As anyone who has ever had to wait to spin the reels of a slot game on a digital machine or wait until you unlock a bonus round on an app knows, the anticipation alone can be torturous. Oddly enough, occasionally it can be more painful to wait until one gets a reward than it would be to lose. This is not your imagination, but it is an idiosyncrasy of human psychology that has intrigued behavioral economists, as well as neuroscientists.
The Agony of Anticipation
The expectation of reward is an emotion. Your brain rehearses the excitement before the prize falls in your lap. It is like taking the last bite of some dessert that you cannot enjoy but not yet: the desire becomes bigger, and your impatience increases.
Interestingly, it is sometimes more painful to wait for a reward than to experience a direct loss. Why? Since a loss is short-term, non-infinite, and evident, delayed gratification creates uncertainty. You are in an in-between place where your brain is making guesses, wishing, and, to be frank, panicking. You might find yourself becoming decision-fatigued, as you constantly have to ponder whether the reward will materialize or not.
Consider online casinos such as 22Casino. Although you may not be betting now, this same psychological tension is used to design games and features.
Dopamine not only fires when we win, but it also spikes in anticipation of winning.
Waiting brings about an impression of loss of certainty, which is quite unpleasant. You are not yet dead–but your brain is answering as though you were.
Temporal discounting is also involved. We value the instant reward much more than the delayed reward that is of greater value. The longer you put off the delay, the more your mind will be processing the delay as a form of loss, which will build up frustration. The effect is more pronounced in the online world, where instant gratification is the order of the day. This is exactly the weakness in human decision-making that Apps, games, and notifications take advantage of to keep you engaged.
Digital Worries: Push Notification as Gamification.
The electronic world has mastered how to increase expectations. Use casino notifications: the small pings that notify you of bonus rounds or daily rewards are perfectly designed to build a sense of tension and keep you involved. The waiting between the alert and the reward conditioning conditions your dopamine system in the brain, such that when you finally get rewarded, the reward will seem like a victory – or, ironically, the waiting will seem excruciating.
This is the case with sites such as 22Casino. A dopamine loop can be caused even by casual play with games or other digital rewards and involves behavioral patterns similar to those of more serious gambling contexts. Not only the money but also the emotional payoff, the tension, and the tinge of danger.
This is how gamification beyond gambling works. Apps, loyalty programs, and even social media casino push notifications apply variable rewards to boost engagement levels. Whenever you wait until you get a badge, a new level, or a mini-prize, your brain is also traversing the same perilous path of anticipation and delayed gratification.
Professional commentary on the Effect of Anticipation.
Behavioral economists note that this effect is not a bug of human cognition. We developed brains that appreciate certainty and instant feedback. Therefore, whenever rewards take a long time, they have a disproportionate negative impact. Neuroscientists describe how waiting in the long run increases emotional responses, and in some cases, waiting can be worse than losing. like
Awareness of these processes can allow digital consumers to be aware of their responses. The next push notification that leads to a wave of tension, you can view not as a loss of strength of will, but as the dopamine loop of the brain and cognitive biases in action. Being aware of these patterns, including the cravings of instant gratification and the fluctuating rewards that drive interactions with digital space, opens the potential to become more mindful regarding one’s use of digital space.