Choose for yourself or choose for someone else. Consider whether or not to take the advice of others with you. Being able to make a decision on your own or needing help. Really sail your own course or…….
For many, sailing your own course has a different definition and a different interpretation. One believes that everything happens for a reason and that everything is your own course in the end anyway. Another needs time to grow in sailing their own course, first needs help from others and can later start sailing their own course. [6]
Sailing your own course depends on making decisions. Influenced by the opinion of others or not, you ultimately make a decision with your own brain. Various biotic factors have such an influence on this and the experience that this entails will influence the choice to sail your own course in the future.
One of these biotic factors is feeling. [2] In order to investigate the functioning of this biotic factor and its actual influence, the following research question has been formulated: “Does the feeling of pride, and thus the functioning of dopamine, influence decision-making and thus influence the sailing of your own course?”
Decision-making is one of many processes that take place in the brain, and it results from the transfer of information between neurons at synapses (contact points between nerve cells). Neurons make up about 10% of the nervous system. The other 90% consists of various types of glial cells. These are cells that support neurons by nourishing and protecting them. For example, astrocytes ensure the exchange of substances between the blood and neurons, and microglial cells provide protection against disease agents by changing into phagocytes. [1]
Each neuron consists of a cell body and two types of branches, the dendrites, and the axons, with a synapse at the end. Each of these branches has its own function. The dendrites carry impulses towards the cell body, and the axons carry impulses coming from the cell body. In the peripheral nervous system, the axons are surrounded by special glial cells, the cells of Schwann. These cells form an insulating myelin sheath around each axon, protecting the axon so that an impulse can be transmitted more quickly. Myelin sheaths also occur in the brain and spinal cord. Here it is the oligodendrocytes that form myelin sheaths around switching neurons. [1]
Throughout the nervous system, neurons transmit information by means of impulses via the axons and dendrites and by means of neurotransmitters, molecules that can transmit information with both chemical and electrical signals. [1,5] These signals originate around the membrane of neurons, which consists of a double layer of phospholipids with cholesterol and protein. Because there are ions in different concentrations both inside and outside this membrane, a certain potential is created. Changing this potential has a series of consequences that ultimately provide the signal that allows information to be transferred from neuron to neuron via neurotransmitters. [1]
Different types of neurotransmitters are responsible for different processes in the brain. There are neurotransmitters, especially for moving muscles, and also neurotransmitters that make it possible to feel emotions and thus influence mental well-being. [2]
An example of a neurotransmitter that affects mental well-being is dopamine. [4] This is a neurotransmitter released in the mid-brain [7] and is widely distributed in the brain. [2] The midbrain, together with the pons and the medulla oblongata (connection brain and spinal cord), is part of the brainstem.
Dopamine gives a feeling of pride, happiness, and joy and therefore plays an important role in reward and motivation (wanting something) because there is a constant desire for the feeling of pride. Yet 'wanting something' is completely separate from 'liking something' because motivation is not always accompanied by positivity, but often evokes the feeling of pride, which takes on the role of reward in this. [3]
For a neurotransmitter such as dopamine, just like for other neurotransmitters such as serotonin, (nor)epinephrine ((nor)adrenaline) and oxytocin, there must be a balance in the amount present. An excess of dopamine can lead to addiction. [3] The deficiency of dopamine causes problems in the thalamus. This is a part of the brain that selects which impulses go from the senses to the cerebral cortex by inhibiting certain impulses. A lack of dopamine ensures that this selection does not go well. [1]
The amount of dopamine present also influences well-being, the aforementioned feeling of happiness, joy, and pride and will therefore also influence the motivation for sailing one's own course. In order to provide insight into this on a small scale, a research group of twenty people was first asked to describe their feelings in a survey in the following four situations outlined:
1) What feeling(s) do you experience when you (yet) achieve success after someone else has told you to do something (against your will)?
2) What feeling(s) do you experience if you do NOT achieve success after someone else has told you to do something (against your will)?
3) What feeling(s) do you experience when you achieve success after sailing your own course? (So if you have made a choice for yourself, perhaps against the wishes or expectations of others).
4) What feeling(s) do you experience if you do NOT achieve success after sailing your own course? (So if you have made a choice for yourself, perhaps against the wishes or expectations of others).
To describe the feelings, one could choose from the following list of emotions from which several could be selected: anxious, happy, angry, lonely, happy, impulsive, unhappy, worried, relieved, relaxed, strong, proud, sad, surprised, hostile, vindictive, and nervous.
The results are in the form of a table attached as an attachment and are visible in the following bar charts.
(The charts are in Dutch because this topic was originally an assignment I did in a preparation course before going to university. Sadly, all the graphs (and the data they were made with) in this blog got lost, so I was not able to translate them or make them again.)
