Next Big Idea Club’s latest podcast was a conversation with Daniel Pink and Lisa Feldman Barrett. Author of Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain. A good conversation on Lisa’s book. Exploring how our brains really work. It is debunking old myths and using modern science to update what is known about how our brains work.
What stood out the most was when talking about our “lizard brains”. Something that was popularized and became a “fact” from Carl Sagan’s book The Dragon’s of Eden. This has become the foundation for education, parents explaining kids, people explaining (excusing) lying, cheating, criminal activities, this list goes on. It is not our fault; it is our lizard brains. We cannot help ourselves.
Turns out to be wrong.
That is a problem with holding tight to information. We tell these stories and they become reality. They allow for distancing and explaining away. They keep us from learning or investigating for truth. It is frustrating to learn something is wrong but know it will continue to be considered fact. It will to be taught and used as the excuse it is not.
There is a version of this post that goes into evolution of society, who we are and how we got to here. There is also this version. The version about the stories we tell ourselves and others. It is great to learn the truth, but the damage is done and will continue to be done for those that “just couldn’t help themselves”. Those acting in accordance with their lizard brains. “It’s not me, it’s the brain”.
Our excuses for bad behavior weaken. We are responsible for our actions. The things we say. How we act. We have a responsibility to ourselves and society. We are the stories we tell. The stories we share. They can be excuses. Or they can be something better.
Knowing, at least for now with the information we currently have, that we are not robots reacting to our environment with no control over our actions is beneficial. It means we can learn better responses. We can think before we act. We can stop with the excuses. We can understand why “x” stimulus causes “y” response. Then, we can modify the response to the stimulus. This makes sense when you think about it. We have not been creatures of stimulus – response for a long time.
There is a much longer conversation around this topic (a whole book in fact). Yet, the point of this is to share what was learned. There is no way for any of us to know all the things. We need to share, talk, spread the good we are learning. Today’s post is that we our brains. It is not this lizard thing in our bodies doing whatever it wants. We evolved to work together. There is much more to talk about with this, but we will leave it there for today.
Posted. Not Perfect.
A Vegan Father, navigating a non-vegan world.
Lisa Feldman Barrett | Neuroscientist, Psychologist, and Author
The enthralling tale of the lizard within (qarchli.github.io)
A Better Father 