The Lizard Brain

Emotions. What are they? They're important, that's what they are! Have you heard heard of a gentleman by the name of Seth Godin? Godin possesses an excellent business mind and is the creator of a blog I only wish I had. You can find him here: Seth Godin's blog

One subject Seth often talks about is The Lizard Brain. The lizard brain is the primitive part of the brain called the amygdala. Only certain animals have an amygdala and it's where our emotions come from. It's located at the base of the skull, at the top of the brain stem. The reason I mention the geographical location is so you know the amygdala's proximity to the logical part of our brain. The logical part of the brain is located in the frontal lobes. As the name suggested, the frontal lobes are located at the front of the brain, just behind the forehead.

Now, I didn't give you brain topography to bore you. If we know where the brain structures are located, we have an easier time understanding why emotion trumps logic in so many instances. Being at the base of the brain, the amygdala (emotions) tends to control the body much more than the frontal lobes (logic). So, that's why, when we're in a highly emotional state, it's hard to think clearly.

But I began with the question, what are emotions. I won't get into some long discussion about what emotions are. But I think it is useful to be aware of where emotions come from. You already know that emotions come from the amygdala, but we need to take the next logical state. You see, the amygdala is a brain structure, so it produces thoughts. Yes, our emotions come from our thoughts. Sometimes it may not seem that way, because we tend to feel our emotions viscerally. However, one thing I can assure you is that our emotions come from our thoughts. This is something we can learn from cognitive psychology and people like Aaron Beck, Albert Ellis, and Noam Chomsky.

The thing of it is, like many things, our emotional thoughts are products of habit. The way the amygdala responds, to any given stimulus, tends to be a matter of habit. Habits are automatic and they don't really require reflection. For this reason emotions seems to be automatic and we're not always aware that they are, indeed, a byproduct of our thoughts. So, the emotional brain is running an automatic script, just below conscious awareness. The good news is, we can tune into the emotional thoughts and fix them when necessary.

You see, the lizard brain basically has one job, and that's to keep us alive. Most life and death situations are very urgent and don't allow for much reflection. If a bull is charging at you, you don't have the time to contemplate friction and wind velocities. You just need to get the hell out of the way! So, the lizard brain is geared for immediate action and it isn't too concerned with accuracy. It's ok for the lizard brain to be wrong, as long as it keeps you alive. This is the concept of false positives. And it led to the coining of the phrase, “Evolution favors anxious genes.”

If the lizard brain detects danger, and makes you react, but there was no danger, no big deal. Better to have a false positive and react than to miss a signal and not react. Do you follow me? By missing a signal, and not reacting, it's much more likely that you will be harmed, perhaps killed. Conversely, being hyper-vigilant increases your odds of survival. There's only one problem here, humans no longer live in the wild.

You need to understand that the human brain was designed for a time when humans lived in the wild. This was a time when a person's life could be put in danger on a daily basis. So being hyper-vigilant was a adaptive strategy. But today, we live in very different times. Most Americans can go their entire lives without a serious threat to their existence. We no longer live among bears and mastodons or whatever. We live in track homes, with deadbolt locks on the doors. What's more, we have 911, ambulances, and emergency rooms, to help us, if we should get into trouble. God bless America! But the hard-wiring of the emotional brain doesn't know this. The amygdala is literally wired to be hyper-vigilant.

Knowing all this, I've developed a method of coping with my emotions. When I feel anxious, I assume I'm being overly sensitive. That is to say, hyper-vigilant. And, my assumption is usually correct. I say this because lots of people aren't aware that evolution favors anxious genes. Too many people put WAY too much trust in their emotions. Obviously we're talking about anxiety here but the lesson applies to other emotions as well.

I believe it is this hyper-vigilant lizard brain that causes all sorts of unfounded fears. The list is practically endless. You've probably heard the worries, which some people have, that the fluorine, in our tap water, is poisoning us. It's total bologna but people believe it because of the overly sensitive amygdala. (Incidentally, you may have seen the recent episode of Parks and Recreation when they spoofed this very topic. "H2 Flow" Funny bit.)

Let me give you another example. A little over a month ago we all had Halloween and many of us went Trick-or-Treating. I'm certain you've heard the one about razor blades in Halloween apples, right? A related tale talks of candy that has been tampered with, and poisoned. Well, here's a news flash, it ain't true! Sociology professor Joel Best studied every shred of evidence he could get his hands on. And there wasn't an ounce of data which confirmed that Halloween tricks had ever been tampered with.

There was, indeed, a child who had died after ingesting heroin on Halloween evening. But upon further review it was discovered that the child had simply gotten into his uncle's hidden stash. Professor Best looked hard, but couldn't find any evidence that Halloween candy had ever been tampered with. So why does the urban legend persist? I'm telling you it's because of the lizard brain. Anxieties mission is to keep you alive, not to get things correct. From the amygdala's perspective false positives are not a problem. But, from a social perspective, they're a big problem. If you think the government is trying to poison you, or your neighbors are putting razor blades in candy, then you're just paranoid. And paranoia IS a problem in society as large as ours.

So I encourage you. Next time you're feeling nervous allow yourself to consider the very real possibility that your amygdala is simply being unnecessarily sensitive. I'm willing to bet the assumption will prove to be correct. And, you'll feel much better :)