# pleasure (feeling)

A feeling in a human that the human wants to have more of.

- Computed level: L17 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: published  ·  Domain: psychology  ·  Arena: E8

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [feel](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-feel.sensory), [human](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-human.person), [want](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-want.desire)

**Through:** A feeling couples to wanting: the state itself makes the human want its continuation.

**Novel properties:**
- positive valence
- reinforcement

## Examples
- A person laughs while eating a ripe mango, savoring the sweet juice dripping down their chin. *(everyday life)*
- Dopamine spikes in a rat's nucleus accumbens when it presses a lever to receive a sugar solution. *(neuroscience)*
- Visitors return repeatedly to the 'Infinity Mirrors' exhibit at the Hirshhorn Museum, smiling and clapping. *(art)*

## Used by
- [happy](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-happy.emotional) (L18)

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*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-pleasure.feeling*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-pleasure.feeling.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*