Q: In your book, you write that you were motivated to
explore the topic of rage after being robbed in Barcelona. What about your
experience in Barcelona epitomizes the phenomenon you study in the book?
A: I reacted aggressively to the robber by throwing him to
the ground to get my wallet back within a fraction. Had I thought about
it, I never would have done such a thing. You don't want to fight with a
robber, but I didn't think. The reaction was automatic and instantaneous.
This was stunning to me. If something unexpected in our
environment can cause you to risk your life and limb without any conscious
control, I wanted to understand how that worked at the level of brain circuits
and to learn to control it if possible.
I wanted to understand what triggered this response and
whether I would always react the same way if caught unawares. I wondered
if everyone would react this way to the same provocation. Would I have
done this if my daughter was not with me? I snapped, but what does that
mean from the level of brain function?
I was also stunned that I could do what I did. I don't
have any martial arts training, military experience, or any experience in
street fighting. I realized that we all have the capacity for sudden
aggression and violence hardwired into our brain to protect ourselves and
our loved ones.
Q: You ask, “Could it be that subconscious neural circuitry
and behaviors designed for human life in the distant past are susceptible to
triggering violence in everyone?” How would you answer that, and do you think
these triggers are more common today?
A: I view the triggers from the perspective of neural
circuitry. Most mammals have the same neural circuits for sudden
aggression that we have, and we have the same brain we had 100,000 years
ago.
The triggers (in terms of neural circuits) have not changed,
but the environment has changed radically and many situations and provocations
in the modern world press on these neurological triggers of sudden aggression
inappropriately and cause a misfiring of the circuit releasing sudden anger and
aggression.
That's what leaves us bewildered by snapping over seemingly
trivial incidents. (Think road rage.)
Add to this the increased bombardment of sensory stimulation,
crowding, and chronic stresses in the modern world that put the brain's threat
detection circuitry on a hair trigger and it is easy to see why snapping is
increasingly common in the modern world.
Finally, add the advent of technology that greatly increases
the destructive power of human aggression (guns, bombs, automobiles) and new
drugs (legal and illegal) that influence the brain's threat and aggression
circuitry, and it is easy to comprehend why snapping in anger is such a serious
problem today.
Q: Are there methods by which people can calm themselves
down and avoid being triggered and going into a rage?
A: Yes. In the book I interview many different people
who control their brain's rage circuit, from elite athletes, members of SEAL
Team 6, to strictly non-violent religious groups, including Quakers and Jains.
The first step to controlling anything is understanding. Understanding
the rage circuit in the brain will help you control it.
Secondly, if when you feel a sudden rise of anger you can
quickly determine if one of the LIFEMORTS [life-or-death, insult, family,
environment, mate, order in society, resources, tribe, stopped] triggers of
rage has been tripped by the provocation, you will instantly realize two
things:
1. You are in a situation pressing on brain circuits
designed to release violent, even deadly, aggression.
2. If the situation is not one in which a violent
response is necessary or appropriate, for example there has been a misfire of
one of the LIFEMORTS triggers designed by evolution to protect us, but tripped
by a clash with some situation in the modern world that these triggers were
never intended to encounter, the anger will subside.
Finally, because chronic stress puts the brain's threat
detection circuitry on high alert, increasing the chances of a misfire and
snapping, taking extra precautions when you are feeling under stress to avoid
tripping the LIFEMORTS triggers and using techniques to lower chronic stress
will help prevent misfires and snapping.
Q: You’ve written, “Working in partnership, the unique
attributes of the male and female brains working together are more powerful
than one sex working alone.” Why is that, and what are some of the differences?
A: Brainwave studies and functional brain imaging show that
the brain's threat detection circuitry and circuits controlling sudden
aggression are different in males and females because of the different types of
threats males and females faced during the course of evolution and according to
the different traditional roles of the sexes during the period of evolution
that produced the brain we have today.
Women are superior at quickly detecting threats from facial
expressions and deducing the intentions of others based on facial expression.
In times of stress, women utilize the left hemisphere
whereas men utilize the right. This means that women in threatening
situations are analyzing details while men tend to synthesize and form
big-picture strategies to confront the threat. Detail and gist are
antagonistic.
This is why we are constantly switching between left and
right hemisphere analysis and synthesis, but in times of stress the two sexes
use opposite strategies. Combine the benefits of both the male and female
brain in threat detection and you have a very powerful partnership. That's
how my daughter Kelly and I successfully eluded the gang pursuing us.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I am working on the cellular mechanisms of how the
brain's threat detection mechanism works, and especially interested in
exploring how non-neuronal cells (glia) are involved in regulating circuits
from the prefrontal cortex to the amygdala.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
No comments:
Post a Comment