When you open a packet of chips, it’s hard to stop after just one or two handfuls. Generally, you eat several to satisfy your craving. But in the end, the pleasure is only momentary – fleeting – and one soon regrets having eaten the whole packet.
But that doesn’t stop us from doing it all over again. Now, this tendency to repeat bad habits and fall back into toxic patterns is being dubbed on TikTok as the “Dorito theory”.
“Eating chips is addictive because the peak of the experience is when you’re first tasting it, not after,” TikTokker @celeste.aria said in a video viewed 1.5 million times.
“There’s nothing that exists after the experience is done. And the experience itself is not satisfying in the end. Things that aren’t actually satisfying are the ones that are maximally addictive, and that’s why I want them.”
This theory is said to be valid for other addictive and unhealthy behaviours in everyday life, from food to romantic relationships. But is this just another one of TikTok’s wacky theories, or does it really hold true?
For psychologist Renée Carr, this theory pretty much sums up humans’ addiction to bad habits. “Not experiencing satiation when engaging in a particular activity or in a relationship can influence you into staying in a situation that is not truly satisfying, not healthy and not happy,” the expert told USA Today.
“Because you experience just enough satisfaction, we mistakenly think that full satisfaction is possible, leading us to stay longer or invest more energy unnecessarily.”
This notion of “just enough” could also explain why people tend to downplay negative aspects and agree, for example, to stay with a partner who doesn’t suit them or to keep a job in which they are no longer fulfilled.
“Perhaps we want to return to the beginning when these situations felt good. Unfortunately, drugs, alcohol and excessive consumption of yummy but nutritionally empty foods won’t solve our problems,” said clinical psychologist Alice Shepard, also speaking to USA Today.
Dr Bruce Y Lee, who wrote an article on the subject for Forbes, agrees but points out the complexity of the addiction. “A number of other factors can contribute to your being addicted to something or continuing bad habits. But this theory could help bring a new perspective to what you are doing,” he wrote.
That’s why he advises people to stop and think when they reproduce these toxic habits. “Ask yourself, ‘How will I feel after all that?’ If the answer is ‘not so good,’ then perhaps it’s worth reconsidering,” he concluded.
While several commenters on @celeste.aria’s video mentioned addictions to online shopping, gambling, alcohol and even relationships as examples of how this theory spoke to them, one user pointed out that “the irony of the Dorito theory being explained/presented while scrolling through TikTok is not lost on me”.