Part One: Understanding Your Brain 

by Jay Lambert, MSW, LCSW, NHAC

As a professional counselor, I obviously spend a lot of time trying to help people understand the root causes of their behaviors and the behavior of others. In doing so, I often find myself having to give a basic lesson in human brain anatomy. And the more I do it, the more I find that indeed it is very helpful information if you know how to apply it.

THE BIG PICTURE

The human brain is a fantastically complex organ. It is often perceived as being a great mystery. I’ve heard many refer to it as the “final frontier.” Indeed, in many ways we are still trying to figure our own brains out. But I think we forget that at the same time much of the mystery has been solved, especially in terms of the big picture of how our brains work.

One of those big picture issues is the structure of the brain, in particular the regions of the human brain and their overall structure and function. Any student of anatomy who is reasonably educated in the theory of human evolution will confirm that the human brain is the product of many, many millions of years of evolution and reflects this within its own design. And if we look at the human brain in comparison to other vertebrates, it is obvious that we have three brains in one.*

 

This may seem strange at first, but it makes very good sense if you understand how evolution works. Generally speaking, I have found that most of us were taught in school growing up that evolution is a process of gradual growth from less to more complex organism; when it comes to the brain, the idea is often presented as “the smarter the animal, the bigger the brain” and that’s about it. This is a misleading concept.

The simple fact is that evolution is not just a process of change in which the human brain developed into an ever smarter organ as the species evolved. No, evolution occurred in distinct phases, and brain evolution did as well. The end result is that as the vertebrates that eventually become humans went through the three main evolutionary phases - reptilian, mammalian, and primate - the brain was built piece by piece, like the layers of an onion. The core brain is reptilian, which was then surrounded by a layer of mammalian brain, which was then surrounded by a layer of primate brain. Understanding how these three layers of brain really function is key to understanding so much of human thinking and behavior.

 

So let’s take a closer look at each layer.

 

THE REPTILE BRAIN: SURVIVAL

Reptiles were the first land-based vertebrates. They were and still are pretty darn simple creatures, basically designed for one thing: survival. And their brains reflect this. They have a “skeleton crew” brain. They run largely on instinct and primitive impulses. The one that most readily helped them adapt and survive is the infamous “fight or flight” response.

As you may already know, the vertebrate nervous system has two main parts. These are known as the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. The brain switches back and forth between the two. The parasympathetic nervous system is designed for basic functions like digestion, sleep, and so forth. The sympathetic nervous system is quite the opposite; it is designed for sudden, bold action. This is where adrenaline kicks in, causing rapid breathing, muscle tension, heightened awareness, and so on. Next time you are startled and feel your heart racing, know that your sympathetic nervous system is at work.

Once triggered, the “fight or flight” instinct causes the person or animal to respond to a perceived threat of some kind by fighting it or by getting away. Keep in mind, this instinct is not terribly sophisticated. It is based on perception of threat, and it is impulsive and clumsy. This primitive part of the brain cannot distinguish between the mere perception of threat and actual threat, at least not very well and not very fast. Indeed, this instinct is designed for speed, not accuracy. And it makes sense; in terms of survival, does it really matter if the thing an animal runs away from is truly a threat or is simply a false alarm? Animals are not worried about accurate perception or political correctness. Simply put, in the primitive reptilian brain the rule is “better safe than sorry.”

 

THE MAMMALIAN BRAIN: GROUP IDENTITY

 

As evolution continued, mammals emerged and largely took over. And as they adapted to their environments, mammals developed something that reptiles largely do not have - a group identity.

Think about your average reptile. They are largely solitary creatures. They live and work alone for the most part. If you find them together, it probably just means that they all were attracted to the same spot of sunlight or water. In reality their survival instincts and primitive brains are designed to keep them going. Bonding or identifying with others is simply not necessary. In terms of their relationships, they live by a simple code: “Me, myself, and I.” Selfish is an understatement.

Mammals on the other hand normally live by a different relationship code: strength in numbers, or teamwork. They often live in groups, called herds, flocks, packs, and so on. They hunt, eat, and live in groups. And  to do this, they needed a more advanced brain. They had to communicate in a more sophisticated way. They had to be able to carry out more complex mating rituals. And the list goes on. Bottom line, they had to be able to fit in with the group. So to make this possible, evolution added a layer to the core reptile brain, to give the mammals the level of brainpower needed to not only survive, but to also belong to a group and identify with it.

THE PRIMATE BRAIN: EMOTIONS, LOGIC, & BONDING

Eventually evolution produced a specific strain of mammal called primates. These are your monkeys and apes, including us humans. Primates are mammals, yes, but we are far more than your average mammal. In many ways, we are “super” mammals. We are built to survive like reptiles, identify with a group and work as a team like mammals, and on top of all that, we have yet another layer of brain that allows us to feel deep emotions, use logic and other thought processes, and ultimately bond as individuals with others.

