I have to laugh sometimes at how I am just as much a victim of my reptilian brain as the next guy. The reptilian brain (or sometimes “reptile brain,” “lizard brain,” and “reptilian complex”) is the name given by 20th Century neuroscientist and brain researcher Paul MacLean (and also popularized by Carl Sagan) for the “system” in the brain that is responsible for a species’ typical instinctual behaviors, with particular involvement in aggression, dominance, territoriality, and ritual displays.
Research in neuroscience has found that while all the three sections of your brain—“new brain,” “middle brain,” and “reptilian brain”—communicate with each other, it is the reptilian brain that is—in the words of George W. Bush—“the Decider.”
Whereas the “new brain” thinks (processing rational data and sharing deductions with the other two brains), and the “middle brain” feels (processing emotions and “gut feelings” and also sharing its “discoveries” with the other two), the “reptilian brain” takes data from the others but retains the final decision making for itself.
It seems funny that the oldest and least adaptable part of your brain would be responsible for making the final call about such consequential matters as when to befriend a person, when to kick the crap out of them, or when to screw their brains out.
There is something of a “collective” reptilian brain, too, I think, one that is shared by the members of a culture, which can have a difficult time changing prevailing (and therefore comforting) attitudes. One example happened when the iconic television sitcom “I Dream of Jeannie” made its premiere in 1965.
As you undoubtedly know, the series (which ran with new episodes until 1970) starred Barbara Eden as a 2,000-year-old genie who is discovered by an astronaut (Larry Hagman), who in turn becomes her new master. As the series continued, “Jeannie” falls in love with “Master” and eventually marries him.
“Jeannie,” which ran on NBC, was created in response to the enormous success of “Bewitched,” which had debuted in 1964 on rival network ABC as the second-most-watched program in the U.S. “Bewitched,” of course, starred Elizabeth Montgomery in a sitcom about a witch who marries a mortal and tries to live as a normal suburban housewife.
Although both series were produced by Screen Gems (in a clever move to capture both sides of the “magic market”), the messages of the two programs couldn’t have been more different.
“Bewitched”—representing the more “modern” worldview—portrayed a strong female character (“Samantha Stevens”) who “chooses” to forsake her magical powers in order to live a normal life (over the strong objections of her “traditional” family). Although devious elements are constantly trying to destroy their bliss, Samantha and her husband inevitably overcome these forces, most often represented by Samantha’s mother, Endora. But these obstacles fall before Samantha’s strength of purpose, and even the antagonistic mother-in-law admits that the fact that her despised son-in-law “loves my daughter” is stronger magic than her disruptive hexes.
That may have been all well and good for the “middle brain”-dominant crowd of the mid-60s, but the “reptile” was alive and well across town at “Jeannie,” where the uniform of the day was ‘harem girl chic’ and where the inference was pretty clear: for every “master,” a slave.
Apparently even the “traditional” programming execs at Screen Gems weren’t convinced that the “enlightened” audiences of the day could take the show’s premise for long: In the book “Dreaming of Jeannie,” the story is told of how producer Sidney Sheldon wanted to film the program’s first season in color, but NBC wouldn’t pay for the added $400 per episode expense, since neither they nor Screen Gems thought the show would make it to a second season.
It’s enjoyable to poke fun at the prevailing attitudes of an earlier, less “forward thinking” time from the safety of our “enlightened” 21st Century perches. And while both “Bewitched” and “I Dream of Jeannie” will always hold a sentimental place in the hearts of people “of a certain age,” we might also take away from this reminiscence the knowledge that stereotypes, prejudices, and the “caveman” perspective don’t need any help from us to stay alive and kicking.
They have your reptile brain for that.
