If you've ever thought that people are self-absorbed, now there's scientific evidence to back you up. A new study shows that talking about yourself gives you the same kind of rush as sex or money. From the Wall Street Journal online:
"Self-disclosure is extra rewarding," said Harvard neuroscientist Diana Tamir, who conducted the experiments with Harvard colleague Jason Mitchell. Their findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "People were even willing to forgo money in order to talk about themselves," Ms. Tamir said.
Generally, acts of self disclosure were accompanied by spurts of heightened activity in brain regions belonging to the meso-limbic dopamine system, which is associated with the sense of reward and satisfaction from food, money or sex.
This study not only verifies centuries of suspicions; it finally answers the question of why Facebook and Twitter exist. Now we just need a study showing why people love to talk about Kim Kardashian. It makes no sense. She's a hot chick who has nothing to say. You could find three hundred of those at the Mohegan Sun nightclubs right now.
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