J. theor. Biol.

(1992) 155, 173-200

Pleasure: the Common Currency

MICHEL CABANAC

Department of Physiology, Universitb Laval, Quebec, Canada G1K 7P4

(Received on 18 April 1991, Accepted on 9 August 1991)
At present as physiologists studying various homeostatic behaviors, such as thermo-
regulatory behavior and food and fluid intake, we have no common currency that
allows us to equate the strength of the motivational drive that accompanies each
regulatory need, in terms of how an animal or a person will choose to satisfy his
needs when there is a conflict between two or more of them. Yet the behaving
organism must rank his priorities and needs a common currency to achieve the
ranking (McFarland & Sibly, 1975, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. 270, Biol. 265-293).
A theory is proposed here according to which pleasure is this common currency.
The perception of pleasure, as measured operationally and quantitatively by choice
behavior (in the case of animals), or by the rating of the intensity of pleasure or
displeasure (in the case of humans) can serve as such a common currency. The
tradeoffs between various motivations would thus be accomplished by simple maxi-
mization of pleasure. In what follows, the scientific work arising recently on this
subject, will be reviewed briefly and our recent experimental findings will be pre-
sented. This will serve as the support for the theoretical position formulated in this
essay.

Introduction
One shortcoming of the theories of the optimization of behavior proposed by etholog-
ists and behavioral ecologists is that the mechanism, by which behavior is optimized,
is never mentioned. In other words, they do not explain how the subject "decides".
The main reason for this shortcoming is that there exists some uncertainty whether
their predictive models concerned with proximate causation o f behavior are func-
tional or mechanistic (Fantino & Abarca, 1985, 1987; Wynne, 1987). Most often
they work at a level of ultimate causation, emphasizing the evolution of traits that
contribute to lifetime reproductive success. This is reasonable when the object studied
is animal behavior. With humans, however, it is possible to obtain verbal reports
and to analyze in cognitive terms the proximate physiological and psychological
mechanism and, thus, to go further than the mere measurement of behavior, espe-
cially when the behavior studied is serving a physiological regulation. First, it is
possible to identify, in the subject's body or mind, the signals aroused which are
taken into account to produce a behavior with consequences for the physiological
state. Secondly, one may explore, quantitatively, the relationship between the motiva-
tion thus analyzed, the behavior displayed by the subject, and the environmental
parameters. This general method has produced results showing experimentally the
paramount importance of pleasure in the determination of behavior and has thus
confirmed the intuitive conclusions of philosophers, based on self-introspection and
173
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174 M CABANAC
common-sense (Cabanac, 1971, 1979). It should be pointed out that, in this case,
pleasure was not inferred from the behavioral measurements; it was reported by the
subject who experienced it. With this method pleasure is no longer a circular descrip-
tion of the causality of behavior, but instead is an object of study in its own right.
The thesis presented here is that the maximization of pleasure, and the minimiza-
tion of displeasure, not only leads to useful behavior, but is also the answer to
motivational conflicts. It is hypothesized that pleasure serves as the common currency
in the tradeoffs between clashing motivations. The displeasure of frustrating one
motivation being accepted for the sake of a larger pleasure obtained in satisfying
another one. This thesis will be presented step by step starting with the role of
pleasure in situations involving only one motivation for a behavior serving only one
physiological aim. The second step will be devoted to situations where two motiva-
tions clash for behavior that serves physiological aims. In the last step motivations
not directly serving physiological aims will be introduced in the experimental conflicts
of motivations; thus allowing generalization of the pleasure theory according to
which unpleasant and even noxious behaviors may be accomplished because they are
traded off for pleasurable rewards.

Development

SENSORY PLEASURE, ONE SENSORY MODALITY AT A TIME

In the commerce of a subject with stimuli, it has been shown experhnentally that
the wisdom of the body leads the organism to seek pleasure and avoid displeasure,
and thus achieve behaviors which are beneficial to the subject's physiology (Cabanac,
1971). Relations exist between pleasure and usefulness and between displeasure and
harm or danger. For example, when subjects are invited to report verbally, the
pleasure aroused by a skin thermal stimulus can be predicted knowing deep body
temperature (Cabanac et al., 1972; Attia, 1984). A hypothermic subject will report
pleasure when stimulated with moderate heat, and displeasure with cold. The
opposite takes place in a hyperthermic subject. Pleasure is actually observable only
in transient states, when the stimulus helps the subject to return to normothermia.
As soon as the subject returns to normothermia, all stimuli lose their strong pleasure
component and tend to become indifferent. Sensory pleasure and displeasure thus
appear especially suited to being a good guide for thermoregulatory behavior.
The case of pleasure aroused by eating shows an identical pattern. A given alimen-
tary flavor is described as pleasant during hunger and becomes unpleasant or
indifferent during satiety. Measurement of human ingestive behavior confirms the
above relationship of behavior with pleasure; it has been repeatedly demonstrated
in the case of food intake (Fantino, 1984), that human subjects tend to consume
foods that they report to be pleasant and to avoid those foods that they report to
be unpleasant. Pleasure also shows a quantitative influence: the amount of pleasur-
able food eaten is a function of alimentary restrictions and increases after dieting.
The result is that pleasure scales can be used to judge the acceptability of food.
 PLEASURE: THE COMMON CURRENCY 175
Thus, in the cases of temperature and taste, the affective dimension of sensation
depends directly on the biological usefulness of the stimulus to the subject. This was
already noticed by Aristotle (quoted by Pfaffmann, 1982). The word "alliesthesia"
was coined to describe the fact that the affective dimension of sensation is contingent,
and to underline the importance of this contingency in relation to behavior (Cabanac,
1971): A given stimulus will arouse either pleasure or displeasure according to the
internal state of the stimulated subject. The seeking of pleasure and the avoidance
of displeasure lead to behaviors with useful homeostatic consequences. Garcia has
shown how past history, such as illness induced in association with the taste of an
ingested substance, can "stamp in" a change in the affective quality of that taste
(Garcia et al., 1985). The behavior of subjects instructed to seek their most pleasur-
able skin temperature could be described and predicted from their body temperatures
and the equations describing their behavior were practically the same as those
describing autonomic responses such as shivering and sweating (Cabanac et al., 1972;
Bleichert et al., 1973; Marks & Gonzalez, 1974; Attia & Engel, 1981; Cabanac,
1981).
It is possible therefore from verbal reports to dissociate pleasure from behavior
and to show thus that the seeking of sensory pleasure and the avoidance of sensory
displeasure lead to behaviors with beneficial homeostatic consequences. Pleasure
therefore indicates a useful stimulus and simultaneously motivates the subject to
approach the stimulus. Pleasure serves both to reward behavior and to provide the
motivation for eliciting behavior that optimizes physiological processes. One great
advantage of this mechanism is that it does not take rationalityt nor a high level of
cognition to produce a behavior adapted to biological goals. Indeed, conditioned
food aversion can be induced during sleep and under anesthesia (Garcia, 1990). As
soon as a stimulus is discriminated, the affective dimension of the sensation aroused
tells the subject, animal or human alike, that the stimulus should be sought or
avoided.