This higher brain, the primate brain, is truly a wonder of complexity. It is what allows us and our primate cousins in the animal kingdom to feel deeply, think deeply, and bond. It makes our sophisticated language possible. And ultimately it is what allows us to create that most important of groups, families, which are possible because the bonding that occurs between parent and child in the primate kingdom is truly one of the strongest forces of nature. This is not the case with reptiles and other mammals. With reptiles, you’re lucky if you even see your parents, to say nothing of being nurtured and cared for. Often times, baby reptiles are left to their own devices after they hatch and emerge. Some are in fact doing so long after their parents have left their eggs behind. Similarly, if you were to take away a baby mammal from its mother shortly after birth - as is done by those who raise cattle, for example - you will quickly discover that the bond between them is largely just instinct. Once the baby is taken away, it doesn’t take long for the mother to simply get back into the swing of things. There is no real emotional trauma at all. They simply melt back into the herd.

Indeed, we primates are a whole different group altogether. Early psychological experimenters, shortly after the time of Freud (the father of modern psychology) would experiment with emotional bonding in primates by literally taking baby monkeys and apes away from their mothers, simply to see what happened. They found that monkeys and apes did not just remember their young, but like humans they were deeply troubled at their absence. Some of the mothers developed psychotic symptoms, depression, and so on. And the effects were permanent, by and large. This level of bonding is only possible if a being has the brainpower to make it happen. And indeed, with few exceptions, primates are the only creatures on earth who have the ability to bond so deeply.

HOW IT ALL FITS TOGETHER

Once you understand how evolution created the human brain, and the purposes behind each stage of evolution that went into making it, you can begin to understand why we as human beings do things the way we do them. But to make it really click, there are a few additional points that need to be made.

 

First, keep in mind that these three layers are in many ways functioning independently. The reptile, mammal, and primate brains within each of us make us into literally a three-brained animal - and these three layers of brain do not necessarily want to get along with one another. For the most part, they get along fine, but at times they are at odds. Think of the competing impulses, for example, that could occur when a young man wants to ask a pretty girl in his class out on a date. The reptile brain is screaming “Don’t do it, she’ll only hurt you!” and makes you want to head for the hills to protect your fragile male ego, while the primate brain is yearning for a meaningful relationship and bond and is saying firmly “She’s a good catch - don’t let her get snatched up by some other guy.” I think we can all relate to feeling pulled in different directions like this, whether it is regarding a relationship or something else entirely. Many times, this is the effect of our complex, messy three-brained nature.

Second, these layers function in order of development - reptilian, mammalian, and then primate. So when a new bit of information is received by the brain - something the eyes see, the ears hear, the nose smells, or whatever - the reptilian brain gets to “see” it first, then the mammalian brain, and finally the primate brain. So if there is anything amiss, and the reptilian brain perceives a threat of any kind and turns on the old “fight vs flight” response, the other parts of your brain have to wait until the primate brain thinks the threat has passed to get a crack at it. In cases when you really are threatened in some way, this is a really valuable process. It allows your brain to protect you in a pinch. But if the perceived threat is a false alarm, your reptilian brain just forced your whole body and brain to go through the whole “fight vs flight” response needlessly. This is not only inefficient, it can cause serious problems. For example, the vast majority of fights that couples have with one another, or that parents have with their children, can be linked pretty darn directly to the “fight vs flight” response.

 

WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN?

Taken as a whole, this information can help us understand so much about human behavior. Once I really understood what was really going on, I realized that I needed to work with my brain, not against it - and the same goes for my clients.

 

If you have found yourself overwhelmed in life, if you are panicky, nervous, uptight, and so on, then you cannot just talk your brain out of what you are feeling. I always tell my clients - you can teach and reason with your primate brain, but you have to train your reptile brain. This means that we have to get to know our own triggers, the things that make us “go reptile,” and work to retrain our brains to learn to perceive real threats from false alarms.

Next month, I will share some insights into how to use this information to retrain your brain.

* For those of you who do not believe in human evolution, please do not tune this article out on those grounds. Whether you are an atheist believer of Darwin’s theory of evolution, or you are a Biblical Creationist, something in between, or something else entirely, please know that however the human brain came to be, what I am describing is true. The use of evolution to “frame” this discussion is not a declaration of religious or even scientific belief on my part; it is just a literary device used for purposes of illustration. So while we know that the brain is formed in this way - countless autopsies and brain scans have proven this beyond a shadow of a doubt - I am fine with people believing different things about how it got this way.

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Jay Lambert is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in private practice in Phoenix, Arizona. Having been a challenging child himself while growing up, Jay understands from both the adult’s AND the child’s perspective the ways in which the social/emotional dynamics of the child’s home are often at the root of behavior problems. Jay believes that behavior problems can almost always be corrected without risky medications or expensive long-term treatment through the insightful and strategic use of positive energy, and has been using Howard Glasser’s Nurtured Heart Approach since 2005 to do precisely that for hundreds of families.


To learn more, please feel free to contact Jay at:
http://www.PositiveEnergyParenting.com
jay.lambert@me.com

(623) 363-3031