Y'all have got to help me out here!

In Psychology we have to write a 4 page paper on what gives us pleasure (beyond sexuality).

The longest thing I have ever written is 2 pages!

How do I go about this?? Please help!

ayeishamaria said:

Y'all have got to help me out here!

In Psychology we have to write a 4 page paper on what gives us pleasure (beyond sexuality).

The longest thing I have ever written is 2 pages!

How do I go about this?? Please help!

1. Make a list of things that give you pleasure.

2. Bullshit.

Rather, what gives YOU pleasure??

Ace said:

ayeishamaria said:

Y'all have got to help me out here!

In Psychology we have to write a 4 page paper on what gives us pleasure (beyond sexuality).

The longest thing I have ever written is 2 pages!

How do I go about this?? Please help!

1. Make a list of things that give you pleasure.

2. Bullshit.

3. Double space

Open with the first verse of Getaway by EWF. lol

Dip into a short intro about the definition, that eats up a few lines.

Discuss the body's use for pleasure as a reward for certain activities and why those acts do and do not foster the health and propagation of the species.

Example: sex is amazing. sweet and fatty salty foods are delicious. Despite constant invective about the dangers of both, the inherent reward supercedes any rhetoric or reason for the masses to abandon them.

Conversely, healthy food sucks. Exercise hurts. Why does the body not reward us as immediately for doing things we know are good for it?

Talk about the different centers of the brain and the chemicals they release in response to certain stimuli

Example: Oxytocin/cuddling & intimacy, epinephrine/fear & exhiliration, etc

Talk about escapism.

Mention masochism.

That's like 3 pages right there.

[Edited 11/1/10 9:44am]

ayeishamaria said:

Rather, what gives YOU pleasure??

Hell I could fill 4 pages with just the list part !

life is filled with pleasures

best wishes on your paper !

Maybe you should take the philosophical route and explain what is pleasure in the view of utilitarians. They believe that the only way to make the world a better place is to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. John Stuart Mills has a good definition of what pleasure is...(albeit the theory is flawed, the definition on what gives us pleasure might help).

Genesia said:

Ace said:

1. Make a list of things that give you pleasure.

2. Bullshit.

3. Double space

18 pt. font, huge margins...

chocolate1 said:

Genesia said:

3. Double space

18 pt. font, huge margins...

Landscaped.

Aw, hell. Just do it as a PowerPoint and call it done.

Genesia said:

chocolate1 said:

18 pt. font, huge margins...

Landscaped.

Aw, hell. Just do it as a PowerPoint and call it done.

You wouldn't believe some of the papers we get...

We told our class to buy marble notebooks for journal assignments. One boy bought a 3x5 in notebook and then tried to argue that it was marble, and he filled 2 pages for the assignment!

ayeishamaria said:

Y'all have got to help me out here!

In Psychology we have to write a 4 page paper on what gives us pleasure (beyond sexuality).

The longest thing I have ever written is 2 pages!

How do I go about this?? Please help!

Line spacing by 1.5 or 2.0

chocolate1 said:

Genesia said:

Landscaped.

Aw, hell. Just do it as a PowerPoint and call it done.

You wouldn't believe some of the papers we get...

We told our class to buy marble notebooks for journal assignments. One boy bought a 3x5 in notebook and then tried to argue that it was marble, and he filled 2 pages for the assignment!

Kids today.

Genesia said:

Ace said:

1. Make a list of things that give you pleasure.

2. Bullshit.

3. Double space

But seriously:

How is what gives US pleasure going to help you? You still have to decide what gives YOU pleasure.

• Make a list of things that you like.
• Decide WHY you like those things...
• How do you react to those things when you see/hear/eat/experience them?
• How did you feel the first time you saw/heard/ate/experienced them?
• Was it something you wished you could do again? Why?
• What do these things remind you of? Describe the experiences they're linked to.

After you come up with answers to these questions, create full sentences- then paragraphs for them, and arrange them in to a logical order that flows.

I like the idea of beginning by discussing what pleasure is...

When is it due?

"According to Webster's Dictionary..."

NDRU said:

"According to Webster's Dictionary..."

I'm wondering how technical this paper needs to be....