MAXIMIZATION OF BI-DIMENSIONAL PLEASURE: THE HYPOTHESIS

In daily life a stimulus rarely comes alone; a motivation is seldom solitary. On the
contrary, a subject must permanently rank simultaneous motivations. One basic
postulate of Ethology is that behavior tends to satisfy the most urgent need of the
behaving subject (Tin bergen, 1950; Baerends, 1956). Again here, nothing is said on
how a subject ranks conflicting needs and motivations in a given order. Since pleasure
led to optimization of behavior in the experiments arranged in such a way as to
present only one motivation at a time, it is hypothesized here that maximization of
pleasure might lead to the solution of conflicts of motivations, also.
It has been shown in the case of gustatory sensation that affective processes do
sum algebraically in rats (Young & Christensen, 1962). One may expect that algebraic

Rational is understood,here and in the following,in its philosophicalacceptation (i.e. reason), and
not in its narrowereconomicalsense.
176 M. C A B A N A C
Resulting affective experience Action
Behavior 1 a ~ A Yes
Behavior 2 B~ b No
Behavior I
+ a+B ~`4+b Yes
Behavior 2
with a < A, and B > b
and with a + B < A + b

FIG, 1, Mechanism by which a behavior (behavior 2) that produces displeasure can be chosen by a
subject if another behavior (behavior I) that produces pleasure is simultaneously chosen. The necessary
and sumcient condition for the behavior 2 to occur (action) is that the algebraic sum o f affective experience
(pleasure) o f the yoked behaviors is positive (a + B < .4 + b). Capital letters B and A indicate larger pleasure
than respective small letters a and b.

summation of pleasure and displeasure occurs also, not only within one sensory
modality such as taste, but across different modalities of perception and experience.
The resultant behavior would thus represent the tendency to maximize the algebraic
sum of pleasures and displeasures. Such a process where two yoked behaviors
increase total pleasure would be analogous to the chemical process of an improbable
endothermic reaction that can reach completion because it is yoked to an exothermic
one.
Figure i gives a theoretical example of such a process where a behavior unlikely
to occur spontaneously because it generates displeasure, will be achieved nevertheless
because it is yoked to another behavior that generates pleasure:
If behavior 1 modifies the affective experience of the behaving subject from state
a to state A, with A being larger than a,
then, behavior 1 tending to increase the subject's pleasure can be produced alone.
If behavior 2 modifies the affective experience of the behaving subject from state
B to state b, with B being larger than b,
then behavior 2 tending to diminish the subject's pleasure will not be produced
alone.
However,
if the algebraic sum A + b is larger than the algebraic sum a + B,
then, behavior ! and behavior 2 can be produced simultaneously since total
pleasure is also increased.
To verify the hypothesis, it must be demonstrated that subjects placed in situations
of conflict tend to maximize the algebraic sum of their pleasure. This was verified,
first, in situations where pleasure and displeasure were aroused by relatively simple
stimuli and the affective experience was sensory in origin.

M A X I M I Z A T I O N OF B1-DIMENSIONAL SENSORY P L E A S U R E :
THE EVIDENCE. H U M A N BEHAVIOR

In a series of experiments subjects were placed in bi-dimensionai sensory situations.

The experiments consisted in comparing the ratings given by a subject for the pleasure
 PLEASURE: THE COMMON CURRENCY 177
aroused by the stimuli, with the actual behavior choice displayed by the same subject.
The stimuli were presented in x, y matrices, x and y extended, in discrete steps, over
a range that the subjects might encounter in natural life. On a first session, the subject
was invited to rate his pleasure in one dimension, say x, of the matrix of stimuli. On
a second session, the subject was invited to rate his pleasure in the second dimension,
say y. In two additional sessions the subject was invited to select his preferred stimulus
when he could manipulate one dimension of the matrix, then the other. For example,
x was imposed in a session and the subject could manipulate y; then y was imposed
in the last session and the subject could manipulate x.
This general method allowed the experimenter to obtain the subject's x, y map of
pleasure/displeasure on the first two sessions, then to record the subject's preference
behavior in the same bi-dimensional space on the last two sessions, and finally to
compare the map with the behavior.
A first experiment combined basic taste stimuli (Cabanac & Ferber, 1987). Simple
tastes were selected, for the stimuli are easy to produce and combine, and they are
less prone to be associated with cultural factors. Not that preference induced by
cultural factors would be less valid as a test of the hypothesis, but would add inter-
subject variability. A combination of sweet gustatory stimuli (x) was thus pitted
against sourness (y). In a matrix, 25 gustatory stimuli combined five sucrose concen-
trations (0.15-2.35 mol 1-~) in small cups with five sournesses (pH 1.8-5-7). Four
sessions took place on four different days at the same time of day. Throughout the
first session, the 25 stimuli were tasted for 5 sec each and the subject was asked to give
a magnitude estimate of his pleasure or displeasure in response to the x dimension of
the matrix (e.g. sweetness) regardless of the y dimension. Similarly, throughout the
second session, the same stimuli were tasted again and the subject rated his pleasure
or displeasure in response to the y dimension of the matrix (e.g. sourness) regardless
of the x dimension. For the third session the subject was invited to mix samples
himself, this to allow a behavioral choice in one dimension of the matrix, the other
being imposed (e.g. he could mix sucrose and w~.ter ad libitum for each of five
imposed sournesses). For the last session, the subject could adjust the previously
imposed dimension, the other previously adjustable dimension now being imposed
(e.g. he could modify sourness for five imposed sucrose concentrations).
The results of the first two sessions showed that pleasure/displeasure resulted from
a two-dimensional combination of the taste modalities offered. This confirms the
algebraic summation of sucrose and sodium chloride palatability obtained in rats by
Young & Christensen (1962). Similar bi-dimensional maps of pleasantness have been
obtained with humans when combining various fat and sugar concentrations in taste
solutions (Drewnowski & Greenwood, 1983; Drewnowski et al., 1987). In addition,
the results of the last two sessions (Fig. 2) showed that the subjects tended to
maximize their sensory pleasure. The operant choices obtained coincided with the
ratings obtained in the first two sessions. Whether a dimension of the matrix was
imposed or operantly adjustable made no difference to the results; the subjects tended
to maximize sensory pleasure in the imposed dimension as well as in the adjustable
dimension. The subjects therefore maximized their pleasure in the bi-dimensional
space offered when two dimensions were independent. This means that they tended
178 M. C A B A N A C
( a ) pH Chosen by subject, sucrose concentralion imposed

Vo'te on sourness Vote on sweetness

5-7

4'6

~ 3.`5(

2.5

I-8
0.15 0.29 0-`58 1.17 2.35 0'15 0-29 0"58 1.17 2"35
SuCrose concentration (mote L- I )

( b ) Sucrose c o n c e n t r a t i o n chosen by subject~ pH imposed

Vote on sweetness Vote on sourness

5-7

4.6 C

3"5 ()

2 - 5 ~

I-8
0.1`5 0"29 0.58 1,17 2"3`5 0.1.5 0 , 2 9 0.,58 1.17 2 " 3 5
Sucrose concentration (mote L- I )

FwG. 2. A subject tends to maximize pleasure in a bi-dimensional gustatory space. The four squares
are identical combinations of sweetness (x~) and sourness 0',). (a) Reports the results of one session: the
subject rated his pleasure, left box, from the sour component of sensation, and, right box, from the sweet
component of sensation. The actual rating is not indicated but the zone of highest rating in each vector
is indicated with a heavy black bar. These bars are parallel to the y-axis in order to be compared with
the subject's actual choice in five other sessions; the open circles show the actual choices obtained in these
behavioral sessions. The subject could modify sourness but not sweetness which was fixed at a different
level for each of these five sessions. (b) Is a similar experiment as (a) except that the subject could modify
sweetness instead of sourness which was fixed at five different levels: the left box shows maximal pleasure
of the sweet component of sensation and the right box shows the sour component. Maximal pleasure
zones are indicated with heavy black bars. These bars are parallel to the x-axis to be compared with the
subject's actual choice in five other sessions, as shown with open circles.
This figure shows that in eight cases out of ten the subject's behavioral choice (open circles) was on
maximal pleasure zones (either in the imposed dimension, or in the dimension that the subject could
manipulate, or in between). Thus, the subject based his behavior on the pleasure aroused simultaneously
in both dimensions (sourness and sweetness). (From Cabanac & Ferber, 1987.)

