Mindset Neuroscience Podcast

Self-regulation requires special features of the brain that make us truly human: controlled, intentional and socially harmonious.  We are born to develop these skills - but we need to learn how to do this.

Humans have a remarkable capacity to deliberately control their internal state.  It's not a skill that any other species has - and one that most of us don't really know how to do, but it can be developed.  How? By getting to know the autonomic nervous system, the vagus nerve and something called 'interoception': all three of which will make you better at noticing what our body and senses are constantly telling us.  Doing this helps us use more of the human features of the brain to keep us calm and in control.  In this episode, we'll move our focus away from the 'mental' and psychology-based idea of emotions, and move back into our body and senses to find out how we can have more control over our behaviors.

In this episode, we look at how neuroscience can help us develop a sense of 'Purpose':

1) That people are mainly reacting to life unconsciously (not 'on purpose').  Understanding this helps us get to the root of our issues, instead of repeating our reactions over and over again.

2) We can do more things 'on purpose':  by strengthening our prefrontal cortex, we can have more control over our reactions and behaviors.

3) How to tune in to a sense of purpose - the feeling that we know why we are here and what we are 'meant to do'.

Topics covered:

- A neuroscience explanation of the concept of purpose.

- Methods and rituals we can use to have more control over our behavior and impulses.

- Executive functioning skills.

- Mindfulness and meditation.

- Why we numb and distract ourselves, being uncomfortable to sit and go into our own thoughts.

- Importance of expressing our uniqueness in a way that has value.

There's a lot of 'old science' out there. Stuff we humans used to believe that has been de-bunked.

Things like...   'humans are more complex than other species, which means we have more genes.'

Before the Human Genome Project was completed in 2003, humans were estimated as having around 100,000 genes - more than any other species.

Nope.  Turns out we only have between 20,000-25,000 genes.

A tiny moss plant actually beats humans with 10,000 more genes than we do.  The sponge genome contains 18,000 genes, many of which are similar to people.

In fact, humans and sponges share around 70 percent of their DNA.

Previous generations simply did not have the same science and understanding of genes that we have now. They didn't know how much environment plays a role.

"Genetic destiny" or determinism - the belief that we get what we get when we're born, and this will dictate the rest of our life... this is a belief that older generations had.   

They were wrong.

This includes our belief about the destiny of the brain. 

In this episode, you'll find out the other two outdated systems most of us keep using that is holding us back from creating the change we hope to see.

[Bonus: here's an extra science update that most people don't talk about:

ALMOST ALL DINOSAURS were probably covered in feathers.

The point?  We need to stay on our toes and make sure we don't keep passing on outdated thinking to the next generation :-) :-) ]

"It's not merely that we can't be loving or creative when we're scared; we can't heal." -Stephen Porges

In order for us to access our most evolved neural and behavioral resources, we must be in a state of physiological and psychological safety.

We'll explore this idea through the lens of something called the the Polyvagal Theory and the Social Engagement System. 

This highly evolved system has to do with the 10th cranial nerve called the Vagus Nerve. 

As soon as we move into a state of vigilance or defensiveness, we have less access to this very evolved system. 

Understanding the Social Engagement System and the Vagus Nerve can help us do three key things:

1) regulate our own internal state,

2) have a better understanding of what other peoples triggers are and how to help them

regulate themselves; and

3) create conditions that nurture the social engagement system and increase the chances that are more evolved systems can come online in a given moment.

In this revised first episode, we'll look at why fixed mindset is 'neurologically inaccurate', how our experiences build brain architecture, and two types of neuroplasticity that can help us re-program our behaviors We'll also see how struggle and failure spark powerful and creative changes in the brain why celebrating 'grit' and effort can be a bad idea.

One of the most important ideas that anyone can bring into any learning environment is to help people recognize their capacity to learn. Simply because they are human. Simply because of the architecture of the human brain, they are capable of developing new adaptations and flexible ways of achieving their goals. And that is really what intelligence and learning is all about.

In order to teach growth mindset, we need to be sure it’s coming from an authentic place. It seems that much growth mindset teaching is focused on changing the attitudes of others’, rather than looking at how we internalize and model it ourselves.

The good news is that we can learn and become more authentic, and in this episodes you’ll hear processes to help you achieve this, in turn, becoming a more effective teacher and being better received.

Topics covered:

– Concept of authenticity and its importance when teaching growth mindset

– Processes for becoming more authentic

– Importance of consistent movements and micromovents

– Equine therapy

– Biosignals and how people can detect the signals we emit

– What’s missing from growth mindset teaching

– Biofeedback that comes with being authentic

Links:

https://art19.com/shows/akimbo

Have you ever had a misunderstanding over text?  Maybe you texted someone and they didn’t reply right away.. or their answer left you feeling rejected or frustrated?

Do you know why you feel the urge to put an exclamation mark or emoji next to your words? (hint: it has to do with how you use your vocal chords/folds in real life)

Why is that having more “friends” on facebook doesn’t actually make us feel more loved?

As mammals, our nervous system is physically wired to connect – in the flesh – with others.  

There are tiny, ‘biological movements’ that we detect and project when we’re with someone.

Digital communication simply cannot keep up with how mind-blowingly sophisticated this ‘social connection system’ is – no matter how hard it tries.

In fact… we need these specific ‘hard-wired’ things to feel satiated from an interaction (some of them have to do with what we do with our voice) that we try really hard to put into digital form, but it just doesn’t do the trick.

So the more time we spend trying to socialize on a screen, the more we hunger for something else, and never quite feel ‘full’.