Is it a general/everyday language type of thing... like "sex, food, money possessions, status"...

or is it supposed to get into the brain, neurotransmitters, evolution etc...

I think your paper can become very interesting if you talk about how physical sensations can sometimes be separate of the good and bad feelings that come with them...

eg: a lot of times when we eat the exact same food, it doesn't taste as good... the "physical" sensation may be exactly the same (it's not that something happened to our taste buds), but something in our mind makes it that it doesn't give the same satisfaction...

with pain, there's a disorder called reactive dissociation, mindblowing stuff... where the patient can acutely feel pain, however the feeling of "badness" is gone... it's not that there's numbness... the physical sensation of pain is there, but it no longer feels bad... I suspect there's something very similar with pleasure...

Pain and pleasure are, I think, very different than what they seem like at first glance.

[Edited 11/1/10 14:46pm]

real pleasure - is that like joy? I know all about joy!

I get it all the time when I drive in my car alone with my favourite song, when I look forwards to something, when it's a sunny day.

Is pleasure more about the senses? like chocolate mousse?

chocolate1 said:

But seriously:

How is what gives US pleasure going to help you? You still have to decide what gives YOU pleasure.

• Make a list of things that you like.
• Decide WHY you like those things...
• How do you react to those things when you see/hear/eat/experience them?
• How did you feel the first time you saw/heard/ate/experienced them?
• Was it something you wished you could do again? Why?
• What do these things remind you of? Describe the experiences they're linked to.

After you come up with answers to these questions, create full sentences- then paragraphs for them, and arrange them in to a logical order that flows.

I like the idea of beginning by discussing what pleasure is...

When is it due?

I started it on it today. I just wanted to make sure I didn't miss any things that also give me pleasure, thats how it was going to help haha.

The rough draft is due Nov. 18th!

crazydoctor said:

I'm wondering how technical this paper needs to be....

Is it a general/everyday language type of thing... like "sex, food, money possessions, status"...

or is it supposed to get into the brain, neurotransmitters, evolution etc...

I think your paper can become very interesting if you talk about how physical sensations can sometimes be separate of the good and bad feelings that come with them...

eg: a lot of times when we eat the exact same food, it doesn't taste as good... the "physical" sensation may be exactly the same (it's not that something happened to our taste buds), but something in our mind makes it that it doesn't give the same satisfaction...

with pain, there's a disorder called reactive dissociation, mindblowing stuff... where the patient can acutely feel pain, however the feeling of "badness" is gone... it's not that there's numbness... the physical sensation of pain is there, but it no longer feels bad... I suspect there's something very similar with pleasure...

Pain and pleasure are, I think, very different than what they seem like at first glance.

[Edited 11/1/10 14:46pm]

It is closer to just a general everyday type of thing, I believe.

I don't understand what you mean by feeling pain, but the badness being gone.

Thanks everyone for your input so far!

It's making it 10 times less stressful!

ayeishamaria said:

crazydoctor said:

I'm wondering how technical this paper needs to be....

Is it a general/everyday language type of thing... like "sex, food, money possessions, status"...

or is it supposed to get into the brain, neurotransmitters, evolution etc...

I think your paper can become very interesting if you talk about how physical sensations can sometimes be separate of the good and bad feelings that come with them...

eg: a lot of times when we eat the exact same food, it doesn't taste as good... the "physical" sensation may be exactly the same (it's not that something happened to our taste buds), but something in our mind makes it that it doesn't give the same satisfaction...

with pain, there's a disorder called reactive dissociation, mindblowing stuff... where the patient can acutely feel pain, however the feeling of "badness" is gone... it's not that there's numbness... the physical sensation of pain is there, but it no longer feels bad... I suspect there's something very similar with pleasure...

Pain and pleasure are, I think, very different than what they seem like at first glance.

[Edited 11/1/10 14:46pm]

It is closer to just a general everyday type of thing, I believe.

I don't understand what you mean by feeling pain, but the badness being gone.

It's actually called "Pain Asymbolia" :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pain_asymbolia

The physical sensation is there... but the suffering isn't.

ayeishamaria said:

It is closer to just a general everyday type of thing, I believe.

You can go into long-term vs. short-term pleasures... the pleasure of intellectual pursuits... or creating art... maybe even meditation...