Your Brain Is Not an Onion With a Tiny Reptile Inside, 2020, Cesario et al

Your Brain Is Not an Onion With a Tiny Reptile Inside

Cesario, Johnson and Eisthen

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0963721420917687 full article free e pub

Abstract
A widespread misconception in much of psychology is that (a) as vertebrate animals evolved, “newer” brain structures were added over existing “older” brain structures, and (b) these newer, more complex structures endowed animals with newer and more complex psychological functions, behavioral flexibility, and language.

This belief, although widely shared in introductory psychology textbooks, has long been discredited among neurobiologists and stands in contrast to the clear and unanimous agreement on these issues among those studying nervous-system evolution.

We bring psychologists up to date on this issue by describing the more accurate model of neural evolution, and we provide examples of how this inaccurate view may have impeded progress in psychology. We urge psychologists to abandon this mistaken view of human brains.

 

"Conclusion
Perhaps mistaken ideas about brain evolution persist because they fit with the human experience: We do sometimes feel overwhelmed with uncontrollable emotions and even use animalistic terms to describe these states. These ideas are also consistent with such traditional views of human nature as rationality battling emotion, the tripartite Platonic soul, Freudian psychodynamics, and religious approaches to humanity. They are also simple ideas that can be distilled to a single paragraph in an introductory textbook as a nod to biological roots of human behavior. Nevertheless, they lack any foundation in our understanding of neurobiology or evolution and should be abandoned by psychological scientists."

 

God help us if it is thought necessary to explain that metaphors are not intended to be taken literally.

 

Well yes but the Internet disagrees:

Your reptilian brain, explained
"Robert M. Sapolsky holds degrees from Harvard and Rockefeller Universities and is currently a Professor of Biology and Neurology at Stanford University and a Research Associate with the Institute of[…]"

We are more reptilian than we might like to think
"Dr. Stephen Simpson is an internationally acclaimed mind coach, hypnotherapist, presenter, TEDx speaker, bestselling author, business consultant, thought leader in the connections between artificial intelligence (AI) and under-used human intelligence, and is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine."

Don’t Listen to Your Lizard Brain
"Andrew Budson, M.D., is a professor of neurology at Boston University, a lecturer in neurology at Harvard Medical School, and Chief of Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology at the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System. He is the author of Seven Steps to Managing Your Memory and Six Steps to Managing Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia."

OK that's enough - you get the picture ...