The drive to defend

The drive to defend, to achieve security, is activated by perceived threats to any or all of the three other drivers. It too has its darker side. At a mild level we are talking about resistance to change, and then there follows a steady escalation to withdrawal, to flight or to fight back. Our biological response is especially interesting, because it is different for men and women.

A million years ago the male challenger would have been an obvious one – an unexpected sabre–toothed tiger suddenly attacking us. There was scope only to feign death, to fight or to flee. Hence the massive rush of adrenalin as the threat was perceived. But in today″s office world, the choices of reaction are nowhere near so simple. The average executives can neither punch their boss″s lights out, nor can they run. The threats they face too are different – they inhabit the world of bullying, in–fighting, scape–goating, blame and denial. The 21st century office–bound male has no reasonable scope to fight or flee. Instead he can only suppress his feelings. The adrenalin rush takes place because the primeval biological reaction is unstoppable. The stressed male is without an outlet, feeling threatened and vulnerable, without any understanding of his situation, feeling a failure. They close in on themselves, shun others, and then go into a spiral of denial, feelings of worthlessness and decreasing energy. Men have four times the suicide rate of women. The biological adrenalin response, valid one million years ago, is of little use today. In fact it is worse than that – it is a killer. Small amounts of adrenalin leaking regularly into the body destroy the immune system. This is the root cause of the high death rate of male executives within three years of retirement.

In summary, the 21st century male is biologically ill–equipped to defend himself or to deal with the threat and fears peculiar to this century and to his workplace.

Less so 21st century woman. A landmark UCLA study has turned decades of work on stress upside–down. It appears that most previous research had been on men. However, Dr Laura Klein has shown that women″s inheritance is to generate the hormone oxytocin as part of their response to stress. Far from becoming solitary, this encourages them to gather with other women instead. This befriending in turn encourages more oxytocin, creating a calming effect and a virtuous spiral. Oestrogen, it seems, only enhances the effect. The calming and befriending, in stark contrast to the male experience, lowers blood pressure, heart rate and cholesterol. Women are encouraged to befriend and to bond, and it is their friendships that help them to live longer.

We men, by the way, are also capable of generating oxytocin. We do so most frequently when our heads are stroked by the woman we love, we feel that tingling, warm and calming sensation that spreads throughout our bodies. We often get the same sensation from a gentle massage. By and large, most of us would live longer if we indulged ourselves this way far more. We would probably have happier marriages too!

Defending has its dark side. We have already seen how Montgomery dealt with the perceived threats of his American allies and "defended" his position by refusing to accept the clear justification for a change of plan. Defending learning can even take the form of an international conspiracy to turn a blind eye to the truth. Let's take Christianity's view of the Creation. Simon Winchester's book, The Map that Changed the World tells the story of the first true geological map. Created by William Smith and dated August 1 1815, today it hangs over one of the grand staircases within the east wing of Burlington House in London's Piccadilly. William Smith's story is well worth reading in its own right. For our purposes, its importance is that it formed the first challenge in the West to the dogmatic belief that the world was created 4004 years before Christ. To be precise, James Usher, Bishop of Armagh, had "proved" that God created the world in one swift movement at 9.00am on Monday October 23 4004BC, and Usher's proof ruled the unthinking world of Christianity. As a result fish fossils were at the top of mountains "because God put them there".

It was William Smith's pioneering work that led to the study of geology and a fresh period of intellectual challenge. Without William Smith there might have been no Darwin. Defending our beliefs, even in the face of objective and evidenced challenge, is one aspect of a dark side that culminates in war.

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