Pleasure Principle

The Pleasure Principle (Portrait of Edward James) by René Magritte (1937)

What do people do when they are free to do whatever they want?
It’s not eating, drinking, sports, or socializing. It’s not even sex.

According Paul Bloom, our main leisure activity, by a long shot, is participating in experiences we know are not real, in worlds created by the imagination. Bloom is a professor of psychology at Yale University, and author of the forthcoming book, How Pleasure Works: The New Science of Why We Like What We Like.

Audio Embed: BBC, PRI & WBUR's Here & Now. Host: Robin Young.

NPR Book Review: "How Pleasure Works."