the Monkey VS the Lizard
Buzzard
I have only a 2-year associates degree,
and that is for fixing blowed-up circuit boards.
What is below is only a guess.
. End of disclaimer .
The Monkey VS the Lizard
The Lizard brain, the part that lives deep inside,
the part connected directly to the spinal cord, has
been around for a long long time, since before the
dinosaurs. It provided the decisions that kept the
lizards alive, even if they were by our standards
"dumb". They reacted to danger with fear, with
fleeing, or with anger, with attacking. They
reacted with emotion and action to what was important.
And for them, that was sufficient.
The Monkey brain, the neocortex, the logical part, the
part that lives just beneath the skull, evolved long
after that. Higher brainfunctions evolved to help
advise the lizard brain, to help them better see not
just what IS a threat, what is food, what IS a mate,
but to realize beforehand what could become a threat,
how to get food that isn't obvious, where a mate might
be, etc...
But still, the monkey brain is only connected to the
lizard brain from the top; it evolved only in an
advisory role. That is, it doesn't have final say in
the decision-making process. The lizard brain does.
That's right; whether it seems like it or not, whether
you want to admit it or not, your Lizard Brain has the
option, the ability, to veto any decision your monkey
brain makes. If it *feels* like it.
The only way you're going to make a rational decision
is if your Lizard brain does not percieve a threat or
some other emotionally-overcharged stimulus in whatever
it is your Monkey brain is considering doing. If it does,
It'll react, and it'll make its OWN decision. But, if
the lizard brain is calm, if it *feels* confident in what
the monkey brain is telling it, if the lizard brain
*trusts* the monkey brain, *then* it'll take the monkey
brain's advice and abide by its logical decisions.
An inner war occurs when the Monkey brain tries to
*force* the lizard brain to comply, with artificial
thoughts of punishment, reminders of reward, etc...
That'll just push the Lizard brain into *more* reacting,
and it'll go on and do what it *feels* is right.
And it'll start to distrust and maybe even *HATE* the
monkey brain, which *may* be what self-hatred really is.
I suppose the way to *end* this inner war is to *SOMEHOW*
reassure the Lizard brain, for the Monkey brain to
*somehow* win the Lizard brain's confidence, to get the
lizard to trust the monkey's judgement, so that the
lizard won't panic or rage, and stop listening to the
monkey.
And sure, the lizard still has a purpose. It still
knows how to detect life-threatening situations (when
they're simple), and maybe it is the Lizard brain's
place to tell you what is is you like and what you
don't like...
But the monkeybrain is there for a reason,
and that reason is, well,
Reason.
!Second Disclaimer! *beep* *beep* *beep*
This stuff I just wrote might be an ok
theory, or it might be complete drivel.
I don't know.
. End of Second disclaimer .
--
Birdbrain
Bob Badour
Replace Monkey Brain with parent or superego and Lizard Brain with child
or id, and you have more or less summed up 2/3 of Transactional Analysis.
AmaranthQueen
>
> - Show quoted text -
Makes sense to me yep. I work with Traumatic Brain Injury folks and I
can send you some stuff if you want on what the parts of our brain are
responsible for. It's very interesting. I think my Frontal Lobe
kicks out on occasion as I tend to just say whatever I'm thinking.
Buzzard
> On May 19, 1:49 am, Bob Badour <bbad...@pei.sympatico.ca> wrote:
>
>>Buzzard wrote:
>>Replace Monkey Brain with parent or superego and Lizard Brain with child
>>or id, and you have more or less summed up 2/3 of Transactional Analysis.
>
> Makes sense to me yep. I work with Traumatic Brain Injury folks and I
> can send you some stuff if you want on what the parts of our brain are
> responsible for. It's very interesting. I think my Frontal Lobe
> kicks out on occasion as I tend to just say whatever I'm thinking.
That sounds cool; post a URL, and I'll click on it.
--
bzrd
Buzzard
> Buzzard wrote:
> Replace Monkey Brain with parent or superego and Lizard Brain with child
> or id, and you have more or less summed up 2/3 of Transactional Analysis.
("superego", "id" ?...
those sound like they might be froidean terms)
I'll google 'Transactional Analysis' tomorrow.
--
.
Bob Badour
Yes, those are the freudian terms. TA uses very similar concepts under
different names.