Society is constantly changing and evolving. Technological advances and new discoveries influence our day to day and even our decision making. We live in a globalized world, which implies a huge flow of information. We obtain this information easily and simply and offer it in the same way, for example, through our social networks.
This context makes us aware of all the news and discover new travel destinations, new products, etc., and all this influences our behavior. Are you considering buying the latest phone model that has hit the market? Do you feel a great need to get the latest and / or explore new things? Keep reading this article in which we talk about Neophilia, what is it, its symptoms, causes and treatment.
Index
- What is neophilia?
- Is neophilia a disease?
- Features or symptoms of neophilia
- Causes of Neophilia
- Neophilia treatment
What is neophilia?
The term neophilia, etymologically, means attraction to the new. This term gained prominence due to the work of the American sociologist
Is neophilia a disease?
Neophilia as such is not a disease or disorder. Some publications refer to neophilic behavior as a obsession with buying the latest market news, an obsession that would be resolved by acquiring said product. What would this description look like? To the obsessive compulsive disorder, that it is a disorder included in the main diagnostic classifications DSM-5 (American Psychiatric Association) and ICD-11 (World Health Organization).
The American Psychiatric Association defines the neophilia as a strong desire for the new or different, such as trying new foods. It also indicates that the term is used as a synonym for “novelty search”. At no time does it use terms in its definition that invite us to think that it is a pathological fact.
Although the search for novelty or neophilia is not a pathological term, it has been a variable studied in relation to some psychological disorders such as pathological gambling, obsessive disorder and major depressive disorder, the social phobia, the addiction disorder or the borderline personality disorder. In this sense, it should also be noted that the search for new sensations it can lead to risky behavior.
Other fields in which the search for novelty or neophilia has been studied is in that of food or tourism.
Characteristics or symptoms of neophilia.
On the other hand, we have pointed out that neophilia is not considered a disorder. Rather, we can consider it a variable that interacts or modulates behavior in some disorders. Neophilia, as described by Robert Anton Wilson, would have the following characteristics:
- Desire of the person for the new. Experiencing new things, new sensations. In a commercial field, as we have pointed out, this would translate into buying the latest market news.
- Tendency to boredomIf they try to look for novelty, it is logical that they are people who flee from what is obsolete or does not produce the same sensations that they have already experienced.
- Routine rejection. Along the same lines as the previous point, it is not surprising that if they are people who are looking for novelty they flee from the opposite pole.
- Quick adaptability.
- Desire to seek novelty. They can carry it out by creating or achieving achievements through even riots or social movements. On the other hand, Okiyama's team, Y. et al (2000) define novelty seeking in humans as a personality trait characterized by impulsive, exploratory, and sensation-seeking behavior.
In this article we talk about the opposite perspective: the fear of the new.
Causes of neophilia.
There are different hypotheses about the possible causes of neophilia.
Dopaminergic hypotheses
The cause of the search for novelty would be modulated by the how dopamine works in the brain, a neurotransmitter involved, for example, in the brain's reward system (a system involved in addiction problems). This hypothesis has been reinforced by the fact that in diseases in which there is a deficiency of dopamine, What Parkinson's, people who suffer from it show less search for novelty.
Possible cognitive-behavioral causes
Research on the search for new environments is not yet very extensive with humans, however, there are considerations that we can consider.
Could it be that on a behavioral level neophiliacs quickly become accustomed to stimuli? We could establish certain connection between habituation and the search for novelty. Habituation consists in the fact that, faced with repeated exposure to a stimulus, it ends up losing its value. Have you ever heard a song that makes you want to dance and sing and, after listening to it for a while, it no longer has the same effect? As this could be something similar, neophiliacs could quickly get used to it (and consequently get bored) and seek new stimuli.
It would also be interesting to delve into the type of thoughts that neophilic people can show in order to detect possible irrational or dysfunctional ideas that could be explaining their conduct.
Treatment of neophilia.
As we have noted, the American Psychiatric Association does not consider neophilia as pathological behavior in its definition. However, we have seen how it is a variable that can lead to risky behaviors and / or interact with some disorders.
However, if the desire to buy or search for novelty is obsessive and causes discomfort to the person suffering from it, the psychologist will have to carry out a complete evaluation to assess what is happening and offer an intervention individualized. Some possibilities that we can assess are the following:
- Existence of underlying irrational ideas. It could be that there are irrational or dysfunctional ideas, which could be treated with cognitive techniques.
- Managing emotions. We can work on managing emotions such as tolerance for frustration (since, probably, not in all cases the person can buy the latest news).
- Deactivation techniques. If the situation generates anxiety we can work relaxation techniques.
- Assess the possibility and relevance of exposure with response prevention. Finally, if the case resembles an obsessive compulsive disorder, we must bear in mind that for this disorder the Exposure with response prevention is the treatment of choice, so we can ask ourselves if it could be useful in our case.
This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
If you want to read more articles similar to Neophilia: what is it, symptoms, causes and treatment, we recommend that you enter our category of Personality.
References
- American Psychiatric Association (2014). DSM-5. Reference guide to the diagnostic criteria of the DSM-5-Breviary. Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana.
- Okuyama, Y., Ishiguro, H., Nankai, M., Shibuya, H., Watanabe, A. and Arinami, T. (2000). Identification of a polymorphism in the promoter region of DRD4 associated with the human novelty seeing personality trait. Molecular Psychiatry. 5. 64-69
- World Health Organization (WHO) (2018) International Classification of Diseases, 11th revision. Recovered from https://icd.who.int/es
Bibliography
- American Psychiatric Association (2014). DSM-5. Reference guide to the diagnostic criteria of the DSM-5-Breviary. Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana.
- Black, D.W., Coryell, W.H., Crowe, R.R. et al. (2015). Personality Disorders, Impulsiveness, and Novelty Seeking in Persons with DSM-IV Pathological Gambling and Their First-Degree Relatives. J Gambl Stud 31, 1201–1214. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-014-9505-y
- Costa, V. D., Tran, V. L., Turchi, J., & Averbeck, B. B. (2014). Dopamine modulates novelty seeking behavior during decision making. Behavioral Neuroscience, 128(5), 556–566. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0037128
- Jiang, X., Mei, S., Yi, W. and Zheng, Y. (2019) Effects of sensation seeking on habituation to novelty: an EEG study. Neuropsychology. 129. 133-140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.03.011
- Kusunoki, K., Sato, T., Taga, C., Yoshida, Y., Komori, K., Narita, T., Hirano, S., Iwata, N. and Ozaki, N. (2001) Low novelty-seeking differentiates obsessive-compulsive disorder from major depression. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 101 (5) 403-405. https://doi.org/10.1034/j.1600-0447.2000.101005403.x
- Okuyama, Y., Ishiguro, H., Nankai, M., Shibuya, H., Watanabe, A. and Arinami, T. (2000). Identification of a polymorphism in the promoter region of DRD4 associated with the human novelty seeing personality trait. Molecular Psychiatry. 5. 64-69
- World Health Organization (WHO) (2018) International Classification of Diseases, 11th revision. Recovered from https://icd.who.int/es
Neophilia: what is it, symptoms, causes and treatment
