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Psychological look at how Trump's 'reptilian brain' motivates his actions | Opinion
https://www.nj.com/opinion/2016/06/psychological_look_at_how_trumps_reptilian_brain_motivates_him_opinion.html
Updated Jun 23, 2016; Posted Jun 23, 2016
By Deborah Stuckey Mulhern
What drives Donald Trump?
Who is this man who, less than a year ago, most people didn't give any chance at winning the Republican presidential nomination and who are these people who support him? Those who see him as a bully, a fraud, or even a neo-Nazi find his rise surprising to say the least.
And yet, one of the most surprising developments over the last few months was the lightning speed with which Republican Party officials jumped on the Trump bandwagon -- even after condemning him not long before.
His overall volume of supporters matches the number of people who believe the moon landing was as hoax.
Trump's recent racial insults that have prompted some party elite to pull back their support and caused his poll numbers to drop, but that hasn't been sufficient -- from a clinical perspective -- for the GOP to dump him as its nominee. Recent developments though, from the standpoint of evolutionary psychology, very well may be.
To understand this concept, we have to look inside the brain.
Paul MacLean, an innovative neuroscientist who did groundbreaking brain research in the 1960s and '70s, noticed that our brains have a three operating systems that are nestled one on top of the other.
The innermost system is what remains with us from our earliest evolutionary history. MacLean called it the Reptilian Brain. The second system -- the Paleomammalian Brain -- is what has been left to us from early mammals' brains. It is nested just above the brainstem and inside the latest developing part of the brain which we call the cortex.
This outermost layer -- all those hills and valleys of gray matter that we associate with the brain -- McLean called the Neomammalian Brain because this part of the brain is present in later developing mammals.
Paul MacLean described the human brains as having three operating systems that are nestled one on top of the other: The Reptilian, Paleomammalian and Neomamalian brains. (NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
And then there is the pre-frontal cortex -- the part of the brain that is the most highly evolved -- which resides close to the front of the brain and houses functions that are unique to human beings. It is the site of empathy, moral reasoning, emotional regulation and self-awareness. When this operating system is dominant, human beings experience states of interest, contentment and the capacity to connect safely and comfortably with one another.
It is apparent that this is not the operating system that Donald Trump is using.
Instead, Donald Trump is a slave to the fear-driven operating system of the amgydala -- a small almond shaped structure that lies at the nexus of the three levels of the brain and is derived from the reptilian brain. Trump's power lies in his ability to activate this same operating system in his followers.
He has fine-tuned the skill of activating the primitive fear of the enemy or the "other" with speech and facial expressions -- the two things that most interest the amygdala. The amygdala knows no nuance. It sees nothing but bad and good, enemy or ally.
And it is primed to see the former everywhere. When the amygdala takes over, the lower, reptilian brain is activated. And when this brain is activated, reason and sense are irrelevant.
Actually, not just irrelevant but physiologically embargoed. When the lower survival brain states are activated, blood flow is shunted away from the more highly evolved frontal lobe making thought and conscious decision difficult, if not impossible.
This is the state of mind in which Trump speaks to his followers and the state of mind that he activates in them. That is why his words don't matter; only his emotions do. Logic and reason are silenced when the lower brain gains dominance. He and his followers are resonating with fear and anger at a pre-mammalian level. It is not a level at which to make decisions, let alone policy.
An important characteristic of these operating systems is that they come online sequentially in response to the perception of a threat. If the brain perceives danger but not of an imminently life-threatening kind, the "the tend and befriend" response will be mobilized in the frontal lobe. Rational thought and conscious choices are possible in this situation. If, however, this danger becomes life-threatening -- the brain shifts to automatic defensive behaviors -- the "fight or flight" response.
When this shift happens, the higher brain becomes increasingly disabled. If the brain then further perceives that death is unavoidable, an even more primitive reaction will emerge. This third line of defense is to submit or play dead.
This state of mind was easily on display as we watched Gov. Chris Christie share the stage with Trump following his endorsement. Let's hope that some of the endorphins that the brain secretes in these situations were available to Christie to dull the pain he was clearly experiencing.
Trump was still an invincible foe as he ranted against Judge Curiel and congratulated himself on his insight into terrorism following the Orlando shooting.
He was still someone who was willing to say or do anything to stay on top. But Donald Trump is looking substantially less invincible and as he does the GOP will shake off the torpor of submission and fight back.
And when we fight back against a foe who has dominated us, we fight particularly viciously. If Trump's financial and campaign woes continue, that is just what we will see.
