loretta breuning

Transcript

1. Loretta G. Breuning PhD Inner Mammal Institute innermammalinstitute.org by Loretta

   Breuning, PhD Rowman Littlefield Status Games Why We Play and How to Stop

2. Sept. 8 Rowman Littlefield SBN-10 : 1538144190 ISBN-13 : 978-1538144190

3. People care about status because animals care about status

4. human cortex animal brain We’ve inherited the limbic brain that

   motivates this

5. Your mammal brain rewards you with a drip of serotonin

   when you raise your status

6. Serotonin is not aggression. It’s the calm sense that “

   I will get the banana ”

7. Serotonin is soon metabolized, so you have to keep seeking

   the one-up position to keep feeling it

8. The good feeling motivates you to repeat behaviors that raise

   your status

9. I’m not saying we should think this way, but we

   do

10. Natural selection built a brain that makes social comparisons to

    promote its own survival

11. It rewards you with serotonin when you gain a position

    of strength

12. It alarms you with cortisol when you see a potential

    threat to your relative position

13. You don’t think this in words because the animal brain

    cannot process language

14. These facts were revealed by a century of research on

    mammalian social behavior, but now they are taboo

15. It’s easy to see the mammalian urge for status in

    others, especially those you don’t like

16. It’s easy to see the one-up impulse throughout human history

17. It’s hard to see it in yourself, your friends, and

    cute furry creatures

18. But getting real about these feelings gives you power over

    them

19. Neurons connect when serotonin flows, so whatever raised your status

    in the past wired you to expect good feelings from that

20. We all see the world through the lens of our

    old neural pathways

21. We all keep striving to stimulate serotonin and avoid cortisol

    in ways that worked before

22. We all create one-down feelings and one-up feelings despite our

    best intentions

23. We all keep making social comparisons because it’s a core

    mammalian survival impulse

24. What’s a big-brained mammal to do?

25. Status Games shows you healthy ways to give your inner

    mammal what it needs to feel good

26. It helps you put yourself up without putting others down

27. It helps you spark serotonin without junk status

28. It helps you manage the cortisol of one-down moments

29. Repetition will build new pathways so it feels normal

30. You will always be a mammal among mammals

31. You have power over your brain but not the brains

    of others

32. You can wire yourself to enjoy nature’s serotonin

33. You’ll be glad you did!

34. Your questions are invited: Loretta@InnerMammalInstitute.org