to maximize the algebraic sum of pleasure aroused by the combination of stimuli,

and that maximizing the pleasure of one sensory dimension sometimes entailed
increasing the displeasure of another sensation.
This interesting result was verified in treadmill vs. ambient temperature experi-
ments where a clear-cut cost was involved, either fatigue or cold discomfort. The
results of this experiment too showed that the subjects' behavior tended to place
them in pleasurable areas of the offered space. In that experiment the subjects were
 PLEASURE: THE COMMON CURRENCY 179
again placed in a bi-dimensional (x, y) sensory space, but they had to make a tradeoff.
The perception aroused by a thermal environment was pitted against that aroused
by walking on a treadmill (Cabanac & LeBlanc, 1983). They could improve thermal
comfort (x) at the cost of fatigue (y). Dressed in swim suits and tennis shoes, the
subjects walked at 3 km hr- t on a treadmill placed in a climatic chamber. In a first
series of measurements, the treadmill was varied from 0-24% in slope, and this
condition combined with the ambient temperature from 25 to 5°C in a 25 node
matrix. Both treadmill slope and ambient temperature were imposed on the subjects
who gave separate ratings of the pleasure or displeasure evoked by ambient tempera-
ture and by exercise. Actual ratings of pleasure/displeasure o f x and y were obtained
from the nodes of the matrix, i.e. at ambient temperatures 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25°C,
combining with 0, 6, 12, 18, and 24% slopes. The ratings of x and y were then
algebraically summed. Figure 3 gives, as iso-hedonic lines interpolated between the
nodes, the algebraic sum of the two ratings. The figure is a bi-dimensional map of
pleasure/displeasure in the bi-dimensional sensory situation explored (exercise vs.
ambient temperature). In a second series of measurements one variable was imposed
by the experimenter, either slope of the treadmill or ambient temperature, and the
subject could manipulate the other variable. The results, indicated on Fig. 3 as
dots, showed that the subjects adjusted reciprocally exercise intensity, and ambient
temperature. When a steep slope was imposed, they selected a low ambient tempera-
ture, and when walking at level was imposed, they selected a lukewarm ambient
temperature. When the subjects were allowed to adjust treadmill slope and various
ambient temperature were imposed, they selected steep slopes at low ambient tem-
perature and no slopes at high ambient temperature. Figure 3 superimposes the
subjects' behavior choice (dots) with the map of pleasure/displeasure (iso-clines). It
is quite striking that the dots showing the finally selected experimental conditions in
quasi-steady states at the end of 1-hr sessions are located in the white areas indicative
of bi-dimensional pleasure. The subject's operant behavior was therefore guided by
the tendency to minimize displeasure (or maximize pleasure), in a bi-dimensional
space.
Similar results were obtained in another experiment which consisted of recording
the subjects' sensations aroused in the chest and the lower limbs by simply walking
on a treadmill. The subjects' behavior paralleled their algebraic sum of bodily discom-
fort (Fig. 4). In subjects walking on a treadmill, perceptions are aroused in the chest
(variable x) and in the lower limbs (variable y) and an experiment was set to study
how the perceptions combine (Cabanac, 1985). A treadmill was geared to five slopes
(x) and five speeds (y) in combination, and subjects were invited to walk on it. At
min 16, the subjects gave estimates of displeasure for sensations aroused in their
chest and another one for the displeasure aroused in their lower limbs. Figure 4 gives
the results of these ratings as iso-hedonic lines. The lines were obtained for each
sensation explored (top box: displeasure in the lower limbs, middle box: displeasure
in the chest) and for the algebraic sum of the two ratings (bottom box). These
estimates were then compared to the subjects' actual behavior obtained in other
sessions. The subjects were given the task of climbing up 300 m on the treadmill at
varying speeds and slopes. When speed was imposed they could adjust slope, and
180 M. CABANAC

24

18

o~
~. 12
mo
(,q

0
5 10 Ifi 20 25
r, ( ° c )

FIG. 3. Behavior tends to place a subject in pleasurable area of a motivational space. This figure
superimposes results obtained in one subject who walked at a constant 3 km hr "t on a treadmill over
several sessions. The iso-clines were obtained in the first series of sessions as follows: A combination of
treadmill slopes and ambient temperature (To) was imposed, and the subject rated separately his discom-
fort aroused by fatigue and by cold. The lines show the algebraic sum of ratings triggered by the various
combinations of environmental temperature with intensity of exercise; positive ratings indicate a pleasur-
able sum. negative ratings indicates an unpleasant sum. The lines are therefore iso-hedonic lines.
The dots were obtained in the second series of sessions. They show the actual locations in the map
sought by the subject in ten sessions. Either ambient temperature was imposed on the subject (5, 10, 15,
20, or 25°C) and he could select slope ( • ) , i.e. intensity of exercise, or the slope of the treadmill was
imposed (0, 6, 12, 18, or 24% slope) and the subject could choose environmental temperatures ( • ) . For
example, when To was imposed at 10°C, the subject requested to raise the treadmill up to 23.5°,6 slope
and the ( • ) is located in the white area (pleasure) beyond the +0-5 pleasure incline. When the treadmill
was imposed at 0% slope, the subject requested 7", to be raised to 26°C and the (O) is located in the
white area (pleasure). (From Cabanac & LeBlanc, 1983.)

c o n v e r s e l y . T h e d o t s o n Fig. 4 s h o w the a c t u a l b e h a v i o r . T h e d o t s fall a l o n g the lines

a l t h o u g h t h e y d i d n o t g e n e r a t e t h e m since they were o b t a i n e d o n d i f f e r e n t sessions.
T h e p a t t e r n o f c o n d i t i o n s selected b e h a v i o r a l l y ( d o t s ) was s t r i k i n g l y a d a p t e d to t h a t
o f the a l g e b r a i c s u m o f r a t i n g s o f d i s p l e a s u r e in the chest, p l u s d i s p l e a s u r e in the
lower l i m b s (iso-clines).
T h u s , in t h e t h r e e s i t u a t i o n s e x p l o r e d (sweet vs. sour, t e m p e r a t u r e vs. f a t i g u e , a n d
chest vs. legs) the s u b j e c t s ' b e h a v i o r were r e p e a t e d l y c o h e r e n t : in the b i - d i m e n s i o n a l
s e n s o r y s i t u a t i o n s i m p o s e d b y the e x p e r i m e n t e r s , the s u b j e c t s d e s c r i b e d m a p s o f bi-
d i m e n s i o n a l p l e a s u r e in sessions w h e r e their p l e a s u r e was e x p l o r e d , a n d t e n d e d to
m o v e to the a r e a s o f m a x i m a l p l e a s u r e in these m a p s , in sessions w h e r e their b e h a v i o r
 PLEASURE: THE C O M M O N CURRENCY 181

6"0
legs

4"8

4.6

2-4
--I
-\
1"2
6-0
chest

=" 4.8
.c
E
:5.6

c~

2-4 i l i l . . ~ .

