When Ed was a boy, family gatherings invariably included a game of Risk between him and his brothers. The brothers were rivals with winning and war on their minds, so real-life conflict (and a little blood) was almost inevitable long before the final space was taken on the map. The brothers knew something we all inherently know; it feels good to win and, most times, the path to victory is not paved with bloody noses.

As researchers interested in happiness, we think a lot about dopamine. Dopamine is a delightful neurotransmitter that makes us feel good (i.e. it brings us pleasure) and it’s released when we win. Our brain uses dopamine to manipulate us into eating, seeking new experiences, exercising, achieving goals, engaging in destructive behavior, even having sex. Not to be fun cops,* but this whole dopamine reward system can really screw us up. It is hard to keep things in moderation when our brains keep rewarding us for overindulgence. We can easily get caught in a vicious cycle where we eat too much or gamble too much or, in the case of many lab rats in a variety of studies, do too much cocaine.

The bad feelings that go along with this behavior make us desperate for more dopamine to compensate and soon we begin to adapt to these higher levels of dopamine and start looking for ways to get a bigger hit. So, one problem with winning is that we get so focused on the reward and........

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