http://www.cyberlepsy.com/love.

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A Philosophical
Physiology of Love
The heart has its reasons that reason cannot know. Many
a philosopher and poet have pondered one of our most
motivating emotionsloveoffering little towards the
understanding of this most compelling of experiences. While
psychology has been deeply involved in the effects of love
on humans, it is only recently that the biochemists and
physiologists have taken on the inner-workings one of the
most perplexing and life-altering experiences that humans
have.
Einstein once said, Marriage is the unsuccessful attempt to
make something lasting out of an accident. The newest
research would tend to concur with Einstein: Love is indeed
unintentional and involuntaryit just happens. This in no
way suggests that love, or marriage, is a mistake. What it
does imply is that love cannot be directed or controlled, is
sometimes aimed towards those who cannot return it, and
has the capacity to bring great joy or unbearable misery to
ones life. Romanticize love rather than understand its
physiological roots, its meaning, and its purpose, and you
risk losing your mind to it.
The heartthe feeling mindis in every respect as
influential in human decision-making as is logic and reason,
if not more so. There are anatomical, physiological, and
social reasons why this is so. Giving in to ones heart is not
necessarily a liability in creating a happy life, though
modern American society would have one believe it is a sign
of weakness or stupidity (except in advertising, where it is
used to manipulate and persuade us). As much as the
logical, reasoning, abstracting, left-hemisphered rational
mind is worshipped and groomed in higher education, we all
live most of our lives through our feeling, sensing,
emotionally-responsive mind. The emotional mind is where
our identities lie, where intuition and pre-logical impressions
give rise to new insights, where appreciation for beauty and
pleasure lie, and where we relate to other living things. The
feeling mind is most of who we are.
The most common fallacy of this day is: I think, therefore
everything I am is what I think. Astonishingly, most people
are usually aware of what they think (the internal

verbalizations), rather than what they feel. The most difficult

task a therapist has is getting a patient to describe his or
her own feelings. Many patients literally dont know what
they feelare cut off from their emotions; others simply find
describing them a daunting task. We use language to
attempt to transcribe our emotions to another, but much is
lost in the translation even for the most expressive of us.
(Language is, after all, a translation of what happens in the
brain, not the actual event). Worse, most people believe that
they can make themselves feel a certain way, can think
themselves into a different mood. Not so. A person cannot
direct, but only influence his/her emotional life. No one can
will him- or herself to love the right mate, to want the right
thing, or to be happy after a sad event. We humans
frequently castigate ourselves for our failure to will
emotional change, when in reality emotion cannot be
commanded and does not bend to will.
Anatomy Lesson
Evolutionary processes are responsible for how the human
brain is constructed and functions. Evolution does not
happen linearly, progressing along a predictable path. It is a
haphazard branching process in which recent developments
build atop older structures having more fundamental
functions, with each newer structure becoming ever more
complex, adding functions, altering the workings of previous
structures.
The human brain is a triune organ; three main evolutionary
levels of anatomy comprise it:
The reptilian brain (brainstem): primitive functions
reside here, such as the startle reflex, fear, sex,
territorialism, and ritualistic display. It is essential to all
automatic functions: heartbeat, breathing, thermostat,
swallowing, and visual tracking. The reptilian brain is the
oldest of the brains structures and is deep within the center
of the brain, a bulb of neurons atop the spinal cord.
The mammalian brain (limbic system): anger, love, joy,
sadness, shame, pride, happiness, mirth, separation anxiety,
etc. are processed here. This is where the identity
personhoodresides. The mammalian brain evolved after
the reptilian brain, neatly enveloping the bulb of the

brainstem. All mammals, and some birds, possess this

second stage of brain structure.
The neocortex (reasoning brain): abstraction (art,
representation, planning, strategy, symbols, language), free
will, communication, and complex skills are processed here.
The neocortex is the most recent structure, and is the
outermost layer of the brain. Higher mammals and humans
have a well-developed neocortex.
The chemistry of primal and recent brain systems is
different, evidenced by selective destruction of certain brain
cells with specific toxins that leave other structures
untouched. Because of this biochemical variance, these
three brains sometimes have competing interests,
creating disharmony and unease.
It is easy for humans to think of themselves as the pinnacle
of evolution. However, we are in no way the apex of
evolution; we are simply the most recent. We have not been
here very long. By far, Komodo dragons and beetles are
splendidly successful, and eons older than humans. Nature
has yet to show us that our particular kind of intelligence
has a decided evolutionary advantage. As evolution
continues, nature tries new things, makes many mistakes,
and succeeds at only a handful. Nature overproduces. It is
grandiose and wasteful in its attempt to ensure survival of
just the few who will prevail into new generations. It is quite
possible our triune brains may fail us. It is equally possible
that new structures will evolve that make complex brains
more adaptive than they are now.
What does this have to do with love? Everything. As a
mammalian trait, affectionate attachments have survival
advantagesnot only for mating purposes, but as a security
factor in communal living so common with most mammals
(including us). We are social animals, and that means very
much more than just getting help when we need it, or
reproducing. It means truly bonding with others in a way
that seems magical.
We share in common with most mammals, a capacity for
knowing and loving another that transcends reason, logic, or
free will. Our faculty for internally connecting with another

