·         Humans have a brain similar to other animals

At the start of human evolution some 6 million years ago, humans possessed a smaller, predominantly instinctive brain much like that found in any other animal. It was designed to collect information from the senses and use it to directly control physical actions and regulatory mechanisms. Today this reactive (regulatory) brain still sits deep inside our skulls and remains relatively unchanged. It controls respiration, heart beat and other automatic functions that occur unconsciously. We call it the brainstem.

Just behind the brainstem lies the cerebellum. This is a distinct part of the brain that also has a primitive core. It is concerned with the unconscious control of physical activities such as balance, equilibrium and synergy of muscle movement.

• We also have a unique secondary brain

Over the past 6 million years humans have grown a secondary brain. It stores memories that allow us to predict nature and therefore control it. It allows us to learn unique skills, guides our team-playing instincts, allows us to follow social (rather than natural) rules and adapt to many environments. We call it the neocortex and it is the basis of humanity’s amazing success.

• We need protection before we can start learning

To survive, an animal has to learn how to avoid dangerous situations and predators. Knowing nothing at birth, it therefore needs to immediately establish the support of an adult, usually its mother, to protect it during this learning process. The length of this protected period depends on the time needed to establish an intuition and strategy for survival appropriate to the prevailing environment.

Many animals are ready and able to look after themselves within a few months of being born but as humans have become more adaptable and socially complex they have needed up to four or five years to develop. Human parents therefore have inherited a prolonged responsibility to protect and teach their children.

·         Our bodies and minds develop in a progressive manner

When developing in the womb, a baby’s most primitive body parts and functions form first and the modern ones last. This sequence also applies to their adaptations. We first develop our more primitive, instinctive mechanisms and then add the modern social attributes later. The success of each stage of our adaptation and learning ultimately decides our strengths and weaknesses in life. When we adapt suitably we thrive, when we fail to adapt suitably we struggle.

Strengths and weaknesses start at conception. An embryo’s organs are formed within the first eight weeks, but they will only form properly if its mother and father were healthy at the time of conception. If for any reason this initial DNA sequencing process fails then the pregnancy will abort and the embryo will be prevented from becoming a foetus. This is a natural evolutionary safeguard to ensure that the parents do not spend many years of energy and resources bringing up a child that already has a reduced chance of survival.

• Organs are formed in the first eight weeks of pregnancy

Once an embryo becomes a foetus its organs will only grow properly if it can obtain suitable nutrition from it’s mother. Babies take control of their own umbilical flow quite early in life, so if resources are scarce it will compete with its mother for her nutrient stores. If despite this monopoly, it still cannot meet its needs, a weakness in the development of one organ or another may be set up. 

Babies who had inadequate nutrition during gestation often weigh less at birth. They develop more slowly and become predisposed to chronic illnesses such as heart disease and diabetes later in life.

• We are all born premature

At the start of human evolution gestation took approximately twelve months, but as we evolved, the ever-increasing size of a baby’s brain made it more difficult to deliver its head. Evolution did not allow for a woman’s pelvis to get much wider because she would be unable to walk efficiently (another ability essential to human survival) so the only solution was to encourage prematurity. This means that today’s full term babies are actually born three months premature. They therefore require their mother to provide a womb-like experience for the first three months of their life. To help with this, mothers and babies both secrete large amounts of the love hormone, oxytocin during the birth in order to bond them close together.

Hunter-gatherer babies were born in shady, peaceful places and were kept close to their mother’s chest at all times. Contrast this with modern babies who are now often born in hospitals with bright lights, noise and machinery. The stress they endure has a deep effect on their long-term adrenal regulation. If these babies are also taken away from their mother after the birth then the oxytocin will not have time to work and they may both have trouble bonding later in life.

• We pre-adapt to the prevailing world by monitoring our mother’s rhythms

In the womb, babies pre-adapt to the world they are going to be born into, tuning into their mother’s heart beat, respiration and biochemical fluctuations. If the mother is overly stressed or her biochemistry is unbalanced, the baby will adapt its regulatory systems accordingly. [For instance, a startling new study of women who become unusually dominant in pregnancy and therefore display high levels of testosterone reveals that they have an 80 per cent chance of having a boy].

• We need to be gradually exposed to the dangers of the world in order to adapt to them

The first two years of a child’s life are predominantly concerned with ensuring itself of safety. It will therefore use any behaviour necessary to win the undivided attention of its protector, normally its mother. When this attention has been secured the child then expects to be gradually exposed to the surrounding environment so it can adapt its body accordingly. If this exposure is sufficient then it will establish appropriate defence mechanisms such as; an alertness reaction in response to potentially dangerous situations, immune responses to common organisms, a thermal regulatory response to ambient temperature changes, hormonal responses to cyclical fluctuations, and a self-healing response to counter internal imbalances and therefore ill-health.

• Our rational brain needs to be filled with experiences

Once instinctive adaptation has occurred the child’s priorities turn slowly to gaining more conscious control of its physical and social skills. For this to properly occur, it needs to fill its rational brain with experiences appropriate to the situations and responsibilities it will encounter later in life. The more stimulation and the wider the variety of experiences the child receives (from both males and females), the more it will develop its physical and social abilities.

With these skills intact a hunter-gatherer can predict the patterns of animal movements, weather etc in order to better intercept or avoid them. These days however, being less connected with nature, modern humans tend to use these powers to try to predict and respond to other people. Unfortunately, since these people also have rational brains they will also be doing the same thing. The consequent many-layered game of counter-manoeuvring has become a distinctive characteristic of modern social interactions.

OBSERVE THE PRESENT

RESOURCE 6 – STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES

The table below helps you to identify the strengths and weaknesses of body and mind that you have carried into your adult life. For each category tick the box that applies closest to you in your upbringing.