ragebaiting and dopamine

an innocent little hobby 😇

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ragebaiting and dopamine 😇

unfortunately, i enjoy ragebaiting. i blame biology, though.

allow me to explain the neuroscience link between ragebaiting and dopamine spikes.

ragebaiting: when someone provokes others into anger or emotional overreaction (pretty common online, but i do this more irl).

dopamine: a neurotransmitter involved in the brain’s reward system. it’s released when we anticipate or receive a reward.

human emotion is pretty unpredictable — provoking someone is socially high-stakes and engages both attention and risk. this combination activates the brain’s reward circuitry. just like with gambling or risky sports, tension + outcome = a dopamine hit.

this could look like asking a guy who very obviously goes to the gym something like:

“do you gym?”

“yeah.”

“no, like recently?”

“…. yeah.”

“no, like i mean an actual gym.”

and then he’ll get pissed.

LMAO.

when someone successfully gets a rise out of someone else, it can feel like control or social dominance, which evolutionarily signalled higher status. the brain interprets that as a "win” and releases dopamine.

however, that dopamine hit can kick off a pretty addictive cycle of just… being a bad person.

ragebait → response → attention → dopamine.

this reinforces the behavior. there’s an important balance to strike in keeping it playful— it needs to be obviously a joke after the fact. that’s why I also keep my ragebaiting off social media. mass engagement through likes online introduces an even more addictive dopamine spike.

today’s drops 🔍️

• get paid to go on a sidequest

• engineering & product management internship @ dematic

• check out the adobe express hackathon for $30,000 in prizes

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want to post an opportunity on my blog? shoot me a line at harsehajx@gmail.com.

teehee,
harsehaj