E1: The Conditions of Being Human - Learn to Love and Hack your Caveman Brain

The Breakout Booth

Alexis and Kori Linn, a life and career coach, discuss the ways our bodies and brains react to the world - often in ways that don't serve us. They explore several human reflexes and behaviors that are rooted in our evolutionary history but can hinder us in our modern lives.

Alexis explores the concept of stress response, a natural human reflex that is sometimes called the amygdala hijack, highlighting the 4 primary types of reactions a person can experience when they encounter a threatening situation:

1. Fight: attacking or taking aggressive actions toward a perceived threat
2. Flight: running away from or actively avoiding a perceived threat
3. Freeze: a person's body "plays dead" in a distressing situation, effectively suggesting the person poses no danger to the perceived threat
4. Fawn: making an appeal to a perceived threat to prevent harm

Kori then discusses several tricky human behaviors, including negativity bias, people-pleasing, and the arrival fallacy. Later, Alexis and Kori describe several "human hacks" you can use in your favor, such as the doorway effect, do-overs, too small to fail, and pausing during a stress response.

Throughout the episode, Alexis and Kori share personal stories and emphasize that while these human responses are inevitable, understanding them can help us navigate our lives more effectively.

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In this episode:

• [1:05] Uncovering natural human physiological responses
• [6:56] What is a stress response?
• [8:10] Four primary stress responses: Fight, Flight, Freeze, Fawn
• [11:00] The “amygdala hijack” interrupts rational thinking
• [16:21] How to complete the stress response cycle
• [19:00] Kori Linn: welcome and background
• [24:04] Hidden trap: Negativity Bias
• [35:24] Fawning is a relational stress response
• [42:41] Hidden trap: The Arrival Fallacy
• [49:31] Hacks: Doorway Effect, Do-overs, Too Small to Fail

Find Kori:

• Satisfied AF podcast: Apple | Spotify
• Kori's Website
• Get Kori's Newsletter
• Instagram

References:

• See for yourself: Fearless honey badger takes on 6 lions!

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Chapters

1. E1: The Conditions of Being Human - Learn to Love and Hack your Caveman Brain (00:00:00)

2. Uncovering natural human physiological responses (00:01:05)

3. What is a stress response? (00:06:56)

4. Four primary stress responses: Fight, Flight, Freeze, Fawn (00:08:10)

5. The “amygdala hijack” interrupts rational thinking (00:11:06)

6. How to complete the stress response cycle (00:16:21)

7. Kori Linn: welcome and background (00:19:00)

8. Hidden trap: Negativity Bias (00:24:04)

9. Fawning is a relational stress response (00:35:24)

10. Hidden trap: The Arrival Fallacy (00:42:41)

11. Hacks: Doorway Effect, Do-overs, Too Small to Fail (00:49:31)