US vs. THEM (or Why I Support a UFO Invasion)
Sun Jan 14, 2007 at 08:54:52 AM PDT
Yesterday when I was out and about I heard a very intriguing report on NPR about the ingrained notion of ‘Us vs. Them’. According to neuroscientist Robert Sopolsky, our tendency to create a monolithic, scary THEM could be hard-wired into our brains. If this is fact true, it goes a long way to explaining the most disturbing behavior of humankind...the desire to hate and wage war.
By conducting experiments that presented people with the faces of people from other races, Dr. Sopolsky found the following discouraging reaction occurring in the brain:
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There's a part of the brain called the amygdala that has lots to do with fear and anxiety and aggression. Functional brain imaging studies of humans show that the amygdala becomes metabolically active when we look at a scary face (even when the face is flashed up so quickly that we aren't consciously aware of seeing it). And some recent work—solid, done by top people, independently replicated — suggests that the amygdala can become activated when we view the face of someone from another race. The Them as scary, and the Them being someone whose skin color is real different from our own.
Although Dr. Sopolsky admitted that these findings left him a bit more than disturbed, he found that with some subtle tweaking these brain reactions mellowed. The tweaking, according to the doctor, involved presenting the person in the photograph as an individual by changing some of the language used on the test subject. His example was that they might show a picture of someone of a different race, but also ask a the subject a question such as "Do you think this person prefers Pepsi or Coke?" This worked to personalize the person in the photo, and resulted in a different amygdala reaction. From Dr. Sopolsky:
But right on the heels of those studies are follow-ups showing that the picture is more complicated. The "Other skin color = scared activated amygdala = the Other" can be modified by experience. "Experience," can be how diverse of a world you grew up in. More diversity, and the amygdala is likely to become activated in that circumstance. And also, "experience," can be whether, shortly before your amygdala is put through the brain imaging paces, you are subtly biased to think about people categorically or as individuals. If you're cued towards individuating, your amygdala doesn't light up.
Hearing this last bit made me smile, because I think in the not-so-distant future we will have technology to thank for possibly breaking mankind’s obsession with THEM. In this age of internets, we have the first generation of kids who are growing up with the ability to ‘individuate’ at the tips of their fingers. Polling already shows that Gen Y is more tolerant of race, religion and gender/sex issues than previous generations, and a large part of that must be resulting from their ability to come in contact with individuals from almost anywhere on the planet with little effort.
My favorite part of the article/interview:
So, I'm optimistic that with the right sort of priorities and human engineering (whatever that phrase means), we can be biased towards making Us/Them dichotomies far more benign than they tend to be now. Say, by making all of us collectively feel like an Us with Them being the space aliens that may attack us some day. Or making the Them to be mean, shitty, intolerant people without compassion.
I so totally agree. A space alien invasion is what we need to unite our species! Or, in lieu of that, raising our kids with as much exposure to the different people of the world as possible. I will still hold out hope for that UFO invasion, however.
And just for funsies, I feel like listing a few THEMS of my lifetime. I haven’t been around that long, but it seems there has been no shortage of THEMS. Sure some of them are the same color and/or as equally scary as I am, but I'll make sure my amygdala knows to be scared!
- Communists. My earliest THEM memories are Reagan inspired (I’m 33). Remember that awful Sting song about the Russians loving their children too? It was individualizing for kids like me, I suppose. Also, Samantha Smith. Remember her?
- Middle Easterners/Muslims. Still holding strong since Desert Storm! Wooooo! I know they have been a powerful THEM for far longer, but Desert Storm is when I first came to realize they were a THEM.
- Latino Immigrants. A newish THEM. Seems to me that these folks are filling that primordial need for some to hate a THEM in the absence of something that’s actually scary.
I could go on and on...
BTW, when I read the article I think the photo of Dr. Sopolsky triggered a response in my amygdala...
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