, but not doing it feels aversive, and then there’s a craving to get rid of that aversive feeling.
Good question! My answer would be that craving is trying to get things that it expects will bring positive valence, but this prediction may or may not be accurate (though it may once have been). [EDIT: also, see mr-hire’s comment.]
Really? My model has been that you can want something without really enjoying it or being happy to have it. (That comes mostly from reading Scott’s old post on wanting/liking/approving.) Or maybe you’re using “feelings (valence)” in a broader sense that encompasses “dopamine rush”? (I may be misunderstanding the exact meaning of “valence”; I haven’t dived deep into it, although I’ve been meaning to.)
Isn’t this kind of craving about avoiding negative valence? Having an addiction (a wanting) that’s not fulfilled is very unpleasant. My model of this is that the addiction starts from a model based place of choosing a behavior, then the pavlovian part takes offer as the behavior leads to a positive or avoiding a negative, then the model free system starts to get a handle on what’s happening with the palovian.
Ah yeah, this definitely describes my experiences with a lot of addiction-like behaviors. The behavior itself isn’t necessarily enjoyable, but not doing it feels aversive, and then there’s a craving to get rid of that aversive feeling.
Good question! My answer would be that craving is trying to get things that it expects will bring positive valence, but this prediction may or may not be accurate (though it may once have been). [EDIT: also, see mr-hire’s comment.]