Deborah Stuckey Mulhern, Ph.D., a Teaneck native, is a clinical psychologist specializing in relationships, self-destructive behaviors and conflict resolution. She earned her master's in clinical psychology from Boston University and bachelor's in political science and psychology from Wesleyan University.
https://www.nj.com/opinion/2016/06/psychological_look_at_how_trumps_reptilian_brain_motivates_him_opinion.html
Updated Jun 23, 2016; Posted Jun 23, 2016
By Deborah Stuckey Mulhern
What drives Donald Trump?
Who is this man who, less than a year ago, most people didn't give any chance at winning the Republican presidential nomination and who are these people who support him? Those who see him as a bully, a fraud, or even a neo-Nazi find his rise surprising to say the least.
And yet, one of the most surprising developments over the last few months was the lightning speed with which Republican Party officials jumped on the Trump bandwagon -- even after condemning him not long before.
His overall volume of supporters matches the number of people who believe the moon landing was as hoax.
Trump's recent racial insults that have prompted some party elite to pull back their support and caused his poll numbers to drop, but that hasn't been sufficient -- from a clinical perspective -- for the GOP to dump him as its nominee. Recent developments though, from the standpoint of evolutionary psychology, very well may be.
To understand this concept, we have to look inside the brain.
Paul MacLean, an innovative neuroscientist who did groundbreaking brain research in the 1960s and '70s, noticed that our brains have a three operating systems that are nestled one on top of the other.
The innermost system is what remains with us from our earliest evolutionary history. MacLean called it the Reptilian Brain. The second system -- the Paleomammalian Brain -- is what has been left to us from early mammals' brains. It is nested just above the brainstem and inside the latest developing part of the brain which we call the cortex.
This outermost layer -- all those hills and valleys of gray matter that we associate with the brain -- McLean called the Neomammalian Brain because this part of the brain is present in later developing mammals.
Paul MacLean described the human brains as having three operating systems that are nestled one on top of the other: The Reptilian, Paleomammalian and Neomamalian brains. (NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
And then there is the pre-frontal cortex -- the part of the brain that is the most highly evolved -- which resides close to the front of the brain and houses functions that are unique to human beings. It is the site of empathy, moral reasoning, emotional regulation and self-awareness. When this operating system is dominant, human beings experience states of interest, contentment and the capacity to connect safely and comfortably with one another.
It is apparent that this is not the operating system that Donald Trump is using.
Instead, Donald Trump is a slave to the fear-driven operating system of the amgydala -- a small almond shaped structure that lies at the nexus of the three levels of the brain and is derived from the reptilian brain. Trump's power lies in his ability to activate this same operating system in his followers.
He has fine-tuned the skill of activating the primitive fear of the enemy or the "other" with speech and facial expressions -- the two things that most interest the amygdala. The amygdala knows no nuance. It sees nothing but bad and good, enemy or ally.
And it is primed to see the former everywhere. When the amygdala takes over, the lower, reptilian brain is activated. And when this brain is activated, reason and sense are irrelevant.
Actually, not just irrelevant but physiologically embargoed. When the lower survival brain states are activated, blood flow is shunted away from the more highly evolved frontal lobe making thought and conscious decision difficult, if not impossible.
This is the state of mind in which Trump speaks to his followers and the state of mind that he activates in them. That is why his words don't matter; only his emotions do. Logic and reason are silenced when the lower brain gains dominance. He and his followers are resonating with fear and anger at a pre-mammalian level. It is not a level at which to make decisions, let alone policy.
An important characteristic of these operating systems is that they come online sequentially in response to the perception of a threat. If the brain perceives danger but not of an imminently life-threatening kind, the "the tend and befriend" response will be mobilized in the frontal lobe. Rational thought and conscious choices are possible in this situation. If, however, this danger becomes life-threatening -- the brain shifts to automatic defensive behaviors -- the "fight or flight" response.
When this shift happens, the higher brain becomes increasingly disabled. If the brain then further perceives that death is unavoidable, an even more primitive reaction will emerge. This third line of defense is to submit or play dead.
This state of mind was easily on display as we watched Gov. Chris Christie share the stage with Trump following his endorsement. Let's hope that some of the endorphins that the brain secretes in these situations were available to Christie to dull the pain he was clearly experiencing.
Trump was still an invincible foe as he ranted against Judge Curiel and congratulated himself on his insight into terrorism following the Orlando shooting.
He was still someone who was willing to say or do anything to stay on top. But Donald Trump is looking substantially less invincible and as he does the GOP will shake off the torpor of submission and fight back.
And when we fight back against a foe who has dominated us, we fight particularly viciously. If Trump's financial and campaign woes continue, that is just what we will see.
Deborah Stuckey Mulhern, Ph.D., a Teaneck native, is a clinical psychologist specializing in relationships, self-destructive behaviors and conflict resolution. She earned her master's in clinical psychology from Boston University and bachelor's in political science and psychology from Wesleyan University.
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