The Straight Skinny

 

 

Under Damocles' Sword

Research shows that when the fear system of the brain is active, exploratory activity and risk-taking is turned off

 

By Carol Archer

The box is a conditioning chamber that automatically trains caged laboratory animals to

associate flashing lights and levers with rewards: goodies, such as tasty morsels of food or cocaine; and punishments, notably electric shocks, which it is easy to imagine, are difficult to ignore right out of the box. Rats, among other subjects, prove quick studies in identifying the light or lever that doles out treats; indeed, according to Gregory Burns, M.D., Ph.D., who directs the Center for Neuropolicy at Emory University, all animals, including primates, are adept at making pleasurable associations, and avoiding pain.

 

Quoted in the New York Times (Dec. 7, 2008), Burns points out that soon we don't even need the light to inform decision-making behavior. "The mere sight of the cage sends some of us into apoplexy." He also expresses a personal preference for a brief electric shock over intermittent shocks while he watches the blinking red arrow of the stock market or jolts of cutback after cutback in business.  

 

"Workers' fear is generalized to their workplace and everything associated with work or money. People become ensnared in a spiral in which they are so afraid of losing their jobs, or their savings, that fear overtakes [their] brains," he notes.

 

Fear, he asserts, is a deep seated, adaptive evolutionary drive for self-preservation that makes it impossible to concentrate on anything but saving our skin by getting out of "the box" intact. His research concludes that, ultimately, no good can come from this kind of decision-making, because fear prompts retreat, which he characterizes as polar opposite to progress.

"Workers' fear is generalized to their workplace and everything associated with work or money. People

become ensnared in a spiral in which they are so afraid of losing their jobs, or their savings, that fear overtakes [their] brains." – Dr. Gregory Burns