1.2
6.0 1 sum

4"8

3.6

2-4

I'2
5
_•J
I0 15
Slope (°Io}
20 25

FIG. 4. Subjects sum algebraically their affective perceptions in chest and in lower limbs. Each of the
three boxes superimposes the results obtained with one subject in two series of sessions. In the first series
of sessions the subject walked in a combination of treadmill slopes and speeds and was requested to report
his affective ratings that describe the displeasure aroused in his legs (top box), and in his chest (middle
box). The algebraic sum of the two above (bottom box), was calculated by the experimenter. The subject's
ratings are indicated as lines. These lines show the iso-hedonic thresholds for displeasure ( - I ) in the
slope/speed space. The negative ratings indicate increasing displeasure with increasing figures. These lines
are negative since the subject reported only displeasure and no pleasure. The dots show the operant choice
made by the subject in the second series of sessions. The subject walked on the treadmill of which the
slope ( I ' ) was imposed and he could adjust the speed, or the speed ( I ) of the treadmill was imposed
and he could adjust the slope. The same dots are drawn in the three boxes to allow the comparing with
the iso-hedonic lines. It can be seen that the behavior fitted best with the threshold of combined (sum)
bi-dimensional displeasure. (From Cabanac, 1985.)
182 M. CABANAC
was explored. Figure 3 illustrates the coincidence of behavior choice with ratings of
pleasure in the case of conflict between thermal environment and temperature, and
Fig. 4 when conflicting variables were slope and speed of treadmill.
The condition as to whether subjects in conflict situations tend to maximize their
sensory pleasure is therefore satisfied. In the three experiments the subjects tended
to maximize the algebraic sum of their sensory pleasure or to minimize their dis-
pleasure as in the third experiment described above. As a corollary of this observa-
tion, it can be stated that, in a situation of conflict of motivations, one can predict
the future choice of the subject from the algebraic sum of affective ratings of pleasure
and displeasure, given by the subject, to the conflicting motivations.
This result is not surprising if one considers that, at each instant, all motivations
are ranked to satisfy only the most urgent. There must exist a common currency to
actuate the behavioral final common path (McFarland & Sibly, 1975) and the results
of the above experiments show that sensory pleasure fulfilled the conditions required
of a common motivational currency, at least in the case of the behaviors selected
which have clear physiological implications. Pleasure permitted ranking thermal com-
fort above fatigue, or conversely. We shall return to this point after having examined
the case of optimal behavior.

OPTIMAL BEHAVIOR

The word optimality applied to behavior can be ambiguous because it bears some-
what different meanings when used by Ethologists, Economists, or Physiologists (Lea
et al., 1987). Ethologists differentiate between goal and cost. Economists differentiate
between utility and cost. The goal of a subject, as well as utility, is some entity that
an optimal behavior will tend to maximize, which may appear tautological to the
physiologist. The cost is a characteristic of the environment that the optimal behavior
will tend to minimize. All would agree that an optimal behavior gives the maximal net
benefit (or fitness) to the behaving individual. Specialists diverge in their definition of
benefit (or fitness). The benefit can be defined in terms of reproductive efficacity
(Krebs & Davies, 1981) as well as financial profit and physiological function
(McFarland, 1985). We are concerned here with this last aspect: physiological
benefit.
To the Physiologist a behavior is optimal when it leads to homeostasis. Optimal
behavior could be recognized easily when subjects instructed to seek their most
pleasurable skin temperature selected stimuli which, after data analysis, could be
described by mathematical models identical to the models describing the autonomic
responses (Cabanac et al., I972; Bleichert et al., 1973; Marks & Gonzalez, 1974;
Cabanac, i 981 ). One may wonder whether optimization, as seen from the physiologi-
cal point of view, was also achieved in the three experiments above where subjects
maximized the algebraic sum of two modalities of sensory pleasure. As illustrated
below, physiological criteria of optimization will show us that maximization of pleas-
ure was the key to optimal behavior in the experimental conflicts of motivations
studied.
 PLEASURE: THE COMMON CURRENCY 183
The preferred taste is likely to be related to the chemical properties of sour and
of sweet stimuli. It remains difficult to tell what was optimal behavior from the point
of view of physiology in the case of the gustatory experiment above, where subjects
maximized their bi-dimensional taste pleasure. However, it was possible to find such
physiological criteria when exercise was involved.
Figure 5 compares the subject's behavioral choice (dots) at the end of a session
with the theoretical time (lines) necessary to climb 300 m as directed: the dots were
obtained with the subject manipulating speed or slope. It can be seen that the subject's
choice paralleled the iso-chronic curves, that is, the subject tended to walk at a
constant external power, which makes sense from the point of view of physiology,
in the various combinations of slopes and speeds.
Figure 6 analyzes usefulness in the conflict temperature vs. exercise as a plot against
ambient temperature of the external work produced by a subject at the end of the
1-hr sessions. The figure also combines sessions when the subject could manipulate

6"0 12

4.8

E
ag

3.s I- \ •
o.
u~

b40

2.4 60

.P

].2
IO 15 2O 25
Slope (%1

FiG. 5. Example of spontaneous optimization of behavior. The eight dots show the performance in
eight separate sessions of a subject asked to climb up 300 m in elevation on a treadmill. He could adjust
either the slope of the treadmill while the speed was imposed, or vice versa. The solid lines indicate the
theoretical iso--chronic profiles for durations to climb up 300 m. The durations (12, 15, 20, 30, 40, 60, and
120) in rain are indicated above each iso-chronic line. It can be seen that the subject adjusted his environ-
ment in order to perform within an approximate constant 40 min time, i.e. he ~:hose a relatively constant
rate of work output no matter what the condition of slope and speed, in the eight different sessions. The
behavior was thus optimal as seen from a physiological point of view. (From Cabanac, 1985.)
184 M. CABANAC
1501

I00

o
¢

50

- ••
t I I I I
5 IO 15 20 25 30
Ambient temperature ( ° C )

FIG. 6. Another example of optimization. Each dot shows the amount of external work produced by
a walking subject at the end of a 1 hr session when he could adjust either ambient temperature while
treadmill slope was imposed (•), or treadmill slope while ambient temperature was imposed (O) (con-
stant speed). It can be seen that the amount of work the subject chose to produce, i.e. his heat production,
was inversely proportional to the cold environment, thus optimal as seen from the point of view of
temperature regulation. (From Cabanac & LeBlanc, 1983.)

ambient temperature while exercise was imposed, and those when he could manipu-
late the treadmill slope while ambient temperature was imposed. Obviously, heat
production by walking on the treadmill, which can be estimated to be approximately
three times the external work, was inversely proportional to ambient temperature.
Behavioral heat production was thus proportional to the need to equilibrate heat
loss and was therefore optimal, as seen from the point of view of temperature regula-
tion. Taken separately from verbal reports of pleasure/displeasure, these results
would not be different from animal observation (Krebs & Davies, 1981) and experi-
ments (Collier & Rovee-Collier, 1981) which show a good adaptation of animal
behavior to the physiological need. This has been repeatedly demonstrated and would
not need further demonstration. However, I present here a different point of view,
since the variations of the behavior displayed by the subjects could be c o m p a r e d
with the variations of their sensory pleasure, as judged from their ratings obtained
in separate sessions. Behavior and pleasure followed identical patterns.
Thus, the trend to maximize sensory pleasure found a physiological finality in
physiological regulation both with the experiment slope vs. speed, and with the
experiment ambient temperature vs. exercise. Pleasure coincided in both experiments
with a clear-cut adaptive physiological aim. This, more than mere coincidence, sug-
gests strongly that pleasure was the key to optimal behavior, and that maximizing
pleasure leads to optimal physiological performance.
 PLEASURE: THE COMMON CURRENCY 185
THE COMMON CURRENCY

