How one’s preferred source signal of dopamine, and the availability thereof, affects displayed appearance and behavior.

Readership: All
Theme: Cracking Nuts; P0rn and Wh0redom is the Norm;
Length: 1,200 words
Reading Time: 6 minutes

Intro

In the previous essay, A Survey of Psychological Action-Reward Theories (2026/4/6), I offered a brief summary of 4 ¡Sc!əNt!f!c! theories that examine how the dopamine-fueled Behavior-Reward cycle functions and how it affects contextualized behaviors.

These 4 theories included:

  1. The Reward Hypothesis
  2. The Food Reward Hypothesis
  3. The Reward Deficit Theory
  4. The Reward Competition Hypothesis

In this essay, I’ll use all these hypotheses to explain how women’s sociosexual behaviors change with respect to their specific sociosexual status and why these behaviors change throughout their life cycles.

The next post reviews several memetic archetypes, and explains how they relate to The Attention Reward vs Indulgence (Food) Reward Hypothesis.

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A Summary of Reward Mechanisms

To briefly review our previous exploration of 4 current theories in behavioral psychology…

  • The Reward Hypothesis posits that basically (my abbreviated paraphrase), “all goals and purposes can be thought of as a maximization of the expected value of the cumulative sum of a received reward”, meaning that most habits in general are (probably mostly subconsciously) geared towards obtaining some type of neurological ‘Reward’, and that we are driven to act in ways that maximize that which is most rewarding to us.
  • The Food Reward Hypothesis is a specific application of The Reward Hypothesis and describes the phenomenon in which tasty foods (i.e., “comfort food”, high-calorie food, junk food, processed food, etc.) provide a spike of chemical ‘Rewards’ to the brain, which often leads people to eat more of these foods than what is healthy.
  • The Reward Deficit Theory posits that we engage in a behavior until we are satisfied with the reward. For example, we eat until we feel gratified, and we stop eating when hunger abates or we feel full.
  • The Reward Competition Hypothesis observes that, in complex environments woven with multiple, and often conflicting, opportunities, the brain must choose from among the ‘Rewards’ available and decide on a direction of action. It is posited that this selection is made by prioritizing the action associated with the greatest or highest expected ‘Reward’.

In sum, people will direct their attention and mold their behavior around whatever actions yield the most satiating kickback for the effort invested. Thus, if opportunity abounds and the ‘Reward’ is satisfying, then we pursue more of that thing until we are satiated. If opportunity is limited, or the ‘Reward’ is less satisfying than something else, then we will expend more effort to pursue the other thing.

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The things that provide psychosomatic ‘Rewards’ via dopamine are almost endless. However, there are a small number of prevalent and prominent ‘Reward’ mechanisms that strongly and widely apply to all humans. These mechanisms include such things as acceptance, attention, comfort, food, intimacy, love, security, sex, validation, etc. Also included are various addictions (e.g. alcohol, drugs, junk food, P0rn, illicit sex, etc.). In fact, it is this same ‘Reward’ feedback loop that forms and reinforces addictions (described in more detail in the previous post).

The Attention Reward vs Indulgence (Food) Reward Hypothesis

A comprehensive juxtaposition of The Reward Hypothesis, The Food Reward Hypothesis, The Reward Deficit Theory, and The Reward Competition Hypothesis yields the following explanation of women’s sociosexual behaviors, which I’ll call The Attention Reward vs Indulgence (Food) Reward Hypothesis.

This is my own hypothesis drawn from the above theories and Red Pill knowledge. I doubt that any stringent research will ever be done on this, due to the offensive nature of the subject.

The Manosphere has long noted that when women are young and attractive, their goals and habits are geared towards Attention seeking behaviors, AKA Attention Wh0r!ng.

It has also been observed that Attention Wh0res are not satisfied with normal social relations with people they love and trust, but are driven to receive constant, profuse Attention / Validation from practically anyone, anytime, anywhere (aside from grossly unattractive men), which constitutes a psychological addiction. They will continue these habits for as long as they can, and in doing so, they will forfeit many other choices that might be better for them in the long run, such as early marriage, sexual monogamy, and investing themselves in one good man, rather than riding the carousel.

But … as women age, their looks fade, their sexual desirability decreases, and thus, the intensity of ‘Rewards’ associated with receiving Attention decreases. At some point, they’ll find something else that gives them a greater stimulative ‘Reward’ for the invested effort, notably Self-Indulgence, i.e., eating and lazing, and so when The Wall forces them to give up their Attention Wh0ring ways, their next best option is a life of laxity and leisure.