of our own kind, or even with a member of a different

species, derives from the structure and physiology of our
mammalian feeling brains. The emotional bond of
affectionate attachment is so overwhelming and consuming
as to be nearly miraculous. It is as close to mind reading and
psychic connection as wein common experiencecan get.
The capacity to love, rather than our cognitive skills, may be
the very thing that ensures our survival as a species.
Limbic Resonance
Our capacity to emotionally bond with another is mediated
through a phenomenon known to physiologists and
behaviorists as limbic resonance. Limbic resonance is the
tuning in to anothers internal state; it is the most reliable
way a mammal can know the emotional state of another
without the necessity of translation (facial expressions,
language). Limbic resonance occurs in all mammals, but is
absent in reptiles, fish, and most birds. It occurs through eye
contact, and the sensations multiply through mutual
recognition and the continual back and forth feedback. Two
nervous systems for an instant become in sync. Limbic
resonance is the foundation of the love at first sight
phenomenon, combined with other factors such as
programmed attractors described below. Limbic resonance
is responsible for that tickle in the pit of your stomach when
you look into the eyes of someone you adore. When you feel
that tickle, so does the other, and the feeling propagates
and augments the growing attraction, building the
affectionate attachment.
Because feelings can leap from mind to mind so to speak,
the absence of such feedback is disturbingas in meeting
someone you instantly dislike, and cant put your finger on
why. Many have lost their ability to fully emotionally
resonate with anotherbecoming insensitive, even cold
towards others in favor of reason and logic. People know
when they are liked, when others feel comfortable around
them. Likewise, a negative internal response from another
may be reflected back to them in ways we cannot fully
understand, and the feelings of discomfort, of dislike,
amplify. It is difficult to befriend or even like someone who
cannot resonate with you.
The limbic activity of others around us allows us to achieve

almost immediate congruenceit can be felt in a movie

theater, or as a surge of emotion as panic propagates
through a crowd. The ability to read anothers emotional
state is older than our own species, yet we distrust it,
devalue the sheer joy of being alone with another for the
pure experience of his or her inner state, and further isolate
ourselves. This is societys legacy of alienation and
loneliness, and we suffer immeasurably for it.
The inner state of others must matter to us. It is essential to
our survival and to our individual health more than most of
us are aware.
Limbic Regulation
The human is a social animal. Human sociability extends far
beyond the need for reproduction, for security in numbers,
or for commerce. Modern physiology research has
discovered that the human body is not a self-regulating,
closed-loop organism. Human physiology depends on limbic
resonance from others to achieve physiological balance.
Homeostasis derives from physiological synchronicity with
another. Heart and breathing rate, hormone levels, immune
response, sleep rhythms, blood pH, and neurochemistry are
influenced by the presence of another or several others, and
you in turn, regulate others. Human physiology does not
direct all of its own functions; it is interdependent. It must
be steadied by the physical presence of another. This is
necessary for both physical and emotional health. In many
ways, humans cannot be stable on their ownthey require
another to survive. Health and happiness mean finding
people who regulate you well, and staying near them. It is
the basis of communal living, and makes ostracism from any
social contact the cruelest of punishments. (Luckily, crossspecies attachments are equally as valid as human-tohuman ones, hence the well-documented benefits of
keeping pets.)
Limbic Revision
In a relationship, one mind revises the others; one heart
changes the others. We are capable of remaking the
emotional life of the one we love; and he or she remodels
us. Who we are and who we become depends in part on who
we love. Yet, we change emotionally over a lifetime,
sometimes growing closer and even more compatible;

