THE WORST IN US
Every time I see another video of a cop shooting an unarmed black man in cold blood, I put humanity on trial. I question the humanity of those few “bad apples”, as well as that of those who casually offer attenuating circumstances and exceptions to rationalize something they otherwise condemn — killing someone in cold blood. In those moments of pain and despair, I can’t help but to believe that some people are born evil.
But of course the “evil argument” lets them off the hook. Afterall, if they were born evil, they had no say in the matter. So how could they be held accountable? More importantly, it lets us — as a society and species — off the hook. And that, to me, is worse.
There has to be more at play and more we can do to fight the worst parts of our human nature.
US vs THEM
Almost every species has the ability to divide their world into US vs THEM. For animals, US vs THEM is simple: Birds of a feather flock together. For humans, our US vs THEM systems reflect the complexity of our species. It is based on a multitude of arbitrary factors: race, gender, geography, politics, religion, or interests, to name just a few. The complexity also comes from our inconsistencies when it comes to deciding who is US and who is THEM. A Republican can find himself in an ingroup with a Democrat who shares his passion for the New York Yankees, for example.
US vs THEM of course has huge implications, as Robert Sapolsky explains in his masterpiece Behave: The Biology of Humans at our Best and Worst. In the book, Sapolsky describes that to show empathy and compassion, we recruit both the emotional and rational centers of our brains. However, which part of the brain is more activated depends on whether we are dealing with US or THEM. Showing empathy for US is somewhat automatic and engages more of the emotional centers of the brain. In contrast, seeing THEM usually activates the amygdala — the fear center of our brain. Furthermore, we have to recruit the prefrontal cortex — the rational centers of the brain — in order for us to show empathy and compassion for THEM. In other words, once we identify someone as THEM, we have to work very hard to be empathetic and compassionate towards them.
DEHUMANIZATION
One of my favorite episodes of Black Mirror, a dystopian science-fiction about the dark side of technology, is called The Man Against Fire. Spoiler alert: After noticing that soldiers experienced PTSD from killing people, the army created a neural transplant that altered soldiers’ perception of reality by creating the illusion that they were hunting humanoid mutants known as “roaches.” Once soldiers thought they were killing mutants instead of humans, it was easier for them to carry out their mission, without remorse or PTSD. However, after a malfunctioning of his neural transplant, Stripe, the main character, discovered that those “roaches” were ordinary human beings.
Dehumanization is the best weapon ever used to bring out the worst in us. It taps into, and heightens, our predisposition to separate the world into US vs THEM. It happened in Germany during the Holocaust, in Rwanda during the genocide, in South Africa during Apartheid and in the United States during slavery and Jim Crow. When we call people cockroaches, beasts, savages, uncivilized or any other epithet that strips them of their humanity, it leads to hate, or worse, indifference about their existence. When we parade images of THEM being beaten and killed in cold blood, or send other subliminal messages that dehumanize THEM, it slips through our subconscious, and alters our perception of reality in more ways that we could ever understand. The results are often horrifying, and paradoxically, they leave us questioning the humanity of the perpetrators.
THINKING FAST AND SLOW
Over the last century, psychologists, neuroscientists and behavioral scientists have debunked the myth of humans as only — or even mostly — rational beings. According to Daniel Kahneman in Thinking Fast and Slow, there are two systems that govern our actions. The first, system A, is fast and automatic. It resides in the reptilian and limbic parts of the brain — the centers dealing with survival and emotions, respectively. The second, system B, is slower. It involves rational thinking and problem solving, and is governed by our prefrontal cortex. The metaphor Kahneman uses is that system A is a (wild) horse and system B its rider.
When we send subliminal messages that dehumanize a group of people, for example, it feeds and informs our automatic responses to THEM — system A. Our ability to override those automatic responses and treat THEM with empathy and compassion depends on activation of system B.
We are at our worst when we can’t recruit our prefrontal cortex and override our automatic responses to a given situation — when our prefrontal cortex is inhibited by things like arousal, fear (fight or flight) or alcohol. The rider is not always in charge, and it’s important for us to know and recognize that.
PLASTICITY
Neuroplasticity is perhaps one of the greatest discoveries in neuroscience in the past 20 years. We long held the belief that once our brains were formed and fully developed, they could not be changed at any time. But neuroscientists have discovered that our brains are plastic, meaning they can change. They can grow and atrophy. Our brains can be rewired by our environment and our habits, for example.
Cultures are also plastic. They change and evolve all the time. As Robert Sapolsky puts it, things that seem morally obvious and intuitive now weren’t necessarily so in the past.
Plasticity is our biggest hope for the future. Brains and cultures coevolve. Although they have a strong hold on us, with enough power to influence our actions and shape our perceptions, they are not static. They can be rewired.
To overcome the “evil” forces within us, we first need to recognize their existence. Next, we need to continuously reappraise and question our beliefs and actions through nonconforming reasoning. Finally, we need to work relentlessly to unlearn the norms and beliefs that feed those implicit biases and color our worldview.