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In this view, there are two major Habit → Reward pathways that seem to explain the vast majority of women’s behavior and appearance, and the changes thereof as they age and/or go through various life stages.

  1. Attention Reward: Actions and habits are geared towards maximizing Attention and all the things that usually accompany it. Women will engage in very costly, grueling, painful, punishing, and time-consuming behaviors in order to draw more Attention from those she perceives as taller, better hung, higher status, higher quality, or more important, and also to compete against peers for prime Attention. These behaviors include such things as cosmetic surgeries, strenuous workout routines, strict dieting, time and $$$ spent shopping for clothing and cosmetics, wearing attractive but uncomfortable clothing (high heels, tight-fitting clothing, etc.), and hours spent doing hair, makeup, and skin treatments every day, and so on.
  2. Self-Indulgence Reward: Actions and habits are geared towards maximizing various comforts, conveniences, and personal pleasures, and notably to this discussion, cultivating a dopamine addiction for eating high-‘Reward’ foods. These behaviors include such things as NOT engaging in the more punishing behaviors associated with Attention Seeking (mentioned above), as well as being hypoagentic, lazy, and, in particular, indulging in comfort foods (e.g. Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, snack foods, etc.) and overeating.

In sum, the Attention Reward path requires women to enhance sexually marketable traits, such as youth, fecundity, good genes, etc., in order to maximize Attention, whereas the Self-Indulgence path requires $$$, compliant husbands, servant-minded Beta Orbiters, and White Knights in order to accommodate hypoagency and laziness. Either way, women will pick and choose among the best opportunities available to them, and choose those options that maximize ‘Rewards’.

Furthermore, the relative intensity of each ‘Reward’ path is a function of age and SMV.

  • Attractive women, thinner women, and younger women obtain greater ‘Rewards’ from Attention.
  • Unattractive women, overweight women, and older women obtain more ‘Rewards’ from Self-Indulgence.

I believe most women strongly prefer Attention over Self-Indulgence. However, it should be noted that the amount of energy, time, and work required to harvest Attention ‘Rewards’ (described above) is much greater than what is needed to obtain Self-Indulgent ‘Rewards’. So in the absence of profuse and readily obtainable Attention, women will stop doing the hard work to maintain their looks and default to Self-Indulgence.

This explains why more attractive women prioritize cultivating traits that draw Attention and Affirmation, and are thus more conservative and family-minded, while less attractive women tend to pursue goals that support Self-Indulgence, and thereby become careerists and feminists.

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Of course, there are many other Habit → Reward pathways going on. (One other noteworthy Habit → Reward pathway that is prevalent among women is Control, via The Curse of Eve, described in Genesis 3:16. Others include the hypergamy-fueled pursuit of Tingles and the assiduous avoidance of things like accountability, agency, guilt, and shame.) But here, I’ve identified Attention and Self-Indulgence as major contributors to female behavior, and omitted others for the sake of simplifying this hypothetical model. To obtain a more accurate, more individualized theoretical model, this general model can be retrofitted with additional ‘Reward’ functions on a case-by-case basis for individual women.

Closing Statements

This hypothesis fully explains why many, if not most, women have a sudden transition upon commitment / marriage from being attractive, good-looking, and thin, to being rather unattractive, unkempt, and overweight. The reason is that aging, monogamous commitment, and marriage erode the satisfaction obtained from Attention, causing women to depend more upon self-centered interests to obtain a sense of well-being.

This relatively abrupt transition is the substance of countless archetypal memes. The next post contains several of these memes, with explanations of how they relate to The Attention Reward vs Indulgence (Food) Reward Hypothesis.

Sources

  1. Gong M, Jia K, Li S. Perceptual Competition Promotes Suppression of Reward Salience in Behavioral Selection and Neural Representation. J Neurosci. 2017 Jun 28;37(26):6242-6252. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0217-17.2017. Epub 2017 May 24. PMID: 28539425; PMCID: PMC6705693.
  2. NeuroMadLab: Too much or too little reward from eating: Why do we overeat? (2018/1/29)
  3. Watts TW, Duncan GJ, Quan H. Revisiting the Marshmallow Test: A Conceptual Replication Investigating Links Between Early Delay of Gratification and Later Outcomes. Psychol Sci. 2018 Jul;29(7):1159-1177. doi: 10.1177/0956797618761661. Epub 2018 May 25. PMID: 29799765; PMCID: PMC6050075.
  4. University of Toronto: Unraveling the reward hypothesis: A peek into human and machine decision-making processes (2023/8/1)
  5. Edmonton Journal: ‘Ambitious without being arrogant’: U of A professor wins Turing Prize for groundbreaking AI work (2025/3/7)

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