Pleasure or Pain?

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RESPONSE:

1. Might a person's behavior reflect what gives that person pleasure or what gives that person pain?

Pleasure and pain presents in ways that be identified by others. However, sometimes a person can mask one feeling with another and present to be feeling other than they actually feeling. Assuming that a eperson is shwoing their feelings they are experiencing, then their are sommon reactions to pain and pleasure that are observaslber sand measureable.

Obvious signs of PAIN include facial grimace, words like "ouch?or rubbing the painful area, screaming in pain, asking for pain relievers, to name a few.

For example, PLEASURE can be reflected in certain behaviors, such as in facial expressions, such smiling, laughing, and associated with or without words of happiness, "this is so beautiful. I am so happy). Sometimes a person might jump up and down showing her or his happiness when they receive good news, for example.

Our brains act differently for pain and pleasure. However, philosophers, such as Jeremy Bentham, Baruch Spinoza, and Descartes, have hypothesized that the sensations of pain and pleasure are part of a continuum. In fact, research strongly suggests biological connections between the neurochemical pathways used for the perception of pain and those involved in the perception of pleasure and other psychological rewards, such as dopamine and endorphin. However, there are also specific pain receptors in the skin that communicate to the brain through the spinal cord that the person is feeling pain and then the person responds by screaming for example. Guttenplan states that pleasure; however, is an emotion because it is not as close to a bodily sensation as pain is:

"For example, when a person falls down they feel pain and may cry. When this same person is pleased by food they feel pleasure and will probably smile. The physical actions put pressure on the outside of the body, and cause them to feel and appear physically altered. The feelings of physical pleasure or pain come during the action, and may last longer, but they never come before it. In contrast, when a person feels emotional pain and pleasure they often times do so before hand. Usually their feelings are hurt or they are very excited about something. This mental sensation is one that can also be felt during or after the causal factor. It is true that physical pain or pleasure could lead to emotional turmoil, but just because something causes something else it does not mean those two things are equal.?(http://www.wutsamada.com/phlmind/pleapain.htm).

EXTRA INFORMATION (excerpt)

PLEASURE AND PAIN Pleasure and pain are usually thought of as ...