Weaknesses of Our Brain
This article is part of the Basic Liberalism Course -> Module 1: Mandatory foundational topics
Weaknesses of Our Brain
Our brain is not one, but 3 different brains competing to impose their response at the same time. I repeat,
- Our brain is not one, but 3 different brains competing to impose their response at the same time.
Added to this is another point, referring to the amount of information that is processed, it is so much that internally our brain looks for shortcuts to interpret reality, these shortcuts are called cognitive biases of which we will also speak.
Summarizing about the 3 brains
These 3 brains are the fruit of evolution itself, working independently.
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The more primitive and ancient the brain, the more instinctive, based on emotions and the faster it is.
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The more evolved the brain, the more reasoning and the more time it takes to determine a response.
In broad terms here they are:
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Reptilian Brain (limbic system)
- The most primitive brain, takes between 0 and 3 seconds to determine an emotional/instinctive response of fear, anger or sexual predisposition to a situation.
- In its fear variants, it responds with the following emotions:
- fear: flee from the situation in the safest way possible
- panic: stay still in the face of the threat
- terror: flee desperately from the threatening situation.
- In its anger variants, it simply attacks the threat
- Sexual predisposition is simply that, knowing if the subject is sexually predisposed.
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Mammalian Brain
- It is the evolution over the previous brain, which takes between 3 and 6 seconds to determine an emotional/instinctive response to a situation.
- This evolution is related to the fact that mammals keep the eggs inside themselves, to care for them and have an evolutionary advantage over reptiles that do not.
- This brain gives us 2 main emotions: love in all its variants and rejection and hate in all its variants.
- This brain is the one that for example allows us to feel love for our children, family, etc. And also rejection, repulsion and hate towards other beings.
- Reptiles or beings that do not have this brain, do not have or have a very limited capacity for these feelings or instincts. It is likely that a reptile will eat its child if it finds it some time after birth, something that would not be possible in a mammal.
- Generally it takes 5 seconds to know if a person likes us, this brain participates in that response.
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Neocortex
- It is the evolution that differentiates us from all the rest of the animals on the planet, which makes us reasoning and conscious beings.
- Unlike the other brains, this one returns a reasoned response to a situation (not a feeling/instinct). It takes between 6 seconds and a lifetime to determine a response.
What is the reason why they act like this?
The speed and way in which the first 2 brains respond has its reason for being in that thousands of years ago in the middle of the jungle or forest, quick responses allow survival.
If an attacker approaches us, and the first brain to respond is the neocortex and we decide to start dialoguing, it is very likely that they will kill us, we will not reproduce and thus our genes will not perpetuate.
On the other hand, if in the same situation, we respond in less than 3 seconds and run away, there are great chances of surviving and being able to perpetuate our genes.
However, in the current society we live in, having those instinctive reactions (anger or fear) in a work meeting will get us fired, if we attack anyone who looks at us badly we will end up in prison and thus have fewer opportunities to perpetuate our genes.
In this sense our 2 instinctive brains are very good at allowing us to survive in the jungle, but they are not so good at allowing us to live in our current society.
Summarizing about cognitive biases
Cognitive biases are mental shortcuts or thought patterns that our brain uses to process information quickly, trying to simplify a complex world, but that often lead to incorrect or distorted judgments.
These biases are influenced by emotions, previous experiences, social contexts and cognitive limitations.
List of the most common cognitive biases
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Confirmation bias:
- We tend to seek, interpret and remember information that confirms our previous beliefs, ignoring or dismissing what contradicts them.
- Example: You only read news that supports your political opinion.
- We tend to seek, interpret and remember information that confirms our previous beliefs, ignoring or dismissing what contradicts them.
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Anchoring bias (first impression):
- We give too much importance to the first information we receive (the "anchor") when making decisions.
- Example 1: If you see a product with a high initial price, a subsequent discount will seem like a great offer, even if it is not.
- Example 2: If someone accuses another person of a crime, it is very difficult to remove that image even if evidence to the contrary is presented.
- We give too much importance to the first information we receive (the "anchor") when making decisions.
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Group bias (us vs. them):
- We favor members of our group (by race, nationality, ideology, etc.) and distrust or discriminate against those outside.
- Example: Feeling that your sports team is superior to others without objective evidence.
- We favor members of our group (by race, nationality, ideology, etc.) and distrust or discriminate against those outside.
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Dunning-Kruger Effect:
- People with less knowledge about a topic tend to overestimate their competence, while experts may underestimate themselves.
- Example: Someone with little experience in economics believes they perfectly understand the market.
- Note: Professionals stake their prestige on the opinions they give, which makes them often reluctant to answer complex questions. Someone who has nothing at stake does not have that problem.
- People with less knowledge about a topic tend to overestimate their competence, while experts may underestimate themselves.
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Negativity bias:
- We pay more attention to negative information than to positive.
- Example 1: Remembering a criticism more than a compliment.
- Example 2: Bad facts are more easily remembered than good ones.
- We pay more attention to negative information than to positive.
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Conformity bias :
- It is a psychological tendency in which a person adapts their opinions, beliefs or behaviors to align with those of a group or the majority, even when they know or suspect that those points of view are incorrect or not well founded.
- This phenomenon occurs due to social pressure or the desire to be accepted, avoid conflicts or fit into an environment
- It is a psychological tendency in which a person adapts their opinions, beliefs or behaviors to align with those of a group or the majority, even when they know or suspect that those points of view are incorrect or not well founded.
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Cognitive dissonance :
- When someone defends a failed idea to avoid the discomfort of admitting an error.
There are many more cognitive biases, which we do not detail here.
Where is the weakness then?
The weakness is in 2 points:
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In the fact that the faster emotional/instinctive brains tend to IMPOSE and COMPETE for their responses not giving room to our neocortex (slower and reasoning) to react.
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If we add to this the cognitive biases, our reasoning is even more complicated
These weaknesses are especially used by people who want to manipulate others, in the following way:
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always leading the conversation to the emotional or instinctive side, generating fear, repulsion or anger.
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Ex:
- What does that person make you feel?
- What do you feel when you hear such news?,
- This situation scares me a lot, etc.
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When the questions could have been formulated like this:
- What is the reason why that person behaves like that?
- What are the reasons why these events happened?
- Is the situation really dangerous? If it is, let's find a solution, if not, let's discard it.
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forcing a quick response from the person, not allowing them to reason correctly.
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using all the cognitive biases they can
When a person is less accustomed to reasoning, the more instinctive they are, this makes them have a predisposition to believe that instinct and feelings are rational responses.
As a person gets used to reasoning, whether by going to school (primary, secondary, tertiary, university), by having lived bad experiences from letting themselves be carried away by their emotions or by jobs with certain difficulty, they get used to giving less importance to the instinctive/emotional response giving more room to reason.
This makes people with less education easier targets for manipulators, with hate and fear being one of the easiest emotions to generate.
A wise person always knows that they should not trust their first impressions, but rather give time for a better analysis.
- A person who wants to explain a truth always speaks to reasoning, allowing the necessary time for each person to make a correct analysis of a situation.
On this site we will always speak to your reasoning.
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Last updated: 2026-04-30
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