The experiments reported above were limited to sensory pleasure and to conflicts
of motivations with clear physiological implications. One may question whether
it is possible to extend the conclusions to other domains than biology. The notion
of behavioral common path is especially enlightening to answer that question.
Paraphrasing Sherrington's image of the motoneuron final common path of all
motor responses, McFarland & Sibly (1975) pointed out that behavior is also a
final common path on which all motivations converge. This image incorporates
all motivations into a unique category since behavior must satisfy not only
physiological needs but also social, moral, esthetical, playful motivations. Indeed,
it is often the case that behaviors are mutually exclusive; one cannot work and
sleep at the same time. Therefore, the brain, responsible for the behavioral
response, must rank priorities and determine tradeoffs in the decisions concerned
with allocating time among competing behaviors. It can be expected that the
brain operates this ranking by using a common currency (McFarland & Sibly,
1975; McNamara & Houston, 1986). The metaphor of the common currency was
used by McFarland & Sibly (1975) because:
"the necessity for comparing the merits of different courses of action [implies] that there
must be some trade-off mechanism built into the motivational control system. Since the
trade-offprocess must take into account all relevant motivational variables, it is clear that
the mechanism responsible must be located at a point of convergence in the motivational
organization" (McFarland & Sibly, 1975).

The results of the above experiments show that sensory pleasure fulfilled the condi-
tions required of a common motivational currency, at least in the case of the
behaviors selected which have clear physiological implications. Pleasure permitted
ranking thermal comfort above fatigue, or conversely. If it can be accepted that, at
each instant, a subject responds in the realm of physiology to the motivation that
will provide the greatest additional sensory pleasure for any given cost, because there
is a need for a common currency, we may conclude that pleasure is also the common
currency for non-physiological motivations. In the experiments described below cold
discomfort or the relief from pain, was pitted against money or the pleasure of a
videogame. In these conflicts the subjects used pleasure as the common currency in
the respective trade-offs.

MONEY AND PLAYFUL BEHAVIOR

Money was pitted against cold discomfort in a climatic chamber (Johnson &
Cabanac, 1982), and against pain from isometric contraction in the thighs (Cabanac,
1986). In these experiments, human volunteers could earn money against duration
of exposure to these unpleasant sensations. Thus, the longer they stood cold discom-
fort, or pain, the more money they earned. In several sessions, the rate of monetary
reward was varied. In both cases it was found that the discomfort or the painful
sensation, as described by the ratings given by the subjects, increased linearly as a
186 M. CABANAC

function of time. In both cases it was found that the subjects tolerated higher discom-
fort, or pain, for a longer time when the monetary reward was higher. This finding is
in conformity with common-sense expectation. In addition however, it experimentally
measures and demonstrates that an unpleasant sensation was reliably and
quantitatively matched against money, a non-physiological motivation. The relation
between reward and duration of tolerated displeasure was logarithmic. It can be
assumed that the subjects decided to end a session just at the instant when the
displeasure of the sensation became greater than the pleasure of the monetary antici-
pated reward.
This result shows that other motivated behaviors may be comprehended by the
hypothesis, and that decisions involving non-physiological motivations can be made
by following the tendency to maximize pleasure. The last experiment to be discussed
here pitted a hedonoid motivation, thermal discomfort, against a hormoid motiva-
tion, the pleasure of playing a videogame (Cabanac, 1989). The general principle
was the same as above and consisted in exposing each subject to three sessions: in
one session (play) the subject played a videogame for 1 hr, and every 5 min was
requested to rate on a magnitude-estimation scale, the pleasure of playing the video-
game. In the second session (cold) the ambient temperature was reduced progress-
ively from 25 to 7°C over i hr, and every 5 min the subject was requested to rate the
pleasure or the displeasure aroused by ambient temperature. No anchor (landmark)
was given for the ratings; the only instruction received by the subjects was to use
positive figures for pleasure and negative figures for displeasure. In the third session
(conflict) both videogame and cold ambient temperature were presented simul-
taneously and the only instruction received by the subjects was that they could
interrupt the session whenever they wanted to. The pertinent result of the experiment
was the duration of the subjects' stay in the climatic chamber in the conflict situation.
Figure 7 gives two examples of results from the subjects with the shortest (left) and
longest (right) durations in conflict sessions. This figure shows the ratings given to
the pleasure of playing and to the displeasure of cold environment obtained in
different sessions. This figure gives the time-course of positive ratings for the pleasure
of playing and negative ratings for the displeasure and cold discomfort. The duration
of conflict session of each subject is shown by the arrows. None of the monitored
autonomic variables (heart rate, arterial blood pressure, body-core and various skin
temperatures) correlated with the ratings of cold discomfort in such a way as to
predict the duration of the conflict sessions. These variables may therefore be rejected
as predictors of duration tolerated in the cold environment during the conflict session.
The hypothesis under test states that at each instant a subject will tend to maximize
the algebraic sum of his pleasures. To hold true the hypothesis under test would
imply that the subject stayed in the climatic chamber during the conflict sessions as
long as the pleasure of playing the videogame was stronger than the displeasure
aroused by the decreasing ambient temperature. It can be expected that a subject
would end the conflict session when the sum of the rating obtained in the cold session
plus that obtained in the play session equalled zero. This can be verified first by the
two examples of Fig. 7. For the subject shown on the left the arrow shows that the
actual duration of her conflict session was about 6 min longer than the time when
both curves obtained in other sessions crossed each other. The subject shown on the
right was the only one of this kind : the ratings given by her did not cross each other
 PLEASURE: T H E C O M M O N C U R R E N C Y 187

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188 M. CABANAC
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FVG.8. Theoretical behavior compared to actual behavior. Actual duration endured by the 12 subjects,
considered the dependent variable, plotted against theoretical duration considered the independent vari-
able. Theoretical duration was obtained through two different methods: graphic was the first crossing of
the respective time courses of positive rating of the pleasure of playing, with negative rating of the
displeasure of cold discomfort; algebraic was obtained in solving the family of two equations: y' =f(rating
play) and y" =f(rating cold) with y' =y". Interrupted line givesthe hypothetical case where actual duration
would equal theoretical. Solid line gives the regression of the actual duration plotted against theoretical
duration with algebraic method (y=0-993x +5.3, r=0.977). The regression of actual duration plotted
against theoretical duration with graphic method is not represented. It can be seen that actual duration
for the group of subjects was theoretical duration plus 5"3 min. (i--'1),Graphic; (li), algebraic. (From
Cabanac, 1989.)

