AMYGDALA DILEMA: An Artistic Reflection on the Economics of Fear

For this workshop we used an abstract painting exercise as an instrument for conceptual sense-making to create deeper levels of interdisciplinary inquiry into the subject of fear and facilitate collaboration between dissimilar groups, fostering an appreciation for diverse and pluralistic points of view.

As the war in Ukraine unfolds, global uncertainty has surged. But uncertainty is a nebulous concept. It reflects uncertainty in the minds of consumers, managers, and policymakers about future events (that may or may not happen). It is also a broad concept relating to macro phenomena like GDP growth and micro phenomena like the growth rate of firms, elections, wars, and climate change. 

Psychology and neuroscience tell us that uncertainty instantly arouses our fight-or-flight reaction. It fires up our amygdala. Our survival brain will do almost anything for the sake of certainty because we are hardwired to overestimate threats and underestimate our ability to handle them. But recent research in the field of neuro-economics is providing evidence that not all amygdalae are created equal, and as a consequence, some of us respond more cooperatively and manage our fear by taking a longer view on risk, whilst others respond more individualistically and seek short term remedies to attend to economic anxieties. 

Benefits for participants:

• improved visual literacy and confidence around how to integrate art into one’s own research

• cultivation of creativity through cross pollination of ideas, observation, active listening, and experimentation

• access to collective intelligence and shared meaning

• a deeper understanding of the impact fear has on individual choice/decision-making and how this connects to the broader socio-environmental-economic paradigm.

Collective Painting made by participants: A HUMAN HIVE