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Psychologist Reveals What Watching Porn Can Do to the Brain’s Ability to Weigh Morals and Values in Decision-Making
Warnings continue to emerge from experts and faith leaders about the potentially negative impact of pornography, with a psychologist recently telling VICE that the portion of the brain used to make decisions based on morals and values can essentially shut off when a person views smut.
“When you’re in a sexual arousal process where you’re looking at pornography, you’re activating limbic parts of the brain,” said Dr. David Greenfield, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and director of the Center for Internet and Technology Addiction.
Greenfield told VICE that the prefrontal cortex — the area where personal decisions are made in light of morals and values — is essentially cut off during viewing, with the desire to see porn so strong that it supersedes any feelings or cautions someone might have that would potentially hold them back from partaking.
The professor, who believes that porn addiction can be problematic but that not everyone who views porn is addicted, expanded upon these ideals in an interview with the Christian Post, further explaining this dynamic.
“What we find with addiction and when patterns of behavior get out of hand — whether it having to be with porn, sex, drugs, alcohol or gambling — the neural hormonal pathways that project the frontal cortex from the mid-brain seem to cut off,” he told the outlet. ”The communication that allows us to have a desire or a drive that isn’t mediated by the frontal cortex.”
He continued, “The frontal cortex sends information back to the hippocampus and says ‘remember the last time you did this, this is not going to feel good,’ the ability for that circuit to occur is hampered.”
This dynamic also relates to addicts, he said, who don’t have control over their judgement, leading to repeated behaviors.
As TheBlaze previously reported, a recently released study analyzing porn use among young men found that those who consume it are potentially less likely to get married.
Donna Rice Hughes, CEO and president of Enough Is Enough, a nonprofit devoted to ensuring the Internet is a safe place for children, also recently wrote a research article on the subject titled, “The Internet P*rnography Pandemic.”
In the piece, which was published in the Christian Apologestics Journal, Hughes provided an overview of the research that has been done on the subject of pornography, calling the findings “eye-opening” and claiming that Internet smut has a “harmful impact on the emotional, mental and sexual health of young children, tweens and teens.”
(H/T: Christian Post)
