Principlev1
Pair behaviors with rewards that satisfy genuine needs
Pair behaviors with rewards that satisfy genuine needs rather than manufactured or socially prescribed ones, because the dopaminergic system only encodes predictions for outcomes that actually resolve felt cravings.
Why This Is a Principle
Derived from Dopamine neurons fire when a reward is anticipated based on (dopamine fires at cues predicting rewards), Human motivation includes separable 'wanting' and 'liking' (wanting/liking can decouple), and Emotions function as evaluative signals that provide (emotions function as evaluative signals). This prescribes authenticity testing in reward design - the reward must address real emotional/motivational needs. Actionable and grounded in reward prediction + motivational systems.