The Neuroscience of Sin! Why do we do it?


	The Neuroscience of Sin! Why do we do it?

ronhuxley

10-17-2009 9:52 AM

58 views

tags:

anger, brain, envy, lust, morality, neuroscience, pride, seven deadly sins, sin, sloth

ronhuxley says:

Reading this article made me think of the proverbial "chicken and the egg." The article suggests that we sin because our brains are evolutionarily designed to do so. This leaves us to conclude that you cannot manage sin as it is hardwired in. I don't agree with that. I think sin is the chicken! The article does a great job of illustrating how various emotions and motives play out in the brain not the other way around. The good news is the very last paragraph. Read it for yourself...enjoy!

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The more social sins (pride, envy, lust, wrath) recruit the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), brain terrain just behind the forehead, which helps shape the awareness of self.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://discovermagazine.com/2009/sep/05-i-didn.t-sin-it-was-my-brain">When it comes to lust, neuroimaging confirms that the prurient urge is all-encompassing</blockquote><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://www.clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/images/clip-icon.gif" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://discovermagazine.com/2009/sep/05-i-didn.t-sin-it-was-my-brain/article_view?b_start:int=1&-C=" href="http://discovermagazine.com/2009/sep/05-i-didn.t-sin-it-was-my-brain/article_view?b_start:int=1&-C=" style="font-size: 11px;">discovermagazine.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://discovermagazine.com/2009/sep/05-i-didn.t-sin-it-was-my-brain/article_view?b_start:int=1&-C="><STRONG>PRIDE</STRONG></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://discovermagazine.com/2009/sep/05-i-didn.t-sin-it-was-my-brain/article_view?b_start:int=1&-C=">it takes less mental energy to puff ourselves up than to think critically</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/2DA9C091-8159-44DE-AD8C-495171C4EB9B/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>