An Error in Emotive and Social Behaviour?
Reverberating over the years but blinded over when it comes to evil, this question is one of psychology’s deepest and scariest realities that is never payed attention to.
Are we really just humans who are perhaps mistaken to be kind, sensible, compassionate, sensible, imperfect, reasonable or even good-natured?
Or is there another side that we have been missing out in or completely ignoring; where we are all hard-wired to be selfish, cold-hearted, mean, brutal, and ruthless?
When we exhibit outlandish or perhaps bizarre termed behaviour it is very important to understand what has happened to the structure of our brain from the inside because at the end of the day, we are not just ‘existing beings’ but we are also emotional species!
‘Cogito, Ergo Sum’ – I think, therefore I am! Remember this Latin phrase that originally appeared in French as ‘Je Pense Donc Je Suis’.
A fundamental element of Western philosophy, Descartes had stressed that doubting one’s own existence was proof of the reality of one’s own mind and served as the foundation for knowledge in the face of radical doubt.
However, ever since it was declared science overlooked the role of emotions as being the true source of a person’s being. It can even be said that neuroscience to an extent only focused on the cognitive aspect of the brain, ignoring the emotional role.
An error in judgment this was pointed out in 1995 with the publication of the ‘Descartes Error’, when Antonio Damasio, one of the world’s leading neurologists (The New York Time) had actually challenged the traditional ideas and the connection between rationality and emotions.
Understanding what goes on inside our mind or what goes WRONG with our or ‘THEIR” mind is something many of us have speculated upon, ‘How could ‘someone’ who was so innocent once before turn out to be like this?
The reality is that it is just a matter of our neural and moral roots getting deeply entangled and perhaps that is one of the main reasons behind mental illnesses as well and many of the psychiatric conditions also.
Moral roots are a social psychological concept, which focuses on principles that concern the distinction between right and wrong, or good and bad behaviour as determined by a certain community or social setting.
The human brain consists of nerve cells or neuron’s, which process or transmit information received from our senses. Thus a complex network of neuron’s is created in the human brain.
Neural roots on the other hand refer to the number of neuron’s, which are connected to one another by synapses to carry out different functions. Neural circuits interconnect to one another to form large-scale brain networks.
REBT (Rational-Emotive-Behavioural-Behavioural-Therapy) expounds Descartes statement even further – from I think therefore I am to I Repeat (rational beliefs), therefore I believe and I believe therefore I Exist (in rational terms). Once you believe of course, doubt increases or decreases. Basically our thoughts influence our beliefs, whether they are rational or irrational.
So if we think I am a big loser or I am unworthy; then in REBT terms this will mean we believe that we feel the exact way that we think. So, that is we are a big loser and this can be defined as someone who cannot do anything right or viewed positively.
Emotions are of course no luxury, but are essential for rational thinking and for social behaviour. Social behaviour, being important as it promotes our emotional well being.
So when it comes to doing something gravely wrong is it a matter of self-defence or a matter of blanking out or just a matter of self-defence?
Could it be a momentary loss of judgment, a rage of emotions – jealousy, anger, love or confusion?
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