This post is Part III of a series. Advance to Part IV, or go back to Part II.
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Conservatism, Johnathan Haidt, and the right DLPFC
The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) is the second-most expanded part of the human cortex due to evolution, next to the inferior parietal lobe. It is the part of the brain that may be most closely characterized as the center of ‘skeptical, logical reasoning’. Stimulation of the right dlPFC makes people more conservative, no matter what their usual political orientation is. The right dlPFC is skeptical, and pauses the rest of the brain to deliberate the future consequences of choices.
Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt is known for his moral foundation theory, in which he articulated four additional dimensions to morality besides the usual utilitarian care/harm dimension that historically has been the fixation point of philosophers for the past couple of centuries:
- Care/harm
- Fairness/cheating
- Loyalty/betrayal
- Authority/subversion
- Sanctity/degradation
Haidt’s own views were significantly modified by his research, as he found that the liberal point of view that divides morality into ‘utilitarian’ and lumps everything else into a deprecated ‘deontological’ category missed out on these nuances.
The deliberation and balancing of all of these moral dimensions is one of the many roles of the right dlPFC, whereas the left dlPFC seems to be more exclusively focused on utilitarian care/harm.
Risk Avoidance
A conservative archetype would be expected to avoid taking dumb risks. In fact, disabling the right dlPFC with targeted magnetic stimulation increases preference for risky choices.
A Contrast With Moral Neuropsychology
It is interesting to contrast my interpretation with that of academic philosophers who have come to a completely different conclusion. In a future article, I am going to contrast my interpretation of the neuroscience literature with that of social psychologists such as Joshua Greene of Harvard, who not surprisingly look for and find evidence for a ‘dual process theory’ of brutish, primitive deontological moral judgments and sophisticated utilitarian moral reasoning. Interestingly, Greene centers his utilitarian center in the left dlPFC and vmPFC, which is precisely where neuromythography centers utilitarian reasoning, but he simply attributes deontological reasoning to the amygdala, whereas the neuromythographic approach elaborates on the right-sided network that implements higher deontological reasoning.
The modern pathologizing of deontological morality is like historical attribution of manipulative care/harm moral claims to the devil. We ought to stop doing those things, and try to see things as they are.
The Radical Visionary: 10d and PCC
31a identifies that it is time for a change, and 10vd envisions possible communal futures.
The Orwellian Left 44d
The phenomenon of indoctrination is well-known. There is a particular language-related area in the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, left 44d, that shows up across militant Jihadists, blatant dehumanization, and other sorts of indoctrination. This area is particularly trained by education. This is why control of education is an object of political conquest. 44d is assigned Orwell, to represent its role in receiving and internalizing propaganda.
The Problematizing Anterior Midcingulate
The ancient Jews described the satan (Hebrew: the accuser), who relentlessly accuses people of sins, and God uses as a prosecutor to test the faithful. The neural center of this problematizer is to be found in the anterior midcingulate part of the brain:
Area p32pr is the center of cognitive dissonance and chaos. This is assigned the archetype Tiamat, the chaos snake. It lies above a24pr and p24pr, and spreads confusion to other areas of the cortex to make sense of. A distinction between right and left p32pr archetypes has not yet been made.
Area a24pr has a right and left hemisphere archetype. The left a24pr is assigned Dike, the Greek goddess of justice. The right a24pr is assigned Phthonus, the Greek god of envy. a24pr also shows up in self-criticism, loathing, and scrupulosity. These assignments are made due to many fMRI studies that show activations in these areas under conditions of observations of norms violations and others receiving awards.
Area p24pr is concerned with expectations of others and the violation of those expectations. It has not yet been personified as of this writing. It complements a24pr in modeling expectations of others while a24pr reacts to outcomes that differ from expectations.
This midcingulate area of the brain is active in shame, and in outrage at violations of social norms. It has been found to be more active in liberals than conservatives. It should be noted that these areas are critical of both others and the self.
The Partisan Instigator: a Partnership Between Zeus and Lucifer
To conclude our mythography, let us now look at the culprit at the bottom of all of this: the ventral striatum. The ventral striatum—particularly its primary component, the nucleus accumbens–is regarded as the reward center in neuroscience, but it is the root of “evil” in neuromythography. The ventral striatum is assigned to Lucifer, because in virtually every test of behaviors and attitudes regarded by religions as maladaptive, the ventral striatum figures prominently in the experimental outcomes.
In the most extreme political partisans, area 9mdp in the dmPFC displays an average pattern representative of all members of a political orientation. An extreme partisan is not extraordinary, they are extraordinarily average with respect to their chosen groupthink allegiance. Area 9mdp is assigned to Zeus, the blustery, self-assured king of gods who threw lightning bolts at everyone who annoyed him.
This 9mdp-ventral striatum functional connectivity occurs in both left- and right-wing partisans. Is it any surprise that Lucifer loves stirring up both sides?
Many More Stories
There are many more stories to tell: the left and right insula, the left and right inferior parietal lobes, serotonin and dopamine, the parental hormone galanin, the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and the lateral septum, all of which have bimodal profiles that generalize into the right and left spectrum. But let us now take a break here and wrap up in Part IV.
This post is Part III of a series. Advance to Part IV, or go back to Part II.
