Substance use disorders (SUDs) represent a profound challenge to both individuals and society, largely due to the way addictive substances alter the brain’s reward systems. As outlined by Berridge et al. (2009), the uncoupling of “liking,” “wanting,” and “learning” provides a critical lens for considering the paradoxical phenomena of addiction—the desire for “wanting” a drug without “liking” it. The seminal work by Berridge et al. (2009) decomposes the reward experience into three interconnected but neurobiologically distinct components: “liking” (hedonic pleasure), “wanting” (motivational drive), and “learning” (associative processes). These systems can be more easily dissociated, especially in addiction. For example, mesolimbic dopamine system sensitization can cause an individual to experience an intense “wanting” of a substance even after the “liking” has decreased, a phenomenon driven by “incentive salience”.
This dissociation is confusing from an evolutionary perspective. The reward system is supposed to have evolved to promote behaviors that enhance survival—that is to say, liked and wanted behaviors such as eating or mating. However, drugs seem to “hijack” this system, offering motivation to behave irrationally in a manner that is no longer adaptive (Hagen & Sullivan, 2018). Psychologically, classical and operant conditioning models come to elaborate on how drug use tends to get reinforced over time. Drug effects are associated with environmental cues, and thus conditioned responses can trigger cravings and relapse.
According to Berridge et al. (2009), these learned associations do not always involve pleasure. This becomes evident in sign-tracking behavior as the individuals respond to cues and not to the reward itself—a divergence between learning and hedonic experience. Such separation makes treatment that solely relies on decreasing positive reinforcement or craving inadequate as even without positive effects, people continue to use substances. Cognitive theories also identify dysfunctional beliefs and expectations about drug use that might have been formed through learned experiences and then reinforced by momentary relief or social reward despite long-term harm.
Integrating these models provides a more complete understanding of SUDs. Neurological data informs how dysregulation drives the establishment of reward circuitry, while psychological theory informs how behaviors are maintained and reinforced. Together, they illuminate how wanting can persist without liking, driven by sensitized dopamine systems and conditioned learning, and exacerbated by impaired executive functioning (Baskin-Sommers & Hearon, 2016). A multidimensional treatment approach would also be supported by such views. For example, while pharmacological interventions can target either dopamine or opioid receptors to diminish incentive salience, cognitive-behavioral interventions can work on re-modeling maladaptive cognitions and drug cue responding. Moreover, evolutionary insights offer a broader framework for understanding addiction as a maladaptive byproduct of systems designed for natural rewards. Drugs mimic these rewards but exceed them in intensity, leading to the breakdown of normal motivational hierarchies.
The dissociation of liking, wanting, and learning offers a powerful framework for understanding the paradox of addiction. When coupled with neurobiological and psychological theories, it reveals the way substance use disorders come from brain-based dysfunction, as well as maladaptive learning processes (Baskin-Sommers & Hearon, 2016). The road to developing effective treatment interventions may entail reinstating integration among these systems, that is to say, ameliorating the balance between what they want and what they like about something and re-learning alternative behaviors that are more adaptive in reaching goals.
References
- Baskin-Sommers, A. R., & Hearon, B. A. (2016). The intersection between neurobiological and psychological theories of substance use disorders. In The Oxford Handbook of Substance Use and Substance Use Disorders (Chapter 11). Oxford University Press.
- Berridge, K. C., Robinson, T. E., & Aldridge, J. W. (2009). Dissecting components of reward: ‘Liking’, ‘wanting’, and learning. Current Opinion in Pharmacology, 9(1), 65–73.
- Hagen, E. H., & Sullivan, R. J. (2018). The evolutionary significance of drug toxicity over reward. In Routledge Handbook of Philosophy and Science of Addiction. Routledge.