Julie Sasscer-Burgos, Psy.D.

NSA 

Conflict Resolution

Lunchtime Series Presentation

May 14, 2014
Topics for Today

 Brain Structure

 Brain Function

 Brain Communication

 How the brain affects our behavior during conflict

 How we can affect our brains during conflict
What is Neuroscience?

 A branch of science that deals with the structure and 

function of the brain, particularly in relation to 

behavior 
Why do we care about our brain 

when we are dealing with conflict?

 Our brain influences how we interact with our 

environment, and our environment influences how 

our brain works. 

 We can put to use our knowledge of brain function to 

shape how we interact.
Basic Brain Functions

 Staying alive

 Perceiving

 Emoting

 Thinking

 Acting
Our Brain in Three Parts

 Concept Developed by 

Dr. Paul McLean, the 

director of the 

Laboratory of Brain 

Evolution and Behavior 

at NIH in the 1960’s

 Based on evolutionary 

age and function of brain 
Reptilian Brain -  AKA : Reptilian System, R-complex, hind brain

 Involved in: 

 Regulation of unconscious body functions such as 

breathing, heart rate, digestion, circulation

 Behaviors related to self-preservation, such as sex, 

eating, defending body, defending food source

 Enacting fight/flight/freeze response
Mammalian Brain

 AKA: Paleocortex, paleomammalian brain, limbic 

system, midbrain

 Involved in:

 Consciousness

 Thought

 Memory

 Emotion

 Triggering Fight/Flight/Freeze response

 Social Connections
Neocortex

 AKA: Neomammalian brain, human brain, forebrain

 Involved in:

 Sensory Perception

 Motor Commands

 Spatial Reasoning

 Language

 Conscious thought – including the conscious 

interpretation of an emotional state
Occipital Lobe

 Involved in:

 Visual reception

 Visio-spatial processing

 Movement and color 

recognition
Parietal Lobe

 Involved in:

 Sensory Integration

 Spatial sense/navigation

 Knowledge of numbers 

and their manipulation

 Speech and language
Temporal Lobe

 Involved in:

 Auditory Processing

 Semantic Processing

 Formation of Memory

 Discrimination of 

Smells and Sounds
Frontal Lobes

 Involved in:

 Abstract Thinking

 Thought Analysis/ 

Metacognition

 Regulation of Behavior

 Mediation of Conflicting 

Thoughts

 Making Choices Between 

Right and Wrong

 Predicting Probability of 

Outcomes of Actions and 

Events

 Social Control / Suppressing 

Emotional or Sexual Urges
Prefrontal Cortex

 The Last Area to Develop

 The Seat of the 

“Executive Function” of 

the Brain
In times of conflict, why don’t we 

just use the prefrontal cortex?

 Because the older parts of the brain have been around 

for a long time and are very good a their jobs. They 

have had time to practice and perfect.

 The older parts of the brain have kept us alive and have 

allowed us to be part of groups.

 The older parts of the brain are preconscious so we 

can’t avoid using them even if we want to.

 They provide important information that we should be 

taking into consideration

 The prefrontal cortex, for all of its sophistication, is 

not always right
The Prefrontal Cortex Loves 

Understanding

 It will consider input from many other areas of the 

brain and pull it into a coherent understanding

 However, if there is not sufficient information it will 

use what it has and drag in other material, and you will 

not always know what was dragged in

 Two different people’s brains bring in different 

material, so their understandings may conflict, even 

as each is sure they have rationally arrived at the 

correct understanding
The Brain During Conflict

 Conflict was around long before the neocortex 

developed

 Something wanted to eat you

 You did not want to be eaten

 This is conflict

 The brain had to work fast in order to survive and not 

be bogged down in careful analysis of a lot of novel 

information. The process had to be preconscious and 

fast, fast, fast
The Task of the Brain During 

Conflict

 A recognition of what things, animals, and actions are 

 This is a berry bush / That is a lion

 A judgment of whether this is good or bad

 Berry bush good / Lion bad

 A reaction

 Berry bush –approach to eat berries / Lion – RUN!
Judging Good vs. Bad

 Animals have evolved to judge more things as bad than 

good because the cost of judging something as good 

and being wrong is too high.

 It is better to erroneously run away from food and live 

to eat later than to misinterpret a lion as food and be 

eaten.
Implications when negotiating 

conflict

 If something is unfamiliar or amiss or even unclear, the 

natural inclination is to judge it as bad.

