Comment by rosecongou on Where Are We the Weakest? · 2013-07-18T10:02:24.980Z · LW · GW

In all seriousness, how do you know that you're not simply brainwashed into believing cookies are making you happy?

For example, during my religious years, attending a 5-hour prayer meeting made me feel happier -- even ones where not much English was spoken. Much of this was a learned association between attendance and the feeling of "doing the right thing," in retrospect. Once I no longer thought of it as "the right thing," the happiness I derived from it waned.