In this episode, we look at how fear is used as a tool to influence your decisions and what you can do about it.
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The Problem
- Human beings are weak both emotionally and physically
- As a species we started out at the bottom of the heap
- Through the continued development of our brain we were able to get stronger
- Now we rule the planet, but the fear is still there
- That fear can be harnessed to create environments where control is easier
Digging Deeper
- The amygdala is the part of the brain that handles fear responses. It also handles the fight or flight response.
- Logical thinking and processing happens in higher levels of the brain
- It’s said that before we can think about something logically, we first have to process it emotionally.
- That processing determines if we are in danger or not, if the information is relevant or not...etc.
- So when something triggers a fear response, we often don’t ever get to the logical thinking piece of the equation. We just react.
- This creates an opportunity for those who may want us to act in certain ways. Vote in certain ways.
- This is why so much of politics is fear based
- The other party is trying to take something away from you
- The other guy isn’t going to protect you
- The other group is out to get you
- This is also why so much of politics is identity based
- We are Americans, we don’t take handouts
- We work hard for everything we have
- This is why advertising is often fear based as well
- That problem you’re dealing with is actually worse than you think
- It could lead to this unless you pay us
- The core of the message is always the same “some kind of harm is coming for you or your loved ones and the only way out is to do what we say”
- It’s the same strategy that the mafia uses in movies to sell their insurance. “What a nice place, it’d be a shame if something happened to it”
- So what can we do?
The Solution
- The answer is always to slow down our response
- More information is useless, the problem isn’t that we don’t have access to information, it’s that we aren’t processing information correctly.
- The fear response is immediate and comes before the logical response.
- Appealing to logic or reason isn’t going to change the reaction
- Instead we have to add time to the situation
- Create an environment where we can have the initial fear response, but then take time to allow our logic centers to catch up
- This is the value of things like the 24 hour rule. Where if you want to buy something nom-essential you should wait 24 hours before making the decision.
- Those 24 hours gives your logic centers time to catch up so that you don’t make a decision emotionally
- The same can be done with fear. When you receive a message from someone (a brand, a politician, a friend...etc) that appeals to fear responses, take it in, experience your fear response, but make no decisions until you’ve had time to catch up logically and apply critical thinking.
- If you can do this, you’ll be able to make better decisions for your life