sometimes becoming a stranger to those we were once so

attuned with. It is quite possible, that because of this mutual
limbic revision and a 50% chance of emotional drift, that
marriage is physiologically a 50-50 prospect. Statistically,
about 50% of marriages or long relationships tend to fall
apart at about the twenty-year mark. Those who divorce find
that staying with the alienated partner, is more lonely and
stressful than being with no one. It is quite possible that till
death do we part is too much to expect. True life-mates are
rare. If you find one, hold that person near for as long as you
can.
Surviving Incompatibility and Loss
Contact with loved ones raises natural opiate and seratonin
levels. Likewise, artificial increases of seratonin and opiates
greatly reduce the pain of losing someone or severing a
relationship. Those who need frequent surges of natural
opiates will require more contact with loved ones than those
who are less opiate-sensitive. This is yet another factor in
determining how compatible two people may bedo you
have the same needs for a rush of brain chemistry?
Mismatched chemistries can become a contest of wills,
wherein one requires cuddles while the other craves
solitude. The emotionally needy partner will feel neglected
and rejected; the more independent partner will feel
suffocated and controlled. Such discord can change the
brain chemistry of each partner to such an extent as to
destroy any feelings of love and dissolve an affectionate
attachment. One or both partners will be said to be in a
mood, a state of enhanced readiness to experience a
particular emotion. Someone who stays in a bad mood for a
long time has been repeatedly stimulated to experience a
single emotion, and he or she rides that swirling vortex for
weeks on end. The neocortex, with its ability to hypothesize,
stimulates the limbic brain to respond. The limbic brain,
unable to distinguish between fantasy and reality, responds
even when no real threat exists. In fact, brain scans reveal
that perception and imagination stimulate the exact same
brain areas. This means that your perceptions of your
partners intentions and behavior can rule how you respond
to your partner, regardless of your partners true intentions.
Memory and Emotion

Emotions do indeed color the recall of experience. If the

emotion is strong enough, it can inhibit opposing feelings so
completely as to make the memories of those opposing
emotions completely inaccessible. A person can effectively
change history in his own head. Rage can make a man strike
the woman he forgets he loves. Likewise, strong emotions
serve to amplify responses to nearly benign experiences:
past abuses can greatly amplify a response to an angry
expression; a mildly sad experience can cascade into a
nightmare of depression. Experience rewires the brain: what
it has experienced dictates what it can experience; how
much feeling was associated with past experiences
influences and perhaps amplifies subsequent similar
experiences, or even intimations of similar experiences.
Attractors and Love Attachments
Limbic resonance, limbic revision, and limbic recognition are
not the only factors influencing our love choices. Your
lifetime bonding experiences teach you how love works,
creates your attractors (those tiny behaviors or qualities in
others that you associated with love in your earliest years),
which in turn influences who you love. Given the pre-logical
character of the limbic system, love choices sometimes
make little sense. The neocortex isnt the brain making the
decision or guiding the heart.
Being in love with someone encompasses three
characteristics: the belief that this one person fits in a way
no one else can or will; the need for skin-to-skin closeness;
the urge to disregard all else. It is a kind of madness, and it
is temporary. Truly loving another necessitates knowing the
other through sustained and prolonged intimacy; sharing a
life, a mutuality of limbic resonance and regulation.
Staying in a relationship that deviates from ones ideal
model (the person who possesses the appropriate
attractors, resonates with us, and regulates us well) is living
in a disturbed isolation. It is the most miserable kind of
loneliness. Yet, most people will stay in a terrible
relationship with someone their limbic brain recognizes,
rather than be in a boringly pleasant relationship with a
kinder partner.
Unhealthy Attachments

People who require limbic revision (rather than simply

respond over time), usually have pathological attractors.
Negative incidents and behaviors become associated with
love. These people may pick fights or nag their mates for
the reward of making up, create unease through jealousy,
or do other negative things to keep the zest in the
relationship. These people drain others, and leach the life
out of those they love. They are so needy as to have nothing
whatsoever to give, but can only take through creating
discord and animosity. They are eternally unhappy, but not
for any particular reason. Healthier potential mates may
steer clear of someone they sense is perpetually unhappy.
These people can benefit most from the bond between
therapist and patient. Two people who require limbic revision
are the last two people who can help each other.
Loves Future
What we do inside relationships is the most important
aspect of life. Modern American life embraces activities and
attitudes that not only discourage limbic resonance and
love, but seek to destroy it.
The Internet is exemplary of the escalating syndrome of selfimposed isolation while engaged in seeking out contact with
others that cannot possibly benefit us physiologically if such
contact remains electronic. The Internet is often touted as a
global community, but we do not resonate with others.
When we are online, we are alone. This paradox occurs to
few; the consequences of such isolation has yet to be
studied and assessed.
The damaging affects of parental absence during infancy
through toddlerhood are well documented. Yet, society
devalues, even shames parents who choose to parent fulltime, rather than work outside the home. The incessant
drone of advertisements encourages getting love through
things rather than through other humans. Material gain and
social status become all-consuming, and relationships are
considered disposable to materialistic ideals. Only those
with the courage to reject Americas valuessocial status,
titles, expensive vacations, Madison Avenue physiques,
designer possessions everywherewill have a decent life in
creating time for loving others, and being loved in return.