during the 60 min sessions of play and cold. This was confirmed by her long stay in
conflict session; it can be seen that she stayed 74 min during the conflict session, i.e.
a b o u t 9 min beyond the extrapolated time of crossing of the two curves. Thus, both
subjects shown in Fig. 7 stayed somewhat longer than the predicted time, but the
basic hypothesis remains valid since the error on actual duration was +6 min and
+9 rain out o f a span of theoretical duration extending from 5 min (left) to more
than 60 min (right). It should be pointed out that the examples picked out for Fig.
7 were not "the best" from the group o f subjects in terms of matching theoretical
and actual duration, but simply the shortest and longest durations in conflict sessions.
Figure 8 shows the results of the group of 12 subjects. Actual duration is plotted
against theoretical duration. Theoretical duration was that predicted through two
different methods.
(i) graphic: theoretical duration obtained from the simple time-course plot, as
the time when positive rating was equal to negative rating as in Fig. 7.
(ii) algebraic: theoretical duration obtained from the family of two equations
fitted to the time courses of both ratings when their sum was equal to zero.
Both methods gave similar results which are plotted on Fig. 8 for the 12 subjects.
The respective regression lines were: algebraic, y = 0.993x + 5.29 with r = 0-977, and
graphic, y = 1.093x+2.91 with r=0-976. The coefficient of correlation as well as the
slope was close to 1 whatever the method to obtain theoretical duration. F r o m the
 PLEASURE: THE COMMON CURRENCY 189
ratings of pleasure and displeasure, it was therefore possible to predict the actual
duration o f the session in situation of conflict. The intersection o f the regression line
with y axis in Fig. 8 was y = 5 . 3 min and would be 2.9 min with graphic theoretical
duration. This indicates that the subjects did not stop the session at the time when
both motivations, to stay in the climatic chamber and to leave it, became equal but
only some minutes later. Such a delay, necessary for the subjects to make up their
mind, would tend to confirm the hypothesis that the subjects made their decision
from the algebraic sum of pleasure/displeasure aroused in both dimensions, for, at
the time o f equal magnitude for both motivations, there was no reason for a subject
to remain in the climatic chamber, but there was none either to leave it. The few
minutes o f overstay can be understood as the time for cold discomfort to become
stronger than the pleasure of playing.
This result validates the hypothesis tested. It is therefore permitted to conclude
that pleasure was the common currency o f the motivations here pitted against each
other. This extends to playful behavior the conclusions made previously on behaviors
with physiological purposes and on learned reward such as money. If maximization
of the algebraic sum o f pleasure as consequences of behaviors as different as thermo-
regulatory behavior and playing a game was the key to the solution of the conflict,
it appears legitimate to extend it to other motivations as a general law for optimiza-
tion o f behavior and for solving conflicts.

Discussion of the Hypothesis

PLEASURE AND BEHAVIOR

The relation of pleasure to behavior was regarded as obvious by the Greek philoso-
phers Aristotle (384-322, Be) and Epicurus (341-270, Be, see Conche, 1977):
"Life and pleasure, as we can see now, are not separable; for without behavior there is
no pleasure, and pleasure improves behavior". (Aristotle, translated by Voilquin, 1965).
After the Greeks, many philosophers and thinkers such as St Augustine (354-430,
see Lamarre, 1986), St Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274), Montaigne (1533-1592, see
Saulnier, 1988), Gassendi ( 1592- i 655, see Bloch, ! 97 i ), or Sulzer ( 175 i ) recognized
in the affective experience a great role, if not the essential role, as a motivation.
Bentham (1742-1832, see Bowring, 1838) based his "greatest happiness principle"
on pleasure, "the spring of action". Kant (1788, see Picauet, 1983) and Mill (1863)
were more concise but equally clear on this point. For Freud (1920) (see Jankelevitch,
1951) the "pleasure principle" determines the aim of life. An important analysis of
the role of the affective process in behavior has been carried out by Duncker (1940-
1):
"A search for the ultimate motives of human conduct cannot disregard pleasure which
many eminent minds have considered to be the fundamental motive, or at least an impor-
tant one. Others, to be sure, have held that pleasure is the outcome rather than the motive
or goal of human striving... There cannot be the slightest doubt that many human
strivings bear some kind of reference to pleasure, and likewise that many pleasures bear
some reference to striving".
190 M. CABANAC
It is therefore generally assumed that a motivated behavior is oriented by the
incentives received by the subjects (Killeen, 1962; Nutin, 1975; Toates, 1986).
"From every point of view the affective processes must be regarded as motivational in
nature". (Young, 1959, 1961).
Yet pleasure has never been popular in history for moral reasons. In addition the
excesses of psychoanalysis have led to the rejection of all mentalistic explanations of
behavior. As a result pleasure is shunned by most recent textbooks, a drawback of
behaviorism in modern literature. According to the part they attribute to pleasure,
Dunker (1940-1) has sorted philosophers into two schools: "Hedonists" for whom
pleasure is the fundamental motive, as opposed to "Hormists" for whom pleasure is
the outcome. "Hormism" was coined from McDougall's "hormic force" (1923) (a
force that urges us to strive). One can easily recognize in hedonism and hormism the
ancient opposition of the philosophers of the Garden, the Epicurists, and those of
the Portico, the Stoicists, or with PI6 (1982) the morals of pleasure as opposed to
the morals of duty. This opposition has lasted through the centuries. It is interesting
to notice that this dual way of looking at pleasure can be found as an internal
fracture within most societies, families of thought, and churches. Eventually duty
always wins its struggle against pleasure.
One good reason for the rejection of pleasure from the realm of science was the
lack of experimental evidence and the fact that the philosophers conclusions were
based on their own introspection only. This rejection may be based on earlier
approaches to these phenomena but,
"as new techniques are developed, our ideas often have to be revised to encompass the
new information obtained". (Teitelbaum, 1964).
The analysis of the causes for the dominant rejection of pleasure is out of place here.
Interested readers will find it together with a historical review of epicurism in PI6
(1982). Additional documentation on the relation of pleasure to behavior will be
found in Toates (1986) and in Lea et al. (1987).

ANIMAL BEHAVIOR
"Although feelingsof pleasantness and unpleasantness are known directly only in human
experience, the facts of animal behavior make it necessary to postulate that affective
processes have an objective existence". (Young, 1959).
There is evidence that animals, too, tend to maximize pleasure in multi-dimensional
sensory situations, i.e. when a cost is involved. Wild animals make decisions that
permit their survival. They are capable of coping with nutritional stress by substitut-
ing various responses (King & Murphy, 1985); the diversity and potency of such
compensatory mechanisms have often been underrated. These choice situations have
been studied experimentally in the laboratory: It is likely that the behavior displayed
by pigs which preferred to feed than to thermoregulate (Ingram & Legge, 1970),
steers which preferred to thermoregulate than to feed (Malechek & Smith, 1976),
and sheep which preferred to drink than to feed (Squires & Wilson, 1971), are
 PLEASURE: THE COMMON CURRENCY 191
examples in farm conditions of animals which expressed a clearcut preference of one
stimulus over another one. It may be accepted that this preference optimized, from
the point of view of cost, their behavioral response to stressful environments.
Recently Stricker & Verbalis (1988) have shown how rats alternate drinking pure
water and salted water in response to their need for water and for salt. Thus, behavior
is alternately serving both motivations. Because humans in an analogous situation
maximized their pleasure (Figs 3 and 4), one may wish to find examples where
animals adapted their behavior to physiological need by maximizing pleasure in a
situation of conflict.
The past 20 years of research in operant conditioning have been dominated by the
"matching law" which in its most general form states that the distribution of activities
matches their relative "value". There have been numerous demonstrations of quanti-
tative tradeoffs between different aspects of reward (e.g. frequency vs. intensity,
Baldwin, 1968; Carlisle, 1969, 1970; Collier & Rovee-CoUier, 1981; Dawkins, 1990),
and some showing that electric shock can be scaled in terms of "negative food units"
(Farley & Fantino, 1978; Farley, 1980). There has been a heated debate as to whether
animals actually do maximize "value" (Green et al., 1983; Rachlin et al., 1981) or
simply respond to various schedules of reinforcements in such a way as to match
reinforcement ratios (Heyman & Herrnstein, 1986). The controversy seems to point
to the matching law as a better description of animal behavior when only alimentary
intake is taken into account. Yet, animal pleasure should not be reduced to the
pleasure of feeding. Herrnstein (1977) pointed out that motor activity itself, such as
hunting and prey capturing in predators, might be reinforcing; this hypothesis was
also defended by Toates & Jensen (1991). To further explore pleasure in animals it
is therefore necessary to find situations close to natural conditions where little con-
straint is involved, as opposed to situations where, say, animals maintained at 80%
of their free-feeding weight must choose between starving and feeding plus receiving
an electric shock.
Is it possible to obtain such empirical evidence showing that animals will seek
sensory pleasure and succeed in trading off some amount of displeasure for it? In
the obstruction method (Warden, 1931) in contrast to the operant conditioning
method, the strength of a motivation is measured not as an operant or motor
response, but rather as the decision made by an animal to overcome a resistance to
obtain a reward. Such a situation can be explored in the laboratory under conditions
close to nature. Rats were trained for several weeks to feed each day from 10-00
hours to 12-00 hours, i.e. 2 hr day-t. Over the same period, they learned in a zigzag
maze that once a week, additional highly palatable food was available to them
during the regular feeding session, but at 16 m from their shelter. On the day of an
experimental session their shelter was kept warm but the maze and the bait were in
a very cold environment o f - 1 5 ° C in turbulent air. Although regular laboratory
chow was available ad libitum in their warm shelter, rats invariably ran for short
meals to the cold feeder to obtain the highly palatable food and rushed back to their
warm shelter between these meals (Cabanac & Johnson, t983) (Fig. 9). With such
foods, the animals took as much as half the nutrient intake of that day in an environ-
ment potentially lethal to them if they were to stay in it. For less palatable foods,
192 M. C A B A N A C

