Society constantly changes and evolves. Technological advances and new discoveries influence our daily lives and even our decision-making. We live in a globalized world, which implies an enormous 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 means that we are aware of all the news and discover new travel destinations, new products, etc., and all of 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 to you about neophilia, what it is, its symptoms, causes and treatment.
What is neophilia?
The term neophilia, etymologically, means attraction for the new. This term gained prominence due to the work of the American sociologist Everett Rogers on the one hand, it identified a group of “innovative” consumers within another more general group of “first consumers”; and on the other hand, the New York writer Robert Anton Wilson described neophilia as a personality type in which there is affinity towards the new.
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 news on the market, an obsession that would be resolved by purchasing said product. What would this description look like? Al, 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 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 seeking.” At no time does it use terms in its definition that invite us to think that it is a pathological fact.
Although novelty seeking or neophilia is not a pathological term, it has been a variable studied in relation to some psychological disorders such as , obsessive disorder and , the , the or the . In this sense, it is also worth noting 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 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:
- Person’s desire for the new. Experience new things, new sensations. In a commercial field, as we have pointed out, this would translate into buying the latest news on the market.
- Tendency to boredomIf they try to look for novelty, it is logical that they are people who flee from that which becomes obsolete or does not produce the same sensations that they have already experienced.
- Rejection of routine. Along the same lines as the previous point, it is not surprising that if they are people who seek novelty, they flee from the opposite pole.
- Quick adaptation capacity.
- Desire to seek novelty. They can carry it out through the creation or achievement of achievements through, even, riots or social movements. On the other hand, the team of Okiyama, Y. et al (2000) define novelty seeking in humans as a personality trait that is characterized by impulsive, exploratory and sensation-seeking behavior.
In this article we talk about the opposite perspective: .
Causes of neophilia
There are different hypotheses about the possible causes of neophilia.
Dopaminergic hypotheses
The cause of novelty seeking would be modulated by the dopamine functioning in the brain, a neurotransmitter involved, for example, in the brain reward system (system involved in addiction problems). This hypothesis has been reinforced by the fact that in diseases in which there is a deficiency of , such as , people who suffer from it show less novelty seeking.
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 at a behavioral level, neophilic people quickly habituate to the stimuli? We could establish certain connection between habituation and the search for novelty. Habituation consists of the fact that, 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? Well, this could be something similar, neophilic people could quickly get used to it (and consequently get bored) and look for new stimuli.
It would also be interesting to delve into the type of thoughts that neophilic people may show in order to detect possible irrational or dysfunctional ideas that could be explaining their behavior.
Treatment of neophilia
As we have noted, the American Psychiatric Association does not consider neophilia as a pathological behavior in its definition. However, we have seen how it is a variable that can give rise to risk behaviors and/or interact with some disorders.
However, if the desire to purchase or search for novelty is obsessive and causes discomfort to the person who suffers from it, the psychologist must carry out a complete evaluation to assess what is happening and offer an individualized intervention. Some possibilities that we can evaluate 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.
- . We can work on the management of emotions such as frustration tolerance (since, probably, not in all cases the person will be able to buy the latest news).
- Deactivation techniques. If the situation generates anxiety we can.
- Assess the possibility and relevance of exposure with response prevention. Finally, if the case resembles an obsessive-compulsive disorder, we must take into account that for this disorder exposure with response prevention is the treatment of choice, so we can consider whether it could be useful in our case. .
This article is merely informative, at 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 it is, symptoms, causes and treatmentwe recommend that you enter our category.
References
- American Psychiatric Association (2014). DSM-5. Reference guide to the diagnostic criteria of the DSM-5-Breviary. Madrid: Panamericana Medical Editorial.
- Okuyama, Y., Ishiguro, H., Nankai, M., Shibuya, H., Watanabe, A., & 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: Panamericana Medical Editorial.
- Black, DW, Coryell, WH, Crowe, RR 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, VD, Tran, VL, Turchi, J., & Averbeck, BB (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., & 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