Gordon Gee Might Still Have His Job if He Consumed More Sugar
We all think that we have complete control over both our decision making and over what comes out of our mouths. Consequently, we are all mistaken, as our brains are affected by a lot more than just our conscious control over them. Many will be surprised to learn that all of our decisions, as well as all the things we say, are heavily influenced by both outside forces and normal automatic mechanisms in our brains.
Take the case of Ohio State University president Gordon Gee, who is 69 years old (at the time of this writing). His offensive comments (made during a meeting of Ohio State’s Athletic Council on Dec. 5 of 2012) that recently came to light, caused him to step down from his position at Ohio State. Previously, Gee apologized for saying that coordinating the school’s many divisions was like running the Polish army, a remark that a Polish-American group called bigoted.
Starting at about the age of 50, your brain starts losing its ability to censor itself and deteriorates further with each passing year. The older you are, the more likely you are to make racist or otherwise offensive comments. In addition, the likelihood of your being able to censor these types of comments decreases the later it gets in the day. Studies have shown that when elderly people ingest sugar, the number of these types of outbursts diminishes. So, had Mr. Gee eaten a couple of donuts prior to talking, he may not have made all of those comments and he may still have his over two-million dollar a year job.
Based on the comments attributed to Mr. Gee, he certainly appears to be a bigoted person. Even if this flaw in the brain was responsible for his offensive comments, it is easy to argue that all the flaw did was allow his true feelings to emerge. However, that is not always the case. Anger and frustration can cause the same type of outburst – even in younger people without this flaw in their brain.
How many of you have ever thought or said hurtful, mean, or awful things to someone you love, like a parent or significant other, in the heat of the moment? I know I have. It’s fairly common for a frustrated teenager to think thoughts like these (and sometimes say) about their parent(s) “I hate you,” or “I wish you were dead,” when they don’t get their way. These statements do not mean that they secretly “despise you” or are “potential murderers.” It just means that they are mad at you and are trying to say something to shock you in hope of changing your mind. But unlike older people they are better at censoring those thoughts before blurting them out.
When the former co-star of the television show Seinfeld, Michael Richards (Kramer), launched into an angry tirade (which included the N-word and other offensive comments) directed at two African-American hecklers in the audience at the Laugh Factory, he was labeled a racist and it virtually ended his career. I am not saying he is not a racist, only he knows for sure, but I will point out that he lost his temper prior to lashing out, was in his late 50’s when it happened, and like a teenager, he resorted to the harshest most offensive comments that came to his mind.
So, just as you would not judge a teenager’s character solely by one outburst, it is not fair to judge Michael Richards’ based on that incident alone. After it happened, Richards seemed confused and said he didn’t know where those comments came from, but no one believed him. However, based on how our brains work, that was probably a true statement.
There are several other ways the brain overrides our conscious behavior that I will tackle in future entries. For now though, just realize that there are invisible currents that are always involved, and are beyond our awareness, that go into all of our decision making.
