Last update: May 15, 2017
Rodolfo Llinas is a Colombian neuroscientist who has devoted most of his life to studying the brain. He directed NASA's NEUROLAB program and is currently director of the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at New York University. Some time ago he gave an interview that surprised many because of the map he drew on the concepts of fidelity, love and happiness.
From a neurological point of view, his statements demonstrate what many intuited from common sense, experience or observation of human behavior. The scholar states that the brain is a closed system, "perforated" only by feelings. It tells us that its functioning has a certain analogy with that of a computer, with the difference that the brain has plasticity and creativity: it modifies, feeds and changes.
"Fidelity is the effort of a noble soul to equal another soul greater than itself."
-Goethe-
According to his extensive and in-depth studies of the brain, Llinás tells us that the intellectual structure is based on the emotional sphere. First the emotion, then the reason. We form the ideas of the world not so much starting from reasoning, but from what we feel. Love occupies a prominent place and fidelity is typical of the most intelligent, according to his words.
Fidelity and intelligence
Rodolfo Llinás says that the emotional area of ​​the brain is one of the oldest. It was the first to develop. In his words: “it is the so-called reptilian brain where there are only stereotyped reactions and movements. For this reason, they approach or and leave if they want food; they attack if they want to defend themselves and have sex if they want to reproduce ”.
Love originates in the same area, but involves different physiological functions. Love, says Llinás, is like candy. And whoever is in love becomes greedy. He longs to have more and more love from the person he loves. He also adds that "no one dies from excess of love".
Love, says the scholar, is not like doing gymnastics, but it is like dancing, from a physiological point of view. With regard to the so-called "eternal love" tells us: "It is typical of the intelligent, who structure and shape patterns of fixed actions based on the concept that one sees the other as one's hand; taking care of it is my responsibility and vice versa. Knowing that I won't get a stab in the back is the norm ”.
Fidelity helps not to waste emotional or intellectual energy unnecessarily. The more intelligent the human being is, the more he is oriented towards the great concerns of humanity, he puts aside situations that destabilize his life or invests energy for more complex actions. Llinás concludes by saying that eternal love is an endless dance of neurons between two intelligent people.
Studies on intelligence and fidelity
Rodolfo Llinás is not the only one to have talked about the relationship between intelligence and fidelity. A study conducted by Dr. Satoshi Kanazawa, a specialist in developmental psychology, has come to a similar conclusion. In his research he points out that men with higher intellectual coefficients (above 106) give a greater value to couple fidelity. In women it's different: everyone values ​​them, regardless of their level of intelligence.
The study indicates that monogamy is a higher stage of human evolution. In the beginning, the human being was closely linked to the instinctive behavior of the mammal. This led him to polygamy. However, both in the history of humanity and in the individual history of each man, monogamy seems to imply a higher evolutionary level.
Indeed infidelity has as a condition a lot of free time and a strong emotional predisposition to conflict. When much of our time is occupied, it is more difficult to waste some of it on the intrigues and strategies associated with infidelity. You don't even have a lot of emotional energy to pay the price of covertly avoiding getting caught and wearing a false mask.
It is much smarter to establish a relationship and make it grow than it is to move from one relationship to another. Monogamy gives great satisfaction, it is not a sacrifice. Like any valuable human situation, it requires effort. However, it brings us much more. If the individual life focuses on great goals, surely a life partner is a great treasure. Conversely, if life focuses on banality, a stable relationship hinders this futility and lack of transcendence.
Images courtesy of Leonid Afremov