Copyright 2001, Lily Splane

References:
Becker, Ernest. Escape from Evil, Free Press, 1975.
Dennett, Daniel. Consciousness Explained, Little,
Brown and Company, 1991.
Jaynes, Julian. The Origin of Consciousness in the
Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, Houghton Mifflin
Company, 1976.
Lewis, Thomas M.D., Amini, Fari, M.D., and Lannon,
Richard, M.D. A General Theory of Love, Random
House, 2000.
Morris, Desmond. Intimate Behaviour, Random House,
1971
Rand, Ayn. Philosophy: Who Needs It, Bobs-Merrill,
1982.
Russell, Bertrand. Philosophical Essays, Simon and
Schuster, 1967

Schneider, Allen M., and Tarshis, Barry. An Introduction

to Physiological Psychology, Random House, 1975

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3781/is_200204/ai_n9024457/pg_2
Teaching teens about sexual pleasure
Fay, Joe
Teaching teens about sexual pleasure remains a controversial issue. Yet there is a critical need
to make a case for the relationship between sexual pleasure and sexual health, to suggest how
educators can address the subject in the classroom, and to exhort them to overcome their
reticence and give this subject the attention it deserves.
We sexuality educators need to broaden our perspectives to include sexual pleasure as part of
the larger issue of body awareness. With this change, we can more easily recognize how our
culture's neglect of sexual pleasure is but one part, albeit a very important part, of our general
alienation from the body that gets to the very heart of the question: "What does it mean to be
fully human?"
CULTURAL DISEMBODIMENT
In a way that we too often take for granted, our "sensuality" defines our place in the cosmos
as biological beings. As author Diane Ackerman states in her eloquent book, A Natural History
of the Senses: "To begin to understand the gorgeous fever that is consciousness, we must try
to understand the senses-how they evolved, how they can be extended, what their limits are,
to which ones we have attached taboos, and what they can teach us about the ravishing world
we are privileged to inhabit."1
For two million years of human evolution, children have learned by directly interacting with
their natural environment. At every step along the way, their family of caring adults has taught
them the customs and survival skills of their tribe.2 During that time, many societies were
"embodied" in the natural world, with all of its joys and terrors. People may debate whether
life was either "nasty, brutish, and short,"3 or leisurely and idyllic.4 But there is no debate that
humans lived and evolved in a sensual world. Their very survival depended on their connection
to their senses. The experience of bodily pleasure and pain was a vibrant part of life because
that was how they learned.
They also bonded to their loved ones through their senses, especially the sense of touch. From
infancy onward, humans established and expressed their deepest connections through
hugging, holding, touching, and caressing. Countless studies have demonstrated that this
physical contact is essential for parent-child bonding. From Harry Harlow's famous monkey
experiments5 to current brain research, we have learned that touch deprivation leads to
attachment problems.6
In what deserves to be a landmark book, A General Theory of Love, writers Lewis, Amini, and
Lannon review recent research on the physiology of the limbic system, the part of the brain
that developed as mammals evolved from reptiles. These studies reveal the biological basis of

