The brain region of guilt seems to work differently in each of us, although it is true that, on average, most of us feel the weight of its impact, it seems that some people do not activate this area, an example of this would be narcissistic and potentially violent profiles.
If we talk about guilt, we must first understand two very interesting aspects, to begin with we face a fundamental emotion in the behavior of the human being, although we associate it with internal realities of a very negative line (Fischer, Shaver and Carnochan, 1990), actually this emotion helps us regulate our social behavior.
- The weight of guilt encourages us to correct behaviors and encourages people to behave properly.
- In this way we avoid suffering the weight that can often remain as a life in our brains.
- On the other hand.
- And this will undoubtedly have been done by many.
- Experienced.
- We face one of the most difficult emotions to handle.
Sigmund Freud once commented that humans create sophisticated defense mechanisms to protect us from their influence, because their shadow, the memory of what we did or didn’t do, is a bit complicated to handle, however, and this is perhaps the most positive thing of all, feeling the mark of their pain means that we are aware, which many other people could not say or demonstrate.
“If you make me cry, your soul will regret it too. ” – Horacio-
We recently witnessed another mass murder, the attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, brought a new kind of profile to the crime scene, so we have someone who broadcasts live and on Facebook the massacre for which he is responsible, seeking not only to reach the greatest number of people, but, as his manifesto explains, to perpetuate his work and inspire others.
From this act comes the absolute coldness of the protagonist, that as in a video game he merely shoots in peace all the people he finds in his way, the brutality, the lack of conscience and any hint of guilt for what you are more than obvious What is in this type of person?What mechanisms govern or explain these behaviors?
Monash University conducted a study using precisely one video game with very violent content. Molenberghs, who is in charge of this work, has tried to understand what is the brain region of guilt, for this purpose, using MRI, he tried to see what was going on in the brains of the participants while playing a video game. where they were supposed to kill a large number of victims.
Brain scans showed a lack of neural activity in the lateral orbital cortex, which perfectly coincided with previous work by neurobiologist and philosopher Gerhard Roth, who conducted extensive research in several prisons to understand what was going on in the minds of murderers, rapists and other inmates who had committed acts of violence.
The results were clear. Dr. Roth called this area the region of the brain of guilt, the “bad part. “The lateral orbital cortex, unlike that seen in people who suffer the weight of guilt, showed virtually no activity. Sometimes this can happen due to the presence of a tumor, but in most cases it is not known why this dysfunction occurs.
Some psychologists believe that continued exposure to violence generally promotes a habit in this area, which could explain the behavior of the New Zealand killer, who said that some of his violence was due to his passion for video games; However, this is just one of many factors. that certainly shape this kind of dark profile.
The brain region of guilt is related to the feeling of shame, both dimensions cause uncomfortable sensations, perhaps the most uncomfortable and even painful, in the same way it is the motivating emotions that push us to improve, to behave differently to alleviate this discomfort.
All this is undoubtedly positive and contains, in itself, that essence that makes us human, that makes us social beings that we want to do what is best for themselves and also for others, however, this kind of psychobiological reality does not happen in psychopaths, narcissists. or people who can hurt without feeling anything about it.
This ability to reflect on the act or empathize with the injured person does not seem to be present in such profiles, it is certainly something that is scary, something that forces us to accept an obvious reality: profiles like Brenton Tarrant, the author. Christchurch attack, will continue to appear.
This brain darkness that Dr. Gerhard Roth was talking about exists, the brain region of guilt does not work in the same way for all and this can lead to acts extremely harmful to humanity.