 For example, if a person is behaving in an 

unpredictable way, the unpredictable behavior will be 

judged to be dangerous (bad). 

 It is not that change itself is bad, it is that until the 

change is known to be good, it is presumed to be bad. 

For example, once change is known to result in you 

getting a million dollars you are going to judge change 

as good.
Emotion

 A large part of the response to a stimulus is emotion

 Emotion has two main purposes

 To produce reactions to specific situations. 

 Approach – allows sex/reproduction, food gathering, forming 

families and other social bonds for protection

 Defense – fight, flight, or freeze

 To physically prepare the organism to respond in the 

way most likely to result in survival.

 Setting off the sympathetic nervous system

 Forming relationships
Emotion

 Emotions begin in the paleomammalian brain

 The paleomammalian actions are preconscious

 We cannot initially control our emotions - they 

happen quickly, at least a half a second before we are 

aware of them

 There are more neural pathways from amygdala in the 

limbic system going to the neocortex than the other 

way, so it is easier for the limbic system to overwhelm 

the neocortex than the other way around
Emotion

 If humans had the ability to control emotion they 

would be able to choose to love someone, or choose 

not to love someone

 If humans had the ability to control emotion there 

would be no need for artificial stimulation such as 

roller coasters, sports, movies, recreational drugs. 

Humans like these things because they evoke the 

emotions they like to feel.
Are we totally out of control?

 While we cannot instantly control our emotions, we 

can (on a good day) control our behavioral reaction to 

emotions, because the monitoring of behavior is 

seated in the prefrontal cortex, which is conscious.

 Once we become aware of emotions we can use them 

to help us figure out what caused the reaction. Once 

we know the cause we can engage our prefrontal cortex 

and slowly influence the limbic system to reinterpret 

the data.
How do parts of the brain 

communicate?

 An adult human brain is made up of approximately 

100,000,000,000 brain cells, or neurons.

 The neurons are connected to each other and send 

chemical and electrical signals to transmit 

information.
Neuron

 Chemical signal comes into a 

dendrite, sometimes into a cell 

body or axon

 Accumulation of signals 

“excites” neuron

 When enough excitation builds 

up, the neuron “fires,” sending 

an electric impulse down the 

axon

 Electrical impulse releases 

chemical from the end of the 

axon to the next cell

 The connection between two 

neurons is called a synapse

 Some signals inhibit cell action
Chemical Neural Communication

 Neurotransmitter – the chemical that comes out of one 

neuron, floats across the synapse, and fits into a 

receptor on another cell

 If it builds excitement it is an “excitatory” 

neurotransmitter

 If it diminishes excitement it is an “inhibitory” 

neurotransmitter

 Most cells have many synapses, some receiving 

excitatory chemicals and some receiving inhibitory 

transmitters
Chemical Neural Communication

 The more a neuron fires, the more dendrites and axon 

terminals it grows

 Often we can increase the number of excitatory or 

inhibitory actions within the neocortex with conscious 

effort and practice

 The increased neural connections in the neocortex can 

make the desired paleomammalian neurons develop, 

with time
Chemical Neural Communication

 Neuromodulator – a chemical that modifies the 

efficacy of the synapse. It can affect how quickly or 

slowly a dendrite can respond to a chemical, or 

whether it will respond at all.

 Neuromodulators generally float around a diffuse 

area, such as in the cerebrospinal fluid, rather than 

strictly in the synapses.

 Most neuromodulators also function as 

neurotransmitters in other parts of the system.
Neurotransmitters

 Most common are:

 Glutamate – usually excitatory

 Gamma Amino-butyric Acid (GABA) – usually 

inhibitory
Neuromodulators (most relevant to 

conflict)

 Histamine – arousal

 Vasopressor – aggression

 Norepinephrine – sns activation

 Oxytocin – bonding with other humans

 Dopamine – pleasure

 Serotonin - relaxation
Neuromodulators important in 

calming, caring, sociability

 Not enough – individuals are irritable, aggressive, and 

bullying

 Enough – can develop a caring response, and calm 

down fear, anxiety, and anger reactions
How to increase the good stuff

 Oxytocin – bonding with other humans

 Increase by touching, sharing resources, sex

 Forming warm relationships with others

 Dopamine – pleasure

 Pleasant views, favorite music, perfume, smell of chocolate chip 

cookies, comfortable clothes

 Favorite activities 

 Serotonin – relaxation

 Not created by body, must come from food and drink. Foods 

containing tryptophan (e.g. turkey) and protein are best.

