loretta breuning

status games slides

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