And it’s that very feeling of hunger and emptiness that leads to addiction to technology. 

The mechanisms of addiction are so similar to chemical and substance addictions, it’s scary.

And it’s what app makers and social media giants depend on.

They must keep us addicted in order to survive.  And they know how the human brain gets wired up for addiction. And they use that knowledge to make sure we stay hungry so that we come back for more.

What does this have to do with learning?

Not using our most evolved biological systems for in-the-flesh connection keeps us in a mild to moderate state of anxiety because it is depriving us of our needed hormones and ‘vagus nerve activity’ that helps us co-regulate (helps our heart’s pacemaker slow our heart rate and allows for blood flow to our digestive organs).  Depriving ourselves of this overwhelms our sympathetic nervous system, and causes a variety of negative consequences.

As we’ve seen in previous episodes, the physiological state of ‘safety’ MUST BE there or the brain will not be able to access what it needs to learn.

So it’s more important than ever to understand and be aware of tactics that media and technology companies are using to make people addicted to their products, and how to protect our minds from being hypnotized by toxic media addiction.

#evolveyourbrain

#humanetech

#tristanharris

Topics covered:

– What keeps us in a fear-based state and how media affects our view of the world

– How attempting to create connections through technology keeps us in a state of mobilization and defensiveness

– Tactics used by media & tech companies to keep us addicted to their products and platforms

– Controlling your social media usage

– The attention economy

– How to talk to teens about technology addiction in a way that they’ll actually listen

– Why it’s a positive thing for adolescents to question authority

– Consequences when our autonomic nervous system is constantly overwhelmed by our sympathetic nervous system

– How ‘toxic media’ creates addictive behaviour

Links:

Tristan Harris – Time Well Spent

CBS news – Hooked on Phones

Earlier studies on fixed vs growth mindset reveal how we build bias and stereotypes.

The original wording used by Carol Dweck and colleagues before they popularized ‘fixed versus growth mindset’ was ‘entity’ versus ‘incremental’ mindsets.

Dweck’s research (included the idea that children are “theory theorists” – they begin building theories very early on about why something is the way it is.

What she found with these young theorists was fascinating.  When researchers used ‘generic language’, which consisted mainly of talking about groups using plural nouns and adjectives, versus non-generic, or individuated, statements, the children made very different inferences.

For example, when children were primed with the statement that “dolphins (plural) have fat under their bellies”, they theorized that the fat must be innate or functional.  So they would say “it must be because it helps dolphins float”, or “the fat keeps them warm”

But if they got a non-generic, or individuated statement: “that dolphin has fat under her belly”, they would attribute it to something that particular dolphin did (not the species as a whole). So they would say “she must have eaten too much”.

It’s hard for humans to not stereotype…

The origin of stereotyping comes from early childhood, where we absorb a lot of ‘generic’ language.

For example, over 40% of the words we hear before the age of six are  generic category-type statements, that start with generalized groupings like “boys are ___,”, or “kids don’t __”, etc.  This is helpful for our young brains to navigate the world more easily, but the issue is that if we don’t also get exposed to highly diverse data, and personalized encounters from many different types of people, this generalizing leads to what is called ‘essentialist’ thinking: that groups of people are homogeneous and invariant.

 

 

The problem with generic language:

Research has shown that when people are primed with essentialist statements, like ‘scientists prove the genetic underpinnings of intelligence’, they are less likely to protest inequality.  Because in that paradigm, ‘nothing can be done for ‘those people’.

Stanford’s neurological sciences professor Robert Sapolsky also emphasizes the importance of using non-generic language. In his book, Behave, he shares studies that show that when people are primed with words to make groups of people homogenous and ‘invariant’, they are more likely to be ok with inequality/

“Focus on the larger, shared goals. Practice perspective-taking. Individuate, individuate, individuate.”

 

This means, we need to be conscisouly aware of when and how much we are using generic language.

We need to notice if we are saying “those people”, or “they” – and ask ourselves if what we say about a group is really, truly valid for every single person in that group.

If it’s not,

Self-regulation requires special features of the brain that make us truly human: controlled, intentional and socially harmonious.  We are born to develop these skills - but we need to learn how to do this.

Humans have a remarkable capacity to deliberately control their internal state.  It's not a skill that any other species has - and one that most of us don't really know how to do, but it can be developed.  How? By getting to know the autonomic nervous system, the vagus nerve and something called 'interoception': all three of which will make you better at noticing what our body and senses are constantly telling us.  Doing this helps us use more of the human features of the brain to keep us calm and in control.  In this episode, we'll move our focus away from the 'mental' and psychology-based idea of emotions, and move back into our body and senses to find out how we can have more control over our behaviors.

In this episode, we look at how neuroscience can help us develop a sense of 'Purpose':

1) That people are mainly reacting to life unconsciously (not 'on purpose').  Understanding this helps us get to the root of our issues, instead of repeating our reactions over and over again.

2) We can do more things 'on purpose':  by strengthening our prefrontal cortex, we can have more control over our reactions and behaviors.

3) How to tune in to a sense of purpose - the feeling that we know why we are here and what we are 'meant to do'.

Topics covered:

- A neuroscience explanation of the concept of purpose.

- Methods and rituals we can use to have more control over our behavior and impulses.

- Executive functioning skills.

- Mindfulness and meditation.

- Why we numb and distract ourselves, being uncomfortable to sit and go into our own thoughts.

- Importance of expressing our uniqueness in a way that has value.