 Medication - SSRIs
Recent relevant findings

 Old thinking: Aggression and dominance led to 

higher social status, and this status led to more 

opportunities to mate, reflecting higher evolutionary 

fitness.

 Recent genetic testing has shown that in most 

mammals (primates, wild horses, wolves) offspring do 

not necessarily belong to the most dominant, 

aggressive males – apparently the females are mating 

with non-dominant males at least as often.
Aggression, Serotonin, and Survival

 Dr. S.J. Suomi of the Laboratory of Comparative 

Ethology, National Institute of Child Health & Human 

Development, NIH published research in 2005 on 

rhesus monkeys, aggression, and serotonin levels 

 Monkeys who were more aggressive risk takers were 

found to have lower levels of serotonin

 More of them died before reproducing

 Monkeys with higher levels of serotonin had the most 

pro-social behavior, the most grooming and bonding 

with females

 More of them lived to reproduce
Aggression, Serotonin, and Survival

 Reproductive success was not correlated with larger 

canine teeth or body size, and was negatively 

correlated with aggressive behavior

 Less aggressive males who had formed good 

relationships with females were able to lead troupes 

after death of aggressive males, with the support of 

females. 
Aggression, Serotonin, and Survival

 High serotonin may be important in forming bonds 

(familial and sexual), keeping calm, fostering 

relaxation

 However, low serotonin may be evolutionarily helpful 

for the species, if not for the individual

 Low serotonin individuals are more likely to take risks, 

to search out new territory, to try new foods, to detect 

new hazards. This can get them killed. However, it 

can also provide important information to the group, 

helping the group survive.
Lessons for us

 When serotonin is low, we have trouble inhibiting 

aggressive responses to perceived verbal or physical 

threats

 To increase harmony, we want to increase serotonin, 

and avoid situations that decrease serotonin
A Quick Review

 Parts of the brain evolved at different times.

 The older parts are more solid and cannot be instantly 

overridden by conscious thought.

 Emotions and reactions have been around for a long 

time, and are durable and strong. 

 New stimuli are more likely to be judged as bad than 

good

 Neuromodulators can help influence how cells react

 We want to maximize relaxation, bonding, and 

pleasure neuromodulators
All of this information, what do we 

do with it? 

 When there is conflict, keep in mind that all parts of 

people’s brains are at work.

 We can have some influence on brain function, and we 

can have understanding and acceptance of what we 

cannot influence.

 In general, we want to recognize the functioning of the 

paleomammalian brain, and maximize the influence 

of the neocortex

 We want to increase calming, caring neuromodulators
Tips:

 Set up the environment to be as non-threatening as 

possible, paying attention to sight, sound, smell, touch, 

and taste. 

 Play soft music in the reception area, until the discussion 

starts. Pleasurable sounds increase dopamine.

 Serve food and drinks. Turkey sandwiches are ideal 

because they contain tryptophan, which is a metabolic 

precursor to serotonin. Protein helps, especially if it 

contains a little bit of fat and is accompanied by a little bit 

of carbohydrates. Don’t overdo the carbs and sugar 

because people will crash. However, any offering of food 

will help as a sign of affiliation.
Tips:

 Shake hands. Even slight touch (as long as it is culturally 

and socially appropriate) increases oxytocin , the 

neuromodulator related to forming bonds.

 Start with a ritual. In many business settings the most 

common ritual is for everyone to go around the room and 

introduce themselves. Familiar rituals increase serotonin 

and allow people to relax. Our reptilian brains like 

predictability.

 Remember that information that is ambiguous or 

unfamiliar will most likely be interpreted negatively. 

Present information as clearly as possible, with direct 

explanations of how it will not hurt the participants, or 

how they will gain from it. This may need to be repeated or 

rephrased several times.
Tips:

 Even when the information is clear, if it appears to lead to a 

loss for the individual there will likely be negative emotion 

attached. Sometimes there is no way around this. You 

must be prepared for negative emotion and accepting of it. 

(Caveat – You do not have to be accepting of aggressive behavior)

 Acknowledge the negative emotions to send the message 

that they are being heard, avoiding the need for escalation. 

This will also help the participant use conscious thought to 

modulate them.

 When there is negative emotion appeal to the greater good. 

Sometimes this will lead to an activation of the 

paleomammalian cortex that seeks affiliation.
Tips:

 Remember that while calming and caring is helpful, it 

may take some time to make a difference. Go slow.
 Questions?