Story highlights We hate ourselves after indulging because of the way we're wired to calculate reward

One approach is to link a short-term reward to a positive action

Just look at that pint of ice cream sitting there in the freezer case, all delicious-looking. It's going to be amazing, right? All that butterfat and chocolate and God knows what else. It's like a nutritional A-bomb, the kind of caloric combustion that would have melted the brains of our hunter-gatherer ancestors. Of course you want it. It's a dopamine explosion waiting to happen.

Here's the funny thing, though: Once that sense of anticipation has given way to the actual moment of indulgence, that pleasure tends to be quickly followed by a third stage: self-loathing. The belly is full, and the brain is writhing in self-recrimination.

This happens with so many pleasures: the night of carnal bliss that needs to be scrubbed off in a hot shower the next morning; the 10-hour Netflix binge that makes you feel like you've thrown your life away; the shopping binge that blows a rent-sized hole in your credit-card balance. Indulging has a way of making us feel like crap.

From the viewpoint of classic conditioning theory, this kind of hedonic flip-flop doesn't make much sense. According to that model, we seek out rewards, and when we get them, we feel motivated to try to get them again. There isn't any room in this account for self-flagellation.

You could say that our culture's puritanical roots are to blame. But how puritanical, really, is a culture that gives us Hooters, Las Vegas, and the KFC Famous Bowl? The constant flow of advertising urges us not to feel guilty about indulging, but about not indulging.

Read More