Article Three

The third article I read was "Doped Up On Shopping" by Willow Dawson. The article was talking about how shopping has a direct effect on the brain's pleasure centers. It says that a trip to the mall can fill the brain with dopamine similar to a drug addict getting a fix.

"Dopamine is a neurotransmitter occurring in a wide variety of animals, including both vertebrates and invertebrates. In the brain, this phenethylamine functions as a neurotransmitter, activating the five types of dopamine receptors — D1, D2, D3, D4 and D5, and their variants. Dopamine is produced in several areas of the brain, including the substantia nigra and the ventral tegmental area.^[1] Dopamine is also a neurohormone released by the hypothalamus. Its main function as a hormone is to inhibit the release of prolactin from the anterior lobe of the pituitary."

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

Dopamine gets involved when someone sees something new. So when you go into a store, you are surrounded by new stuff, so when you go to the mall, you are getting a shopping high. So after you leave the store a few hours later you lose the happy feeling, such as a druggie coming down from a high.

I think this relates to psychology because it is giving you a high and the brain is actually causing it by you seeing all the new things. The high is caused by things such as clothes and shoes. I think this is a awesome thing to know, because next time I go to the mall I'll have a different outlook on it. Thinking back though, you are always happy when you go into a store and buy something but when you leave the store you are all kind of blah feeling.