Biological Instincts

intermediate4 min readneuroscience · business · psychology · biology

Defensive reactions can begin before deliberate thought. Parrish uses territory, hierarchy, and self-preservation to explain reactions such as guarding information or asserting status, and urges readers to notice when those reactions work against their goals.

THE IDEA

Biological Instincts

Biological instincts can be powerful. They influence us often without us even knowing. Failing to come to terms with them only makes you more susceptible to their influence.

If you’re having trouble understanding why you sometimes react to situations in the worst possible way, the problem isn’t your mind. Your mind is doing exactly what biology programmed it to do: act quickly and efficiently in response to threats, without wasting valuable time thinking.

If someone breaks into your house, you instinctively stand between them and your kids. If someone approaches you with a menacing expression, you tense up. If you sense your job is at risk, you might unconsciously start hoarding information. Your animal brain believes you can’t be fired if you’re the only one who knows how to do your job. Biology, not your rational mind, told you what to do.

When our unthinking reactions make situations worse, that little voice in our head starts to beat us up: “What were you thinking, you idiot?” The truth of the matter is, you weren’t thinking. You were reacting, exactly like the animal you are. Your mind wasn’t in charge. Your biology was.

Some automatic responses have biological roots, though learning and circumstances also shape them.fn1 Those tendencies often served our prehistoric ancestors well, but they tend to get in our way today. These timeless behaviors have been described and discussed by philosophers and scientists from Aristotle and the Stoics to Daniel Kahneman and Jonathan Haidt.1

For instance, like all animals, we are naturally prone to defend our territory.2 We might not be defending a piece of terrain on the African savanna, but territory isn’t just physical, it’s also psychological. Our identity is part of our territory too. When someone criticizes our work, status, or how we see ourselves, we instinctively shut down or defend ourselves. When someone challenges our beliefs, we stop listening and go on the attack. No thoughts, just pure animal instinct.

We’re naturally wired to organize the world into a hierarchy. We do this to help make sense of the world, maintain our beliefs, and generally feel better. But when someone infringes on our place in the world and our understanding of how it works, we react without thinking. When someone cuts you off on the highway and road rage kicks in, that’s your unconscious mind saying, “Who are you to cut me off?” You’re reacting to a threat to your inherent sense of hierarchy. On the road we are all equals. We’re all supposed to play by the same rules. Cutting someone off violates those rules and implies higher status.fn2 Or consider when you get frustrated with your kids and end an argument with “Because I said so.” (Or the office equivalent: “Because I’m the boss.”) In these moments you’ve stopped thinking and regressed to your biological tendencies of reaffirming the hierarchy.

We’re self-preserving. Most of us would never intentionally push someone else down to get where we want to go.fn3 The key word here is “intentionally,” because intention involves thought. When we’re triggered and not thinking, our desire to protect ourselves first takes over. When layoffs loom at a company, otherwise decent people will quickly throw each other under the bus to keep a job. Sure, they wouldn’t consciously want to hurt their colleagues, but if it comes down to “them versus me,” they will ensure they come out on top. That’s biology.

Our biological instincts provide an automatic response without conscious processing. After all, that’s what they’re for!

Conscious processing takes both time and energy. Rapid responses can help an organism avoid danger without pausing to deliberate. Human social life also involves status, territory, and cooperation, but that does not make every workplace reaction a fixed evolutionary program. An impulse to protect yourself may conflict with a rule or commitment you would otherwise choose to honor.

The problem occurs when you zoom in from the aggregate to the individual, from the eons of evolution to the present moment of decision. Many modern disagreements are not immediate threats to survival, even when they provoke a strong defensive response. In those moments, reacting before thinking can weaken our position and make the problem harder to resolve.

When to use it

Managing workplace conflict by recognizing defensive territorial reactions.
Improving parenting by distinguishing between instinctual authority assertion and rational guidance.
Navigating organizational change (like layoffs) with awareness of self-preservation instincts to promote fairness.
Avoiding road rage by noticing anger and a sense of insult before acting on them.

FROM THEORY TO EVERYDAY LIFE

In practice

Defending Against a Threat

A person may move between an intruder and their children or tense up when someone approaches menacingly. Such reactions can begin before deliberate thought; they do not guarantee safety.

Hoarding Information at Work

When your job feels threatened, you might hoard information in the hope of becoming indispensable. That defensive reaction can undermine collaboration and the trust that would help you keep the job.

Road Rage

Being cut off on the highway can feel like an insult as well as a danger. Parrish interprets the angry response partly as a reaction to threatened status. Noticing that interpretation may help you pause before retaliating.

“Because I Said So”

Ending an argument with your children or employees by saying “Because I said so” or “Because I’m the boss” asserts authority without explaining the reason for a decision.

Layoffs and Self-Preservation

When layoffs loom, some people may undermine colleagues to protect their own jobs. Fear helps explain the temptation, but it neither makes that response inevitable nor removes responsibility for it.

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A MOMENT TO REFLECT

Put it to work.

Think of a recent situation where you reacted defensively without thinking. What biological instinct might have been triggered?
How can you recognize when your brain is operating on instinct versus deliberate thought in a high-stakes work environment?
In what ways do modern social structures amplify our instinctual territorial and hierarchical drives?