How The Brain’s Guilt Area Works

The brain’s area of ​​guilt is related to feelings of guilt and shame in a very closely linked way. However, it has been proven that these areas are not activated in some people. Not surprisingly, this is the case with narcissists and those who find no problem lying to, and attacking, others.

The brain’s debt area does not seem to work the same way in everyone. Although most people have the ability to feel an effectable guilt, this is an area of ​​the brain that is hardly even activated in others. This can be the case, for example, with narcissists or genuinely violent individuals.

First of all, we need to understand the very interesting features of debt. It’s an important feeling. Despite the fact that we associate guilt with something negative (Fischer, Shaver and Carnochan, 1990), it is in fact the case that this feeling helps us to control our social behavior.

The debt burden encourages us to act as we should. In this way we can learn how to avoid debt and can remember this throughout our lives. However, it is not a guarantee that we will completely avoid experiencing some extensive failures, as debt is one of the most difficult emotions to deal with.

Sigmund Freud said that people resort to sophisticated defense mechanisms to protect themselves from guilt. This is because the negative thoughts about what we have done or not done are complicated to deal with. But we still feel pain, which means we have a conscience. However, this is a feeling that some people can neither acknowledge nor accept. They choose to deny reality rather than accept their own fault; pride in a nutshell.

Where is the brain’s fault area?

In 2019, we witnessed a new massacre: the attack on the two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. The man responsible for it posted the attack on social media. Not only did he seek the greatest number of victims, but, as he explained in his manifesto, it was an endeavor to continue his work and also inspire others.

Something that is really noticeable in this man is his absolute coldness. As in a video game, this person shot everyone who came in his way without an ounce of guilt. The brutality, the lack of conscience and not even a trace of guilt for what they have done is more than obvious among these individuals. What is going on in this type of individual? Are there areas in the brain that can explain this behavior?

Orbital cortex

Monash University conducted a study of video games with violent content. Pascal Molenberghs, responsible for the study, wanted to investigate which area of ​​the brain is related to guilt. With the help of a magnetic X-ray, he wanted to see what happened to the subjects when they played a video game in which they killed many people.

The brain scan showed a lack of neuronal activity in the orbital cortex. This matched perfectly with previous work done by Gerhard Roth. This author studied the brains of murderers, rapists and other criminals in a prison to investigate what happened in their brains.

The results were clear. In fact, Roth proclaimed that this was the fault region of the brain. The prisoners showed hardly any activity at all in the orbital cortex. However, those who suffer from debt show activity in this area. Sometimes this lack of activity can be due to the presence of a tumor. In most cases, it is not clear why this happens. What is also not clear is the causality behind it.

Some psychologists believe that a continuous exposure to violence sometimes affects this area of ​​the brain. This may explain the behavior of the killer in New Zealand, who claimed that his violence was partly due to his passion for video games.

Feeling guilty makes us human

Debt is related to shame. Although both of these emotions make us feel uncomfortable, they also motivate us to get better to alleviate the discomfort.

Actually, all of this is positive. This is the core that makes us human and social beings who want to improve the lives of others and for ourselves. However, this psychobiological aspect is not equally present in psychopaths, narcissists or people who can harm others without feeling remorse.

These people choose not to reflect on their mistakes or feel empathy for the people they have hurt. Of course, this is somewhat frightening, but in the end we have to accept reality. Unfortunately, there are many people like Brenton Tarrant, the attacker in Christchurch. Unfortunately, there are whole ideologies and world movements that advocate a dehumanization of the perceived enemy, and the proportion of individuals who choose to give up critical thinking in order to join them can be counted in many millions. But to understand is preferable to clinically condemning.

The dark mind that Gerhard Roth talked about is something that really exists. The brain’s debt area does not work the same way for all of us. In the end, we have no one to blame but ourselves for who we have chosen to be.