Hope of winning lottery as exciting as actually winning

The TL 60 million ($16.986 million) 2017 new year prize of the National Lottery is most people's dream these days. Psychiatrist Nevzat Tarhan said what triggers awards and punishment in the human brain is unexpected gifts and even though a person cannot win a prize, they are pleased with just the opportunity.

"Receiving unexpected gifts gives a great pleasure to one. Yet, waiting for such gifts also gives the same amount of pleasure. Even if one cannot win the lottery, just the possibility of winning makes people happy. The money is not paid for the lottery ticket but for that pleasure. This is also the same mechanism behind the addiction of gambling," said Tarhan.

He also explained that when something is desired, the person experiences some sort of blindness in reality. They don't see the chance that they will not win it but focus on the opportunity of winning as they believe they will win. Tarhan added that new research proved that if someone watches another person eat and envisages eating, the region of the brain responsible from eating becomes active and thus, gives the same pleasure to the person and that the urge to buy a lottery ticket also triggers a similar mechanism.

Noting that this is a tactic especially known and applied by actors, Tarhan said if an actor feels the role they are playing, they will act better. "This is a technique included in theater training. Emotions are triggered regarding the role. We can say a similar emotion happens with lottery tickets as they give the pleasure of actual winning and thus, cause addiction. It's like bribing the brain; tricking it. Individuals embark on such behaviors to get rid of their negative emotion. They dream of what they cannot achieve in real life. The psychology of condolence is in fact escape behavior. One chooses the easy way out instead of working and suffering, which is one of the basic conditions in the human nature," added Tarhan.

Tarhan also examined research conducted on winners of games of chance, which have solid evidence indicating that the established lives of these people collapse and deteriorate and their marriages breakdown. Further evidence also indicates that these people miss their old days and there are very few who can use such large amounts of money in healthy investments. "In other words, with such large amounts people might get traumatized. They experience psychological problems as they cannot use this money mentally and emotionally," said Tarhan and added that when people try to do everything and experience every pleasure they had delayed or didn't have a chance to all at once, their dynamics regarding pleasure and awards become ruined.