Our brains on coronavirus (opinion) - CNN - 0 views
-
We constantly weigh costs and benefits with thought experiments to imagine what the consequences of different choices might be, and emotion experiments to imagine how different outcomes would feel.
-
adonahue011 on 03 Nov 20This is all very true, but after learning about the way we as humans make decisions often times we don't have much control on the way our brain makes decisions.
-
-
And this makes relevant a crucial neurobiological factor -- during times of stress, we tend to make lousy decisions.
- ...20 more annotations...
-
-
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," hopefully convincing it not to do something idiotic. But it turns out that the limbic system influences the cortex as well.
-
of the limbic system to talk to the cortex and you get what we'd almost universally view as bad decisions.
-
unrecognizably utilitarian; they have no emotional conflict in choosing to advocate sacrificing the life of a stranger (or, equally so, a loved one) in order to save five others
-
-
"We just don't know yet." And in this time, when we need social support the most, the crucially important catchphrase has become "social distancing."
-
he most rational decision-making part of your cortex is the pre-frontal cortex (PFC), while the most frothing-at-the-mouth emotional part of your limbic system is arguably the amygdala, a region central to fear, anxiety and aggression.
-
class of stress hormones causes the PFC to become sluggish, less capable of sending a "let's not do something hasty" signal to the amygdala
-
-
Extensive research has explored the consequences of this skewed neurobiology, showing that stress distorts our decisions in consistent ways
-
up having tunnel vision when it comes to making choices and it becomes harder to consider extraneous factors that may actually not be extraneous, or harder to factor future consequences into present considerations.
-
-
We fall back into a usual solution, and instead of trying something different when it doesn't work, the pull is to stick with the usual,
-
. And our decision-making narrows in another sense, in that we contract our circle of who counts as "us," and who merits empathy and consideration. Our moral decisions become more egoistic