c~
I0'

c 0
•]
ii II

o g

61
o
g

o
E 4

O'

!-i
.,7

Cofeterio Most Llost Chow

fovoured fovoured

FIG. 9. Rats trade cold discomfort for palatability. This figure shows the characteristics of rats' meals
taken from a feeder (restaurant) at - 1 5 ~ C placed 16 m away from the rats' warm shelter. The rats had
water and chow ad lib in their shelter and were offered either cafeteria diet, the most and the least favored
bait of each animal, or lab-chow at the feeder. Bars above c o l u m n s indicate s.E.; (x x) lines join
columns when not significantly different. Ingested mass is the a m o u n t ingested at the feeder in addition
to the chow ingested in the warm shelter (not indicated on the figure); mean meal duration shows the
time spent at the feeder in the biting-cold environment. Total duration at the feeder was obtained from
direct recording. The columns on the left are higher than on the right; this shows that rats ventured
repeatedly in the cold for high palatability--but not for low palatability--food. ( F r o m C a b a n a c &
Johnson, 1983.)

the rats went only once or twice to the feeder over the 2-hr session, and stayed there
for a shorter time. Although they did not become hypothermic, the rats gave signs
that the environment was unpleasant: They rubbed their ears and areas of naked
skin, and their ear pinnae and tip of the tail sometimes were necrosed from frostbite.
Thus, the animals faced the unpleasant or even painful cold not out of necessity,
since regular food was provided at no cost in their warm shelter, but for the pleasure
of ingesting a palatable bait. This also shows that there existed a quantitative match-
ing of the pleasure of food with the displeasure of enduring cold. Such a result can
be interpreted, in the light of the experiments on humans, by stating that the rats
exercised their freedom to increase their algebraic sum: alimentary pleasure minus
cold displeasure.
 PLEASURE: THE COMMON CURRENCY 193
Maximization of pleasure may thus be the link between physiology and behavior
and give the key to the problem of physiological optimization without the implication
of the animal's knowledge and rationality about its physiological state. A working
man does not have to know his body temperature, blood oxygen and glucose, muscle
glycogen and lactic acid, etc to take an occasional but necessary break. He just has
to "listen to" his sensations and maximize the algebraic sum of pleasures, a summa-
tion that is hardly conscious. By using the same mechanism animals also can make
the right decisions. The seeking of pleasure is sufficient to actuate an appropriate
behavior. This central place of pleasure in animal behavior is now being postulated
when interpreting experimental results (Waldbillig & O'Callaghan, 1980; Baldwin,
1985; Mehiei & Bolles, 1988; B~dard & Weingarten 1989) and field observation
(Hladik, 1977), or plainly recognized from theoretical considerations (Bindra, 1978;
Lester, 1984; Toates, 1986).

UTILITY

"A general principle, subscribed to by both economists and ethologists, is that in the
process of decision-making, something is maximized". (McFarland & Houston, 1981).

There is a concern for bridging the gaps between economics and biology
(McFarland, 1977; Campbell, 1986; Lucas, 1986; Schwartz, 1986; Lea et al., 1987).
McFarland (1977) has applied the concept of optimality to the mechanisms of deci-
sion making and brought together biological, psychological and economic
approaches.
The notion of utility used in economics (Marshall, 1890; Samueison & Scott, 1975)
is similar to the notion of pleasure as used in this article.
"Those who know anything about the matter are aware that every writer, from Epicurus
to Bentham, who maintained the theory of utility, meant by it, not something contradis-
tinguished from pleasure, but pleasure itself, together with exemption from pain;..."
(Mill, 1863).

Following Mill, I would suggest that pleasure, as measured in our experiments,

corresponds to the Economists' concept of utility. The word utility is widely accepted
by Economists; however this word is sometimes ill-understood by the laity, which
has difficulty in accepting that utility may refer even to a detrimental or noxious
object, such as a cigarette or a drug. On the other hand, the word pleasure is
unequivocal, at least in the common language.
The concept of utility has been kept aloof by those who shun mentalistic explana-
tions in much the same way as radical behaviorists have ignored pleasure. Utility
has been measured experimentally (Mosteller & Nogee, 1951; Galanter, 1962) yet is
seen as a circular explanation of whatever motivations economic behavior reveals to
us (Lea et al., 1987).
"The utility concept purports to look behind the Veil of Money but utility cannot be
measured, while money values can, and economists have a bias in favour of the
measurable..." (Robinson, 1962).
194 M. CABANAC
If utility is pleasure, then the experiments reported in the previous pages opened
the black-box circularity of the concept of utility, since it should be remembered that
the subjects were asked to rate their own affective experience. These studies thus
confirm the fundamental assumptions and experiments made in economics that indi-
viduals are utility maximizers. The iso-hedonic lines presented in Figs 3 and 4 are
homologous to the iso-utility functions of McFarland & Houston (1981). In these
figures the zero iso-hedonic line is also homologous to the indifference curve predicted
theoretically in microeconomics (Asimakopulos, 1978; Lea et al., 1987). The logarith-
mic tradeoff of thermal discomfort and pain, for money, displayed by the subjects
parallels strongly the economic law describing the "diminishing marginal rate of
substitution" (Asimakopulos, 1978; Lipsey et al., 1979; Lea et al., 1987).

