Re: [UUPoly-L] Neuroscience, Insanity, and Comprehension

[Amanda Birmingham <lists@imladris.com>]

Hi, Fritz,
I very much enjoyed your emails on the topic of limerence, and I think 
that the two statements below really highlight the best reason for 
talking about this effect:
> Realize that we are all capable of being monsters just as much as we 
> are all capable of being in love.
<snip>
> Can we overcome this? Well, certainly not if we are in denial about 
> its power!

Acknowledging it doesn't excuse it, nor perhaps does it do much to help 
people who are already in its throes.  However, it may well help us the 
*next* time we wander into that state--we might recognize it for what 
it is and be able to rally our conscious mind to our aid.  I am 
thinking here of the famous and disturbing Milgram experiments that 
showed humans tend to be extremely obedient to authority, even when 
that authority commands them to do something against their own morals.  
The experiments are horrifying--but additional work by Steven Sherman 
indicated that when similar scenarios were repeated with subjects who 
had thought ahead of time about being put in such a situation, the 
outcomes were significantly different: most were unwilling to act 
against their morals when told.  In other words, being informed and 
thoughtful about our own tendencies and limitations may help us to 
overcome them (this effect may also have had something to do with our 
psychological urge toward consistency, but I say take your silver 
linings where you can get them :)

Amanda