(On the x-axis, emotions are noted. From left to right these are happy, proud, lucky, surprised, strong, relaxed, relieved, impulsive, sad, lonely, anxious, nervous, worried, angry, hostile, and vindictive)
In the bar charts can be seen that when the participants are asked about how they feel when achieving success, mainly positive emotions are experienced. It also appears that when success is not achieved, more negative emotions prevail. For example, in the diagrams of question 1 and question 3, the questions that deal with the feeling of achieving a positive result, it can be seen that emotions that match the functioning of dopamine (pride, happiness, and joy) rule. From the diagrams of questions 2 and 4, which deal with the feeling when a negative result is achieved, it follows that these emotions, which correspond to the action of dopamine, occur less frequently in this case.
Second, the research group was presented with a statement and asked whether the participant agreed or disagreed with this statement. The statement was as follows: “If you set your own course, the path to a result is at least as important as the result itself.” The pie chart below shows that 90% of the participants agree with this.
Finally, the participants were given the following closed questions, to be answered with yes/no: “If you have made a choice for yourself, and that choice may not have turned out to be the right one, do you still experience (a little) a feeling of pride?” and “Does a positive experience/being proud of a result help you to chart your own course and choose for yourself next time?”
The result of the first question “If you have made a choice for yourself, and that choice may not have turned out to be the right one, do you still experience (a little bit) a sense of pride?” shows that this is the case for 80% of the participants. As a comment, some participants mentioned that even though they did not achieve the desired result, they had learned something (from mistakes) and still believe that they have chosen for themselves. This is also visible in the bar charts associated with question 2 "What feeling(s) do you experience if you do NOT achieve success after someone else has told you to do something (against your will)?" and question 4 “What feeling(s) do you experience if you do NOT achieve success after sailing your own course? (So if you have made a choice for yourself, perhaps against the wishes or expectations of others).” Despite the fact that the more negative emotions are most prevalent here, there are also a number of participants who have indicated that they feel happy, proud, or relieved.
When the outcome of the statement “If you set your own course, the path to a result is at least as important as the result itself.” (90% agree) and the outcome of the question “If you have made a choice for yourself, and that choice may not have turned out to be the right one, do you still experience (a little bit) a sense of pride?” (80% yes) are compared, and it is noticeable that there is a difference of 10%. This indicates that there are two participants in the study who indicate that they find the path to a result at least as important as the result, but when they make an incorrect choice afterward, they do not appear to be proud of it. This could imply that the path to an outcome is not the path to pride for them and that the relationship between dopamine and motivation is unconfirmable for 10% of the participants.
From the result of the second question “Does a positive experience/being proud of a result help you to chart your own course and choose for yourself next time?” it follows that after a successful experience, all participants have more confidence in choosing to sail their own course and thus dare to choose for themselves.
Feelings linked to previous experiences thus influence choosing for yourself again and sailing your own course. Dopamine is an example of a neurotransmitter that plays a role in experiencing feelings that have to do with sailing one's own course. Dopamine causes, among other things, the feeling of pride, a feeling that occurred with a high frequency in the results. This feeling mainly occurred after achieving a positive result, but also emerged when looking at the way to a result.
Looking back at the research question "Does the feeling of pride, and with it the effect of dopamine, influence decision-making and thus influence sailing your own course?" it can therefore be stated that there is a correlative relationship between dopamine, in the form of a positive experience, and the desire to repeat this feeling (the action of dopamine) by sailing one's own course. A positive experience and a feeling of pride after sailing your own course provide motivation to make your own choices in the future and to sail your own course. The effect of dopamine can be linked to this because this neurotransmitter ensures the desire to 'return' to this positive feeling. The research conducted is not qualitative research. As a result, it cannot be said with certainty that the effect of dopamine is decisive in sailing its own course and there is, therefore, no causal relationship. However, it can be stated that there is a correlative relationship and that there is a high probability that dopamine plays a role in the process of making choices, making decisions, and sailing one's own course.
References
1- Bouwman, M. (2014). Nectar 3th edition 5v (1ste ed.). Noordhoff.
2- Brouwers, R. E. A., de Groot, P. A. M., Kranendonk, W., van Lune, J. P., Prop - van den Berg, C. M., van Riswick, J. A. M. H., & Westra, J. J. (2013). BiNaS (6th edition). Groningen/Houten, Nederland: Noordhoff.
3- Dolcos, S., Moore, M., & Katsumi, Y. (z.d.). Neuroscience and Well-Being. Nobascholar.com. (Accessed on the 22nd of August 2021), from https://nobascholar.com/chapters/73/download.pdf
4- Positieve Psychologie. (z.d.). www.directievetherapie.nl (Accessed on the 22nd of August 2021), from http://www.directievetherapie.nl/downloads/DT-37-2-3.pdf
5- Rutledge, R. B., Skandali, N., Dayan, P., & Dolan, R. J. (2015). Dopaminergic Modulation of Decision Making and Subjective Well-Being. JNeurosci. Published. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0702-15.2015
6- VU Better Prepared 2021 – Socratisch gesprek groep 1C
7- Yurkanis Bruice, P. (2016). Organic Chemistry (8th ed.). Pearson Education.
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