I have been flummoxed by the Michael Richards (Kramer of Seinfeld fame) racial tirade that commanded so much TV time a couple of years ago. To refresh your memory, Richards was heckled by Afro-Americans in the audience and he responded by calling attention to their race in a most undesirable manner. I believe that Richards was a victim of his alter ego (Freud’s id ?), a malevolent understudy that many of us similarly exhibit but manage (sometimes with difficulty) to control.
I have taught human physiology at the university level for 35 years and, though admittedly not claiming to be an expert in neurophysiology, am quite familiar with a condition known as Alien Hand Syndrome. When I first began to refer to it in my classes, it was met with disbelief by my students until I showed them a film detailing this perplexing syndrome. The syndrome suggests that there is a second individual lurking in our brain, normally subdued by a dominant personality which is our usual day-to-day self. There is a suggestion that each side of the brain has an expressive personality, with the dominant hemisphere usually winning the day.
How often have you been indecisive? When does choosing a meal selection at a restaurant become a struggle? Why is it so difficult to choose the less enjoyable activity (work before pleasure) despite the fact that reason suggests it is the correct courses of action? These moments of indecision, I believe, are examples of the submissive self, desperately trying to convince the dominant personality of its choices, plans, likes and dislikes.
The two hemispheres of the brain communicate through a band of neuronal connections known as the corpus callosum. Dramatic, experimental surgeries to cut the corpus callosum as a means of alleviating debilitating epileptic seizures and thus segregating the two hemispheres of the brain often leave the subject with two personalities, vying for attention. As crazy as it sounds, the normally submissive hemisphere consequently is able to assert itself without being inhibited by the dominant hemisphere, sometimes with bizarre results.
There have been a number of documented cases of individuals with split brain surgery who “lose” voluntary control of one of their hands. These patients have attempted to strangle themselves in their sleep or jerked the steering wheel of the car in an attempt to cause a crash. Sometimes, just getting dressed or eating a meal becomes an ordeal as the two personalities are counter-productive, unbuttoning a shirt with one hand as fast as the opposing hand is buttoning it, or knocking the food off a fork, as the opposing hand is guiding it toward the mouth. Even exiting a room is problematic with one hand slamming the door as the other opens it. (I know this sounds unbelievable, but google Alien Hand Syndrome to satisfy your doubts.)
I believe that some behavior described as antics, frivolities, insensitivies and even serious crimes can be explained as consequences of inner, submissive personalities coming to the fore. How many times have you heard, as an afterthought of a mass killing, a neighbor saying, “he seemed like such as ordinary guy”? How about the gentle, carefree fellow who becomes a raging tiger after getting drunk?……or the comedian who blasts into a racially-charged fury over heckling? In each of those circumstances, I believe, an inner personality which may have been programmed during the formative years, has been lurking just below the surface, waiting for an opportunity to emerge.
Why does it emerge? The cause may be stress which inhibits neuronal pathways which, when active, keep the hulking brute hidden in the submissive hemisphere at bay. The mass killer may be triggered by the “last straw”, which ignites the smoldering, heretofore inhibited alter ego (Freud’s id?). The drunk’s drink serves to directly inhibit pathways. And…….Richard’s alter ego, tainted by the racial insensivities that purvey our everyday lives, may have seen its opportunity and leaped at its chance to express itself.
Interesting proposal. If verified by the scientific method, this would open an expansion of the field of neurology and hopefully enable effective treatments to be discovered. I hope the medical community engages.
Hi, This phenomenon has been known since the 1960s. I can’t think of any controlled experiment that can be construed in order to verify its role in destructive or mischievous behavior. In fact, if it were to be scientifically proven to be valid and the courts accepted its validity, it would be open up Pandora’s box as far jurisprudence is concerned. Guilty as a consequence of inability to control an alter ego???? I presented this essay as an interesting explanation for aberrant behavior. I don’t expect any one in authority to accept it as a fact. Though the occurences are true and the cause (disruption of the corpus callosum) a fact , it is far too unbelievable for the neurologically uninitiated to accept.
In the Iroquois Creation myth the first tow men are twins, one good and the other evil. The good obedient twin is pushed over the edge by his evil brother. Not only does the good twin kill his evil brother but when his grandmother berates him for the deed, he also kills her in a fit of rage. The dominanat Iroquois culture knew of this syndrome and had other rituals that mirrored Fredian dream therapy hundreds of years before Freud.
Very interesting Rich. We often overlook the melding of different concepts from different disciplines.
Understanding the brain is extremely challenging. The brain itself is largely insensitive to pain. Consequently, neurosurgeons may perform brain surgery with no anesthesia or very light anesthesia which keeps the patient in a state of consciousness in order to answer questions that will guide the hand of the surgeon into specific areas. A tiny electrical shock precisely placed may convince the patient that the surgeon has touched his thumb when in actuality, the surgeon has only activated the neurons which would fire if his thumb actually was touched. This phenomenon can be used by the surgeon to have the patient sense the taste of chocolate or recall some long hidden memory of childhood as well as innumerable other examples. I believe that misfirings or “neural short circuits” may explain many events in people’s lives that defy belief. The individual who hears voices may have misfirings in neurons any where along the pathway from the ears to the auditory interpretive area of the brain. I am guessing that those misfirings can be the result of anything from embryonic hardwiring errors to reduced blood flow to a specific area as a consequence of aging arteries to the use of pharmaceuticals, either legal or illegal or perhaps simply stress. Both prosecutors and defense attorneys are aware of just how malleable the memories of eye witnesses can be.
We sometimes are chauvinistic about current thought versus concepts proposed by individuals years, centuries or even millenia before. Though people, long dead, were not able to validate their thoughts with the research findings since then, that does not make their contributions any less valuable. Obviously, we still read and value the teachings of Socrates, Plato, Confuscious, Buddha, Mohammed and Christ to name a few.