Neurobiologist: That’s why our brain is so negative – and this is how we change it

“He’s not coming anyway.” – it was actually a nice afternoon until that thought. You’re sitting in the sun, with a coffee in front of you, trees, birds and other people chatting animatedly around you – and a date on the horizon that will surely appear in a few minutes. However, your head sees it differently. “What’s this supposed to mean now?” you ask in the direction of the nasty brain. No Answer. Everything has already been said.

“They definitely ripped you off.” – you were actually quite happy with yourself until now. You have just finished salary negotiations. Not your favorite hobby, but you prepared meticulously, were able to find a good answer to every counter-argument and were guaranteed a salary adjustment that you are happy with. Actually. But there could obviously have been more, the nasty brain in you thinks.

Why is our brain so often so negative? “You can’t do that!”, “That’s far too dangerous!”, “That’s scary, run away immediately!” Certainly, in some people the pessimistic collection of neurons holds back more than in others. And yet it doesn’t take many people long to answer the question of how they feel with a whole series of rather negative states (annoyed, tired, strained, sad…). There is a simple explanation for this, says neurobiologist Dr. Marcus Täuber in an interview – and gives tips on how we can retrain our brain.

Our view of emotions is quite distorted

According to American anthropologist and psychologist Paul Ekman, there are seven so-called “basic emotions” that occur throughout the world and regardless of culture. According to Ekman, these emotions can be read on the person’s face and reveal to the other person what is currently going on inside the person. The basic emotions are:

If you look at these feelings, you’ll notice that there aren’t particularly many positive ones. But, according to Täuber, there are other problems with the model, which is now quite outdated: “On the one hand, because we automatically simulate feelings that aren’t there. On the other hand, because it becomes very complex pretty quickly, especially when it comes to compound feelings .” After all, we don’t always feel just one emotion, depending on the situation. For example, if we are going through a difficult separation, then when we think about our ex-partner we may feel anger about being abandoned, but at the same time we also feel sadness about the loss and fear that we will now have to stay alone. After all, people’s facial expressions are also very different, says the scientist.

“This means that we are moving away from Paul Ekman or the natural scientist Charles Darwin, who were of the opinion that there are these fixed ‘programs’ and that emotions are basically there to communicate.” Ekman’s model is far from the only one: In one study At the University of Berkeley, for example, 27 basic emotions were identified. “We wanted to shed light on the full range of emotions that color our inner world,” said neuroscientist and study leader Alan S. Cowen in an interview with “Kurier.” For example, the participants mentioned emotions such as envy, nostalgia or even boredom and adoration. Dr. Täuber goes on to cite research that has identified only four or even thousands of emotions.

And this already creates a problem: We often lack a vocabulary and an eye for our feelings, which are much more multifaceted than we sometimes realize.

Why our brain is so negative

But if feelings clearly offer more than just the supposedly negative, why does our brain find it so difficult to accept that? “Our brain is primarily a survival and reproductive organ. It’s about preserving the species from an evolutionary perspective,” explains the neurobiologist. Means: Fear should prevent me from taking too big a risk because a dangerous animal could be lurking in the next bush. “The negative emotions always come from dangerous situations.” And they have a meaning: “Anger releases energy so that I don’t put up with certain things. Hatred led me to wage war against the neighboring tribe – these are evolutionary programs in us that help us survive in a harsh world full of dangers made possible. At that time it was about immediate survival.”

This is also the case with positive emotions, but not so immediately, but rather in the long term. “When I have fun, for example, I learn more, become better at my skills and that also ensures survival – just not in the situation when the saber-toothed tiger is lurking in the bush.” And that’s why there is this imbalance in the brain, which is why the negative has a much stronger impact than the positive. “One would like to say that the intention for man to be ‘happy’ is not included in the plan of ‘creation’,” the scientist quotes the psychologist Sigmund Freud.

But what is classified as dangerous by the brain today is often not. At least not for our lives.

How we can achieve an upward spiral

The neurobiologist gives an example that illustrates our rather negative view of our emotional world: A person should name all the emotions that come to mind within half a minute. “It is worrying that the majority of these emotions are negative,” said the scientist. It is important to him to make it clear that good or positive feelings have an “incredible wealth”. Among other things, “Positive Psychology” names a whole range of positive emotions such as:

And those are just a few. “The good news is that we don’t have to experience these feelings intensively or permanently; science shows that just increasing the frequency is enough,” explains Täuber. Anyone who regularly feels gratitude, for example, becomes mentally stronger, more empathetic and more productive – “in short: a better person,” says the neurobiologist. And as I said: It shouldn’t be about wallowing in gratitude for every leaf on the tree for minutes – but about pausing for a moment and becoming aware of the things that are going well in our lives, that are important to us, that we value and that are not a given, but also train our view of the world.

“Our brain is plastic, basically like modeling clay,” explains Dr. Tauber. “We can also train the brain for the positive – and that is ultimately what we need today. Today it is less about saber-toothed tigers than about a world that is changing rapidly and about the fact that we have to get along in it – and that we can purchase.”

The book “Good Feelings – Use the Emotional Strengths of Your Brain” by Dr. Marcus Täuber asks important questions: What makes our lives colorful and beautiful? What allows mental wounds to heal and inspires us? What characterizes outstanding people? How we feel is what counts – whether women or men, whether children or old people. Using findings from brain research, the neurobiologist would like to show readers how the emotional side of our brain works and give tips on how we can integrate this knowledge into our everyday lives. Published by Goldegg Verlag.

Sources used: neverest.at, kurier.at, news.berkeley.edu, projekt-gutenberg.org

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Bridget