Emotions and Behaviors, It Isn’t What You Think
Emotions are deployed in response to environmental changes detected inside and outside of our body. Homeostasis is the body’s process of maintaining the very narrow parameters your organs need to maintain in order to survive and function well. This edition of Know Your Sheet highlights a 2013 Article by Dr’s Antonio Damasio and Gil Carvalho that illuminates the physiological origin of emotions.
The Article: The nature of feelings: evolutionary and neurobiological origins (2013)
Authors: Antonio Damasio, and Gil B. Carvalho
Publishing Journal: Nature Reviews│ Neuroscience
Research Agency/University: The Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California
Funding Source: US National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and The Mathers Foundation
In a Nutshell:
Your body is aware of threats to your survival happening inside and outside of your body. Functional body-states signal need for survival requirements (food, safety, companionship) to maintain or restore optimal physiological balance – homeostasis. In order to survive, our body has to maintain homeostasis within changing conditions. The body detect threats to our homeostatic balance and makes spontaneous adaptations to increase your potential to survive those threats, often without your awareness or consent. Included in those adaptations are emotions and behaviors.
A quote to keep:
“Action programmes do not require deliberation. They are instinctual—that is, biologically pre-set and largely stereotypical.”
Why this Article Matters to you:
Emotions and behaviors are part of a trajectory in our body’s constant quest for homeostatic balance
Our bodies detect and respond to threats to our survival even before our cognitive brain is aware of the threats
Organic physiological processes make involuntary adjustments to survive threats to our homeostatic balance without our awareness or consent
Opportunities for Immediate Application:
Stop asking youth to articulate why they performed a specific behavior, behaviors often originate from events undetectable to the cognitive (language, reasoning) brain
Track homeostatic balance on your units; potential threats, accessibility of survival resources
Invite your youth to recognize changes in their body state as Know that your youth’ body is tracking these things as well