What a Rush!

Von Edward _ of Obsidian Wings links to an article on "porn addiction", in the course of which the following is said:

Mary Anne Layden, co-director of a sexual trauma program at the University of Pennsylvania, said pornography’s effect on the brain mirrors addiction to heroin or crack cocaine.

Terrifying, no? But guess what, there's a reason the effect of sexually stimulating material "mirrors addiction to heroin or crack cocaine", and it's a simple one: the brain has a single reward circuit, and anything that makes us feel good does so by stimulating it. In other words, her comparison makes as much sense as comparing ice cream to cocaine, or winning a promotion to heroin. What is problematic about drugs like heroin and cocaine isn't that they stimulate the reward circuit, but that they reduce the level of serotonin in the brain, therefore robbing it of the mechanism by which it produces feelings of satiety, so one has no reason to want to stop ingesting them. No purely external stimulus like pornography can ever accomplish such a feat.

Mary Anne Layden is a propagandist seeking to advance an ideological agenda behind the veil of pseudoscience, as I suspect are virtually all of those who are backing this "porn addiction" crusade.

Comments

[razib]

porn is bad for bad people.

[von]

Erm, it was Edward Underscore, not I, who linked the article on porn. But thanks for the link.

[Abiola Lapite]

Thanks for the pointer; I've corrected the attribution now.

[Shai]

the video games cause violence and bullying people aren't that different. I'm thinking Craig Nelson etc. Things like "The zero-order correlations (Table 1) showed that only gender of participant reliably correlated with crime likelihood estimates" and "The cross-sectional nature of this study does not allow a strong test of this causal hypothesis, but a zero or negative correlation would have disconfirmed the hypothesis" are inflated into an unquestionable link, sadly because Mr. Nelson has an agenda in addition to the distorting effects of the media.

the imitation people are closer to this case, leaning on studies that "demonstrate" causation by having kids play video games and then within five minutes observe that they are more aggressive on the playground. (employing a generous definition of 'aggressive', not mentioning that their data are already explained by framing effects which are typically temporary, ignoring how 'imitation' is literally false totally unlike the rehearsal that happens when, for example, watching a basketball game, that in some ways "hyper violent" games like counterstrike are more like a game of tag, etc)

[Shai]

and that reminded me of a funny anecdote from today. I was playing with my 2 year old neice who recently saw the incredibles. she's imitating one of the super kids and says "i'm going to punch your face off". I'm a little shocked for some reason and say "well, then the police will come and take you to jail". she looks annoyed, thinking I'm an idiot and says "NO! I mean PRETEND!"

[Abiola Lapite]

she looks annoyed, thinking I'm an idiot and says "NO! I mean PRETEND!"

It's so simple even young children get it, but Senators seem to find the distinction beyond their powers!

I think the ultimate refutation of all the nonsense about the "addictive" or "harmful" effects of porn or violence is Japan: men read violently pornographic magazines and comic books openly on the subway, and yet the country enjoys a level of crime that Americans can only dream of.

[Temporary]

While they are at it - why dont they get rid of the Songs of Solomon?

I daresay a translation of that work in Modern-Speak would set pulpits all over the name aflame!

Breasts like Twin Towers? Secret Realms between the thighs?

Why! An animated rendition of the Songs of Solomon would be good way to introduce Sex-Ed to the Kids!

[Temporary]

While they are at it - why dont they get rid of the Songs of Solomon?

I daresay a translation of that work in Modern-Speak would set pulpits all over the nation aflame!

Breasts like Twin Towers? Secret Realms between the thighs?

Why! An animated rendition of the Songs of Solomon would be good way to introduce Sex-Ed to the Kids!

[Timothy Burke]

All of this kind of crap pseudoscientific research functions, whatever its experimental models or statistical data, through a complete evasion of the large-scale social history of the strong linkage arguments that get peddled. These are, if you take them seriously, predictive claims: X behavior produces Y social problem, ergo, if X behavior rises, then Y social problem should rise as well. So, if watching violence on TV causes violent or "antisocial" behavior (my least favorite term ever in social psychology, "antisocial"), and the researcher can demonstrate a rise in frequency of representation of violence on TV, then there should be a corresponding rise in social incidents of violence. Don't expect to hear a damn thing about it when there isn't, or when any of the ostensible predictions of this work bear no resemblance to actual events.