parent-child bonding and the critical role that parental proximity and touching play in
establishing patterns of emotional learning.7 Through "limbic resonance, regulation, and
revision," our brains establish our capacity for attachment and intimacy.8 Because we are
mammals, love is, at its biological core, a physical act. It is sensual.
Unfortunately, today's technological society can wreak havoc with a child's need for
attachment. Far-reaching ramifications include the inability to form healthy, intimate
relationships; the start of physical and emotional problems; and the search for substitute
meanings through addictive behavior.9
In our society, children are placed in day care programs where they are cut off from their
loved ones and the natural world of their senses for many hours of the day. They attend
schools where they often sit in enclosed areas without windows and with artificial light. They
are rewarded for quietly sitting in their seats, even though their brains are biologically
programmed to learn through direct interaction with nature.
Even worse, they often sit passively at home watching television for an average of four hours
each day,10 separated yet again from the direct experience of the world around them. Here
their brains receive stimuli, in a way unprecedented in human history, from a powerful source
whose purpose is not the child's well-being, but its own. In rapid bursts that shorten their
attention span,11 they absorb the corporate mantra of instant gratification and consumerism,
learning that satisfaction lies outside themselves and that pleasure comes from buying things.
Against this cultural backdrop is a political climate that sees sexuality as a problem to control
and exploit and that views sexual pleasure with trepidation. As sexuality educators, how
should we respond? How do we make the case for sexual health? How do we address
controversial issues? How do we make the connection between body alienation and deeper
spiritual issues? How do we use those insights to integrate the vital issue of sexual pleasure
into the framework of sexuality education?
BODY AWARENESS
Much of the controversy over the topic of sexual pleasure is due to our culture's narrow focus
on sexuality as genital sex. In workshops that I have conducted, participants have quickly
turned discussions on teaching teens about sexual pleasure to discussions on sexual behavior
and such "hot button" issues as sexual intercourse.
Sexual behavior and intercourse are worthy topics, but sexuality educators really need to start
discussions from the more holistic viewpoint that sexuality is more than sex and that sex is
more than intercourse. As author Beverly Whipple said in her article "Helping Girls Claim Their
Sexuality": "Sexuality is the totality of a person-physical, spiritual, social, emotional, cultural.
We have the capability of expressing our sexuality in a variety of ways, not just with our
genitals."12

Early education about sexual pleasure should involve teaching our children to enjoy and be
comfortable with their bodies. This begins at birth and continues through early childhood
largely by the way we hold and touch them and by how we nurture their growing body
awareness. Are we physically present to meet their biological need for bonding? Do we provide
warm hugs or are we cold and distant? Do we touch our male children as much as our female
children? Do we provide them with a stimulating environment that enhances all of their
senses? Do we help them to feel "at home" in their developing bodies? Do we ensure that
children get the physical activity and fresh air that they need? Do we create a "sensual" world
for our children?
Elementary education about body awareness can include a variety of traditional and
nontraditional programs. The possibilities include physical education, recreation and dance,
yoga, breathing exercises, guided imagery, meditation, and more. In all of them, we must
recognize the importance of teaching children about the senses and allowing them sufficient
time to explore the natural world around them. We must also help them to understand body
diversity-that healthy bodies come in all shapes and sizes. Most important, we must ensure
that they have sufficient time to bond with those they love.
During adolescence, teens often feel less connected to their bodies and senses because of
rapid physical changes. In addition, they become more focused on sexuality. At this time, we
much teach them about the many ways they can achieve bodily pleasure, including both
sexual and nonsexual alternatives to genital sex.
FEARS OF EDUCATORS
Why don't educators discuss sexual pleasure? In conducting workshops on this topic, I have
found that the primary reason is fear. This fear includes three components reflected by these
remarks:
* "I'm afraid of saying something that will be harmful to the child."
* "I'm afraid of saying something that will jeopardize the program."
* "I'm afraid of saying something that will get me in trouble or even cost me my job."
These fears result in a form of censorship because many educators simply avoid the topic due
to a lack of clear direction or support. This is by far the most subtle and pervasive form of
censorship in sexuality education programs. It is not imposed by an outside authority but
occurs inside the minds of the educators themselves. Teens are prevented from learning from
each other because classroom discussion is stifled.
Our society's sexism reflects what is censored. Information about female sexual pleasure is
withheld more often than male sexual pleasure. My personal experience as a sexuality
educator has found that teen girls routinely complete sexuality education courses without
learning about the clitoris. Even fewer know that vaginal lubrication is a sign of sexual arousal.

