Are we learning more from joy or pain?

Today, as we were walking, a van passed with the markings “Stunt Puppy” and I said to my wife, this must be a company that sell remote training collars to give dog owners with the ability to send signals to their dog without a leash, but through the use of a range of electronic haptic signals communicated to the dog through radio waves. 

In fact, I was wrong, it was just the brand of a popular dog collar, but that started a conversation among us about whether one would learn more from joy or from pain. My initial thought was to claim forcefully that we definitely learned more from adversity and suffering than from good experience, but when I started to research that basic question I found out that it wasn’t so black and white. 

Instead, research suggests that we learn and remember better from both joy and pain, but in different ways. Good feelings bring us positive reinforcement that may reinforce desirable behaviors. When a behavior leads to a positive outcome, like a reward, a praise, or a feeling of accomplishment, individuals are more likely to repeat it. 

Joyful experiences may also motivate us to learn new things while helping a greater retention of knowledge. Studies also suggest that positive emotions can enhance memory and focus and help us learn more effectively. 

Sure, as I was so certain, negative experiences associated with pain can teach us to avoid harmful or unwanted situations. They are often a strong deterrent for repeating behaviors that led to them. Pain can also heighten our awareness of potential dangers or threats, and help us learn to avoid similar situations in the future. 

There’s also something to be said about painful experiences that are often more memorable than positive ones and make us more likely to learn from our mistakes and remember to avoid them. Finally, that quick review made me become a bit more nuanced in admitting that both joy and pain have value in learning, and that the ideal scenario might be a combination of both. 

Positive reinforcement can motivate us to learn, while negative experiences can show us what to avoid.