The “Fake News” Part of the Brain

I’m sure you have noticed that “Fake News” has been in the news lately. And, while people have made up stories about others that weren’t true for quite some time (tabloids, The National Enquirer), thanks to the internet, this seems to be the first time these stories have garnered so much attention.

What we have learned is that people who were out to make a buck, played on the emotions of supporters of both sides of the political spectrum by creating stories that never had any basis in fact. And, it worked! By getting paid for each “click,” these people were able to make a nice chunk of change from the millions of people who took the bait.

The question I suggest that we ponder is why? – Why are we so drawn to outlandish stories about the people we distrust, and rarely stop to determine whether they are true? And, more importantly (since the election is over), how can this tendency to buy into fake news affect our ability to be happy and successful, or create the life we want?

For those of you who follow my “Life from the Top of the Mind” philosophy, you know that this has to do with how our brains process information… specifically, the initial scanner, processor, router part of the brain (the limbic system). In other words, given that this part of the brain is tasked with the job of keeping us safe (and/or ensuring that we survive as a specie), it tends to react strongly to any information it perceives as problematic or dangerous.

This is very effective when we are indeed in danger, and a fight-or-flight reaction is called for in order to stay safe. But notice how few (if any) of the situations that we encounter on a daily basis can truly be dealt with from a fight-or-flight perspective. The truth is that most normal situations such as traffic, disagreements, deadlines, etc., are not “dangerous,” or don’t truly represent a threat to our safety, however, our limbic system is interpreting them as if they do.

This is fake news! It’s not based upon truth but upon fear, and if believed, it will throw us into the lower 20% of the brain (the brainstem) and trigger stress hormones such as adrenaline, noradrenaline, and cortisol.

So what can we do? We must stop trusting this reactive part of the brain to give us the truth. We must question the limbic interpretation to determine whether we embrace it as truth or discard it. We must allow the clear, confident, creative part of the brain (the neocortex) to be the determinant of what is true and what is fake… what is dangerous and what is not… what we want to use to create our experience of life, what we would teach, or recommend to those we love, and what we want to allow to go in one ear and out the other.

The good news (not the fake news) is that when we put this neocortex, this wise, loving, purposeful part of our brain in charge of determining what is true… what we use as a foundation for creating the life we want, we will always be more successful because we will be basing our life in truth. Not a bad legacy to leave to those we love, don’t you think?