Hope and Dopamine

By SWA

A miserable religious person might say: "I feel good today, even though I completely messed up and committed a sin. I know I'm guilty in the eyes of others, but I was lucky—I didn’t get caught. God must have protected me, and He will forgive me." He feels rewarded despite his wrongdoing.

But is it really God? What's actually happening here is a surge of dopamine—the brain's reward chemical—triggered by the relief of escaping consequences. This fleeting sense of hope and relief is where religion and dopamine overlap.

However, this effect diminishes when unpredictability is reduced. If the person starts to believe there is no God watching over them, that dopamine spike won’t occur after wrongdoing. Without the comforting illusion of divine protection, the brain doesn’t get its reward. The person may then start thinking: "There's no God to protect me," leading to a lack of dopamine-driven reassurance—ergo, no dopamine reward.

At this point, consciousness might kick in: "I better not screw up next time."
This rational reflection depends on a healthy ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), the part of the brain responsible for decision-making and moral judgment.

Ultimately, the promise of heaven’s afterlife is no more than a fleeting dopamine rush that keeps people co-dependent on religion or other cults.

© 2000-2025 Sieglinde W. Alexander. All writings by Sieglinde W. Alexander have a fife year copy right. Library of Congress Card Number: LCN 00-192742 ISBN: 0-9703195-0-9

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