Few people will argue that 12-year-old boys shouldn't know about their penises.Yet the same
people consider 12-- year-old girls too young to know about their clitorises. Similarly, boys are
expected to talk freely and joke about their erections while girls are not supposed to mention
vaginal lubrication. Finally; people seldom have a problem with male orgasms during
adolescence, as there is a general recognition that most boys will have orgasms as a result of
wet dreams, masturbation, or sexual activities with a partner. Yet people reveal an
ambivalence and uncertainty about the appropriateness of teen girls having orgasms.
Educators are unclear about where to "draw the line" on what to tell teens about sexual
pleasure. Even when they believe that information is appropriate, they fear that students will
do something they wouldn't otherwise do or that educators would be seen as condoning
destructive or immoral behavior if they said too much.
Beneath these fears is the belief that sexual pleasure can get out of control and that feelings
are dangerous because they may lead to risky behavior. Of course, uncontrolled sexual
passion, when acted out, can at its worst have life-threatening results. But we must learn to
make a critical distinction between feelings and behavior. Sexual thoughts and feelings are not
harmful. Sexual behavior is what we must worry about.
The question, therefore, is this: "Under what circumstances is self control more likely to be
present-when sexual desire is acknowledged or when it is repressed?"
TEEN SEXUAL DESIRE
Although we have little data to guide us, educators believe that a fairly large number of
sexually active teens are having intercourse for reasons that have very little to do with
pleasure, desire, or intimacy.
Author Sharon Thompson's research in Going All the Way revealed that many girls had
intercourse to obtain a commitment and love from their partner. What they usually got instead
was heartbreak or pregnancy.13 Thompson also found that many girls had sexual intercourse
with little forethought. "They had never been introduced to the notion of desire-their own or
their partner's-and so could not anticipate it. When they found themselves in situations where
those elements were introduced, they froze; it was like they were in a trance. Certainly, they
weren't making an active decision to have sex."14
As educators, we need to explore questions like: "What does it take to make a good sexual
decision?" Some answers are accepted across the spectrum, such as factual information, a
value system, good communication, high self-esteem, and future plans.
We do not, however, agree on the crucial issue of sexual pleasure. So we need to explore
these questions: "Should we teach teens to acknowledge and even enjoy their sexual feelings
or to suppress, ignore, and deny them?" "Which approach leads to good sexual decisions?"
"Which approach is sexually healthy?"

We must first overcome the idea that sexual feelings are wrong and that we must avoid them.
Instead of viewing feelings as an enemy, we should treat feelings as a guide. Feelings,
according to James Nelson, are the "wholeness of human response to the realities experienced
by the person....The feeling response to reality involves both cognition and emotion. It is the
willingness to respond with as much of the totality of the self as one is able. It is the openness
to both spontaneity and discipline. It is the capacity to be deeply aroused by what we are
experiencing.15
In short, being in touch with sexual feelings will enhance an individual's sexual decisionmaking and lead to greater self-control. "Self-control implies self possession, the attribute of
those persons in touch with their feelings and in command of their movements," said
Nelson.16
A key conclusion of Thompson's study was that awareness is linked to responsible sexual
behavior. Learning about sexual desire and arousal-the triggers, the bodily signs, the feelingsempowered the girls to make their own decisions rather than being passively swept away.
Recognizing their desires fueled their independence. Those girls who accepted their sexuality
and freely acknowledged their sexual desires were more sexually responsible. In general, the
more a teenage girl "anticipated and understood pleasure, balanced the desire for love with an
array of other concerns and relationships or accepted love as ephemeral, the more likely she
was to be realistic, even humorous, about romance. With realism and humor came recognition
of the necessity of protection and contraception...."17
In the words of author Christine Schoefer: "Feeling desire is an essential component of selfknowledge and a prerequisite for establishing boundaries. If a girl doesn't know what her 'yes'
means, how could her 'no' come from the heart?"18 Sexual desire actually provides an
opportunity for self-knowledge. Being able to acknowledge and enjoy sexual feelings is a
component of sexual health.
There was already a convincing body of evidence a decade ago that supported Thompson's
findings by demonstrating the relationship between sexual attitudes and responsible sexual
behavior. Researcher William Fisher found that teens with generally sex-positive emotions
were more likely to admit to themselves that they were sexually active and take all of the
steps necessary to protect themselves, including communication with their partner and the
acquisition and consistent use of contraception. Conversely, he found that sex negative
emotions "interfere[d] with the performance of each pregnancy and STD/HIV preventive
behavior studied."19
Most educators would agree that humans make their best sexual decisions in full awareness of
all of their thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations. However, few programs help young
people learn techniques to pay attention to their bodies in general let alone when they are
sexually aroused. It is as if there is a vast conspiracy of silence designed to make people think
that sexual arousal isn't happening. The result is that large numbers of teens-boys as well as
girls-engage in sexual intercourse, receive very little pleasure or intimacy, and expose
themselves to considerable danger.