APPARENT CONTRADICTIONS

Complex situations with more than one stimulus at a time, seem frequently not to
follow the rule:
pleasant = useful,
and are often taken into consideration to refute that rule. Five cases can be listed
where the search for pleasure does not seem to result in useful behavior.
(1) Food habits. People as well as animals tend to eat what they like and this may
result in intake of the one preferred food to the exclusion of others and, in
turn, in deficient diets (Galef, 1991). Young (1959) has shown in rats that
food preferences are established in accordance with the animal's needs. The
divergence from the law of usefulness is therefore only apparent and limited
to the case, unlikely to occur in natural situations, where a familiar food is
artificially made deficient in a given vitamin or amino acid.
(2) Artificial sweetners are a similar case. The sweet sensation has been selected
in phylogeny as pleasant because carbohydrates are both sweet and a source
of energy. The fact that chemists have been able to uncouple sweetness arti-
ficially from energy content does not invalidate the natural relationship of
pleasure, and sweetness, with usefulness.
(3) A group of monkeys is first trained to respond in order to postpone the
delivery of electric shock. Later the contingency is changed so that, rather
than postponing shock, responding actually serves to trigger shock. Paradox-
ically, it is found that, rather than the response extinguishing, the animals
accelerate their responding, an effect termed the "McKearney" effect (McKe-
arney, 1969). This situation resembles that of point (l) above. Pleasure is a
sign of usefulness when a new behavioral response is being established. The
McKearney effect seems to be the result of a regression in an animal which
cannot learn a new response for unknown reason.
(4) The case of drug addiction is more complex. The fact that addicts seeks and
consume neuroactive drugs able to actuate nervous paths leading eventually
to pleasure, but without any obvious beneficial result for the subject, could be
understood as a case of maladjustment of pleasure with usefulness. Yet it may
 PLEASURE: THE COMMON CURRENCY 195
be recognized that such a situation confirms that pleasure is a powerful drive
of behavior, and therefore that only the relationship of pleasure with eventual
usefulness is to be discussed.
One should distinguish the first trial with the drug from the later stage of estab-
lished addiction. On first contact with the drug, curiosity rather than pleasure is
likely to be the main motivation. Although curiosity in that case turns harmful for
the subject, nobody would deny that curiosity has a formidable survival advantage
and can be regarded as useful. In long addicted subjects, the withdrawal syndrome
may be so noxious that the pleasure brought by taking the drug can be considered
useful in the short term, by removing the physical discomfort. Finally, the consump-
tion of the drug is likely to be the outcome of several clashing motivations (point 5,
below).
(5) The fifth case is when useful is unpleasant.
"People often behave in ways that do not seem pleasurable as measured by other than
behavioral measures. People go on diets, put themselves through unpleasant coui'ses of
study, read unpleasant books and articles, sacrifice their own pleasure for the good of
relatives, friends, compatriots, etc." (Anonymous referee).
"How can you compare the pleasure of cheese and beer with the pleasure of seeing a
good Hamlet?" (Ladd, 1894, quoted in Titchener, 1908).
All the examples listed in these quotations enter into the general category of conflict-
ing motivations that has been studied above.

P L E A S U R E AT T H E C R O S S R O A D S

The question raised at the beginning of this essay was to understand how subjects
make their decisions. At the end of the essay one might ask whether anything is new
from what was known to Epicurus, Gassendi, Bentham, and Mill. The experimental
approach summarized in the above pages answers this question and provides two
advantages. First, reproducibility and the sharing of evidence means that we can
extend the discussion beyond the domain of morals to that of science. We can apply
rigor to an area of knowledge that was previously based only on intuition and
common-sense. Second, the experiments are at the crossroads of Biology, Psychology,
and Economics and contribute to bring these sciences together.

Conclusions
As a general conclusion, it is proposed that animals and humans rank priorities
in choice situations and thus optimize their behavior by the amount of pleasure
aroused by this behavior. As an economist wrote:
"Pleasures and pains represent the sole genuine basis for understanding human motives"
(Jevons, 187 I).
Bentham's 14 tables of the springs of action, and Duncker's four causes of pleasure
can be compared to one another for the very good reason that present or expected
pleasure is the common currency to past, present, and future actions. The "law of
196 M. CABANAC

effect" would act, not as a learning process only, but also as a way for living organ-
isms "to know" that they are producing an optimal behavior. At the same time
pleasure renders unnecessary high levels of rationality in the process of decision
making. Indeed it has been recognized that rationality plays only a modest part in the
determination of behavior (Cooper, 1987). In situations of conflicting motivations,
pleasure would serve as a common currency, with additive properties, for the ranking
of priorities and the resulting tradeoffs. The great advantage of pleasure both as a
motivation and as a key to optimization lies in its versatility. Pleasure renders unnec-
essary the multiplication of instinctual rigid stimulus-response programs and
stimulus-bound reflexes (see Epstein, 1982) whose number would have to increase
ad infinitum with the complexity of living organismst. S-R programs could not pro-
vide the flexibility which characterizes most of the purposive, goal-directed behavior
of more advanced animals. Pleasure opens an infinite register of new responses.
Indeed it is far more simple to maximize pleasure than to accumulate within the CNS
an infinite number of instinctual responses. Pleasure in this case is analogous to the
multiplicative function programmed in a calculator. It is far more simple to have
access to that function than to store the infinite number of possible multiplications
of rational numbers.
The experiments described in this essay were deliberately simple, a motivation was
pitted against another motivation and all other variables were kept constant, to
allow clear conclusions. The results are clear enough to support the theorizing that
optimization of behavior is reached by maximizing pleasure, and that pleasure is the
common currency allowing tradeoffs between the two clashing motivations. This
conclusion satisfies two fundamental postulates, thus making them laws: the first, in
ethology, stating that animals rank their priorities so as to satisfy, at each instant,
their most urgent motivation; the second, in economics, stating that humans tend to
maximize utility. The spectrum of motivations explored so far, though not exhaustive,
seems broad enough to extrapolate the theory to all motivations including expected
and learnt pleasures. It remains to explore situations with more than two conflicting
motivations. Experimental situations with more than two motivations at a time are
very difficult to handle and to understand because of their complexity. Displacement
reactions are likely to occur when subjects can maximize pleasure only by fleeing the
situation. Apparent paradoxical behaviors, such as impulsive behavior (Ainslie,
1975), maladaptive behaviors (Wiepkema, 1985), absurd risk taking (Mosteiler &
N ogee, 1951), reversal of decisions (Tversky & Kahneman, 1981), and irrational (in
the economist's acceptation of the word) behavior (Plott, 1986) might enter into the
model if all the variables were under the observer's control, and the subjects' pleasure
were measured rather than their behavior. Even drug addiction can be described as
a behavior whereby subjects, in conflict situations, maximize pleasure or minimize
displeasure, as much as they can or know. In that case addiction can even be consid-
ered useful if, thus, subjects suppress their anxieties and avoid other drastic suicidal

"t At this stage it is not possible to answer the question of the phylogenetic origin of pleasure and of
the phylogenetic correlation of pleasure with behavior. Medicus (1987) would probably place pleasure in
his column ii1.
 PLEASURE: THE COMMON CURRENCY 197
tendencies. In an enlightening article, supportive of the thesis defended here, Alex-
ander (1990) sees drug addiction not as a disease but rather as an adaptive behavior.
"Of course many satisfactions are not common pleasures, but belong to the development
of a man's higher nature, or to use a good old word, to his beatification ; and some may
even partly result from self-abnegation" (Marshall, 1890).

The failure of the rational economic man to reflect human nature, as rightly
denounced by Schwartz (1986), does not invalidate the hypothesis presented herein,
but reminds us that
"man does not live by bread alone" (Deuteronomy 8:3).

Human liberty is often ill understood as the freedom to do everything. Actually it is

to be understood as the freedom to choose one's own way to maximize pleasure.
A m o n g the motivations sorted by Suizer (1751) as sensory, intellectual, and moral,
the latter has always been considered by the philosophers as the most rewarding.

I wish to t h a n k Philip T e i t e l b a u m a n d Frederick T o a t e s for critically reading, a n d

improving, previous versions o f this m a n u s c r i p t .

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