The Chimp Paradox: The Acclaimed Mind Management Programme to Help You Achieve Success, Confidence and Happiness
Steve Peters
Description
Leading consultant psychiatrist Steve Peters knows more than anyone how impulsive behaviour or nagging self-doubt can impact negatively on our professional and personal lives. In this, his first book, Steve shares his phenomenally successful mind-management programme that has been used to help elite athletes and senior managers alike to conquer their fears and operate with greater control, focus and confidence.
Key words: Mind, Success, Confidence, Happiness
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My Notes
You must want to do something about it and be willing to accept change.
The human brain in detail
The diagram (below) shows six specific numbered areas of the brain. Research indicates that each one has a specific role to play and most have much more than one role to play. For example, the amygdala has as many as seventeen different nuclei each with its own specific role, most of which are based on emotional responses. The cingulate cortex (or gyrus) is involved in memory formation, learning and decision-making.
To keep it simple and make it understandable we will consider just one role for each numbered area, even though some areas contribute to the same role.
Here are the selected individual roles for each area:
The amygdala is a fast acting defence mechanism that does not think but responds quickly
The orbito-frontal cortex acts by trying to control impulses and uses moral judgements to keep us within social norms.
The uncinate fasciculus is a moral guide providing us with a conscience and guilt
The dorso-lateral pre-frontal cortex works analytically thinking with logic
The ventro-medial pre-frontal cortex considers the feelings of others and empathises
The cingulate cortex is involved in decision-making influenced by past experience
There are two different thinking areas within the brain:
It is in the outer edge of the brain, known as the cortex, where thinking takes place, where we put into good use our ‘grey matter’. If the outer edge had just one area for thinking we wouldn’t have a problem. However, there are at least two thinking and interpreting areas. The dorso-lateral edge is interpreting in a rational logical way. The orbito-frontal cortex is interpreting by impression, feelings and emotions and has direct links to the amygdala. So, this second way of thinking has ‘joined’ forces with the strongest emotional centre within the brain, the amygdala. What we now have in effect are two interpreting brains. One of them is virtually automatic and thinks for us without our input and is based on emotion. The other is under our control and allows us to think, as we want to. The trouble is that these two ’brains’ do not think the same way and they do not typically agree on the interpretation of what is going on. We have a potential ‘battle’ within our head going on all the time!
Is there an easy way to make sense of this and to manage the situation to our advantage? The Chimp Model offers a simplified way of understanding our two thinking brains and how we can learn to use them to the best of our ability. A model is not pure scientific fact or a hypothesis. It is just a simple representation to aid understanding and help us to use the science. It may also help us to make sense of how we have been in the past, how we are now, and how we can manage ourselves better in the future.
In our model, the inner Chimp is the emotional team within the brain that thinks and acts for us without our permission. The logical team is the real person, it is you; rational, compassionate and humane, and is the Human within. The memory banks for reference are the Computer.
The human brain simplified
The three brains try to work together, but they frequently get into conflict and struggle against each other to gain control, with the chimp often winning.
The chimp paradox is that the chimp can be your best friend and worst enemy at the same time. The main purpose of this book is to help you manage your chimp, when he’s working for you and when he’s not.
The chimp, human and computer
The human is you, and you live in the frontal lobe.
The chimp is your emotional machine, given to you at birth, and it lives in your limbic system.
The computer stores information that the chimp and human put into it. It then uses this information to act for them in an automatic way or it can serve as a reference point.
Any one of them can take complete control but they usually work together.
Two different ways of thinking
The chimp interprets information with ‘feelings’ and ‘impressions’. The chimp can only think and act with ‘emotion’. The human will act through logic, facts and establishing the truth.
When you disagree, the chimp is the most powerful, and gets control of your thoughts and actions.
Hijacked by the chimp
Because the chimp receives first, the chimp can take over and control your thinking.
The solution is to understand how your chimp thinks so you can recognise when it’s taking over, and you can intervene.
The Chimp doesn’t work with facts. It works with what it believes is the truth or a perception of the truth, or even worse a perception of what it thinks is the truth. It is quick to form an impression on little, if any, evidence and usually won’t give way. We believe first, then look for facts to support the belief. Your chimp usually forms first impressions when you meet new people by reading body language.
Chimp brain makes us; jump to an opinion, thinks in black and white, paranoid, irrational, emotive judgement.
The human is evidence and facts based. Humans try to establish the truth, then base our beliefs on the truth.
Human brain makes us: evidence based, rational, in context with perspective, balanced judgement.
The chimp brain has the gut feeling, the beliefs, the bell in your head that says ‘something isn’t right’ but the human must remain in charge and substantiate the feeling with facts and evidence.
Two different agendas
Chimp – survival & continuation of species
Human – Self-fulfilment (helping others) & Society
Chimps like to survive, humans like to have a purpose.
The chimp
The purpose of these drives is to perpetuate (continue / preserve) the species.
Most chimps become anxious when they are unsure, or they are in unfamiliar territory. This is a natural reaction, warning them they are in potential danger. The chimp monitors body language, to search for signs of danger. Women are in particular good at monitoring body language to protect themselves and continue the species. Women can be more insecure. If you think about it, a female chimp that is insecure is most likely to stay out of danger and survive.
The human
The humanity centre is based on ethics and morals and is the part of the brain in the human that lights up on the brain scanner when we show the characteristics of what it takes to live in a society.
Why can’t we take the power off the chimp?
The chimp is more powerful and reacts more quickly than the human (see below). The problem arises when the chimp gives us a suggestion that is not appropriate, and we then allow it to control us and don’t know how to stop the chimp from dominating us. You can’t arm wrestle the chimp, you can only manage it. Just deal with the emotion rather than always trying to understand it. You can only use distractions & rewards. For example: when I hear the alarm, I will just get out of bed. Why 5,4,3,2,1 technique is so good.
The computer
When you are born, effectively the computer is an empty hard drive. It is merely a store for behaviours and beliefs that the human or chimp will use.
Automatic functioning
Acting as a reference source
The stored beliefs and behaviours are therefore learnt by the human and chimp and put into the computer.
The computer contains four key items
A constructive or helpful belief
Unhelpful or destructive behaviour that is removable
Unhelpful or destructive behaviour that is firmly fixed and extremely difficult to remove
The values and beliefs by which you live your life.
The human intervention
You cannot stop the chimp from reacting to anything that happens (shows as the first step in the below options), however, you can stop the chimp from acting on his reaction. Shown below.
Altering mindset
Coming to conclusions – The difference between the human and chimp in using evidence
Assertive communicator
Removes emotion from speech
Chooses words carefully
Aggressive communicator
Full of emotion
Evokes emotion in another person.
A chimp’s agenda
Win, express emotion, attack the other person, defend itself, get its point across, not give way to change stance, come out looking good, if guilty, use excuses of being provoked or a victim.
In a confrontation a chimp will
Shout and be emotional, interrupt inappropriately, use emotive words, dominate with speed and volume, dominate and intimidate with body language, focus on the problem, work on feelings, be devious if necessary.
Human agenda
Understands the other person first, allow the other person to express, gather information by listening, look for a solution, use facts not feelings
In a confrontation a human will
Remain calm, use gentle nonemotion words, listen first, see a different viewpoint, be open to change stance, recognise opinions are not facts, reason and discuss, find common ground, compromise, and accept differences.
We repaint the picture whenever we look back on events to make sure that it brings us out in a good light. We tend to do this by only hearing what we want to hear and seeing only what we want to see and remembering only what we want to remember. Our memory of events is repainted and is rarely the whole truth.