A NEW PARADIGM
Of course, it doesn't have to be this way. We need look no further than our European allies to
see that sexual pleasure is considered a healthy part of an intimate relationship.20
While America's mixed messages have produced what writer Lara Riscol has called "sexual
schizophrenia,"21 Europeans have seamlessly integrated sexual pleasure into their sexual
health messages. "In general, their campaigns encourage specific sexually healthy behaviors
and do not express fear or shame. They show people in pleasurable relationships. The
messages are generally engaging and appealing. They present images and concepts that
relate to sexuality in a sensual, amusing, or attractive way."22
There is a fundamental difference between the United States and Europe in how teen sexual
behavior is defined. Europeans see it as a developmental and public health issue. They
consider sexual exploration a healthy part of growing up. "Teen sexual behavior in the United
States is viewed in many contexts: a moral failing, a political issue, a private family matter, a
public health concern, but seldom as a developmental matter," said Linda Berne and Barbara
Huberman in the Advocates for Youth publication European Approaches to Adolescent Sexual
Behavior and Responsibility.23
This lack of clarity permeates American sexuality education on every level. The raising of
simple questions during teacher training often leads to long and unresolved debates. A few
examples:
* How do you define abstinence?
* What does it mean to be sexually active?
* Does oral sex count as sex?
* Is there such a thing as safe sex?
Unless educators have already explored their own feelings and values about teens and sexual
pleasure before they are confronted with difficult questions from teens, they will likely avoid
the issue of pleasure entirely and revert to answers that only deal with the risks and dangers
of the particular activities in question. (See "Questions to Help Sexuality Educators Explore
Their Values," below.)
When we place the topic of sexual pleasure within the paradigm of healthy sexual
development, the above questions become easier to answer. Teens have a right to sexual
information. Sexual activity is a healthy part of adolescent development. It is healthy for teens
to feel good about their bodies and to derive pleasure from them. It is normal for teens to
want to engage in intimate relationships.
LOVE AND PLEASURE

Love is the most important topic in sexuality education, yet it is one of the most neglected.
Our neglect is a reflection of our cultural values and our uncertainty about what to say. Our
silence on the subject of love creates a vacuum that is filled by popular culture.
Many teens learn about sex and love primarily from television and movies.What they learn is
that after people are attracted to each other, they fall in love and are swept away in the heat
of passion where words and protection are unnecessary. They learn that sex is somehow more
romantic or less wrong if it "just happens." They learn that genital intercourse is the natural
and inevitable outcome of sexual passion and that it happens at the next available opportunity
after falling in love. Most disturbingly, by portraying spontaneous, unplanned genital
intercourse as the ultimate pleasure, these programs model a behavior that puts teens at
increased risk for sexually transmitted diseases or unplanned pregnancies.
It is a mistake to leave love's definition to the marketplace and the media, where every
serious issue is turned into a commodity. Popular culture equates sex with love. It also leaves
young people with the impression that romantic love is the ultimate form of love. This
superficial treatment reduces our potential to develop healthy, mature, intimate relationships.
Educators cannot do a thorough job with the subject of adolescent love unless we are willing
to address the powerful physical feelings that are a natural part of the process. Of course, love
is much more than physical feelings, and we need to do everything we can to ensure that
teens understand the many types of love, especially the difference between love and sexual
attraction. But we cannot make these important distinctions unless we accept sexual pleasure
as a legit topic of discussion.
SAFETY AND PLEASURE
If teens learn not only about alternatives to sexual intercourse but also about being mindful,
focused, and aware during all forms of sexual activity, they will find their sexual relations safer
and more enjoyable. They will have no need to rush to intercourse. We need to teach them
that the skin is the largest sexual organ and that the brain is the most important.
There are many effective teaching strategies that can teach teens about alternatives to
intercourse.24 The "Sexual Behavior Continuum," where sexual activities follow one another
sequentially from touching to intercourse with increasing levels of physical intimacy, is another
effective strategy. My own version of this activity includes asking teens to name specific sexual
behaviors, using their own terminology, and having them reach consensus on where those
behaviors belong on the continuum. They then physically place themselves along the
continuum based on how far they think it is healthy for a hypothetical 16 year old to go.
Discussion follows on why they made their selection and on the importance of always knowing
one's limits and communicating those limits to a partner. (I will mail a free copy of my own
version of this activity to anyone who requests it.)
In Deborah Roffman's book, Sex and Sensibility, she asks partners to consider four questions
as they move along the continuum:

* Integrity: "Do I think that this kind of intimacy with this person at this time is morally right
or wrong?"
* Safety: "What are the physical risks and are we adequately protected?"
* Maturity: "Am I emotionally, intellectually, and socially ready for this experience?"
* Mutuality: "What are the needs, desires, and expectations of the other person involved, and
how do they relate to mine?"25
Beyond specific strategies such as the ones mentioned here, teaching about sexual pleasure
works best when the educator has a mind-set that is open to the discussion of relevant
subjects. Do we integrate information about sexual pleasure into puberty education when we
talk about body parts and their functions, erections, ejaculations, orgasms, wet dreams, and
vaginal lubrication? Do we discuss the sexual response cycle? Do we include information about
sexual feelings when we respond to teens' questions?
BODY, MIND, AND SPIRIT
Adolescence is a time when we begin our lifelong search for meaning. Recent advances in
brain research have discovered that the prefrontal cortex, the most evolutionarily advanced
area of the brain, is still in the process of developing from approximately the age of 16
through 20. This is the main area of the brain that governs impulse control, decision-- making,
and consideration of consequences.26
Joseph Chilton Pearce, author of numerous books on the nature of human consciousness,
argues in Evolution 5 End that the adolescent brain is genetically programmed to make the
leap to a higher level of consciousness that integrates the three levels of the brain, placing the
higher centers in charge and ultimately allowing humanity to reach its full intellectual and
spiritual potential.27
Unfortunately, the American culture subverts this process, keeping most people on a level of
self-centeredness where they fail to perceive the connections that unite us all. As a result, we
fall victim to what the philosopher Alan Watts called modern man's greatest and most
destructive illusion-that we are separate, unconnected individuals.28
Pearce says that the adolescent, although unable to articulate the loss of something he never
knew, still feels a nebulous but palpable yearning, what novelists have referred to as the
"grape bursting in the throat,"29 or simply "joy."30 When more fully realized, this "joy" far
surpasses our common understanding of pleasure or happiness. It is a state of transcendence
that replaces our ego-centered awareness with a consciousness of the unity of all creation.
If the teen never learns a way to explore the source of this deep meaning, he begins the
search for alternate satisfactions and substitute meanings, which all become part of the
addictive process, keeping him separate, unconnected, and unfulfilled. Our disembodied

culture is replete with addictive diversions and banal amusements to keep us out of touch with
our real feelings. Addictions, in fact, become a way of avoiding the pain. Even sex can be used
in this way.
The paradox of being human is that we are both animal and spiritual. Two decades of brain
research have demonstrated the relationship of feelings to the health of the body.31 More
recent research clearly indicates that our human needs for love and intimacy are essential to
our well-being.32 To be fully human is to integrate the body, mind, and spirit--and to be
aware.
CONCLUSION
We sexuality educators have a role to play in developing a vision of sexual health that
empowers all people to reach their full human potential. In the words of writer Scott Peck:
"Let us prepare ourselves. Let us do so by relearning how important we are, how beautiful we
are and how we are desired beyond our wildest imaginings. And let us, as best we can, go out
into the world to teach others how important they are, how beautiful they are and how they
too are desired beyond their wildest imaginings."33
We have long misunderstood, exploited, and reduced the concept of pleasure to mere
hedonism.When we treat it as a sacred gift rather than as a frivolous pursuit, we will begin to
recognize its central place in humanity's potential.
REFERENCES
1. D. Ackerman, A Natural History of the Senses (New York: Vintage Books, 1990), p. xix.
2. R. Leakey, The Making of Mankind (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1981), pp. 98-105.
3. T Hobbes, cited in Richard Leakey, Op Cit., p. 97.
4. J. Diamond, The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal (New
York: Harper Perennial, 1992), pp. 183-85. 5. H. E Harlow, "The Nature of Love," American
Psychologist, vol. 13, pp. 673-85.
6. T. Lewis, F. Amini, and R. Lannon. A General Theory of Love (New York: Vintage Books,
2000), pp. 69-76. (Newage Boo 2000), 20". pp. 69-76.
7. Ibid., pp 50-56, 62-65.
8. Ibid., pp 191-192.
9. Ibid., pp. 76-91.

10. "How Children Process Television," Issue Brief Series (Studio City; CA: Mediascope Press,
1997).
11. J. Mander, In the Absence of the Sacred: The Failure of Technology and the Survival of the
Indian Nations (San Francisco, CA: Sierra Club Books), p. 80-86.
12. B. Whipple, "Helping Girls Claim Their Sexuality," Family Life Matters, Fall 1999, p. 4.
13. S. Thompson, Going All the Way: Teenage Girls' Tales of Sex, Romance, and Pregnancy
(New York: Hill &Wang, 1995), pp. 17-46. 14. S.Thompson, "Writer Sheds Light on Why
Teenage Girls Have Sex," Family Life Matters, Winter 1996, p. 6.
15. James B. Nelson, Op Cit., p. 31-32.
16. Ibid., p. 87.
17. S. Thompson, Going All the Way: Teenage Girls' Tales of Sex, Romance, and Pregnancy
(New York: Hill &Wang, 1995), p. 284.
18. C. Schoefer, "Girls and Desire," New Moon Network, Jan/Feb, 2001, p. 9.
19. W Fisher, "All Together Now: An Integrated Approach to Preventing Adolescent Pregnancy
and STD/HIV Infection,"
SIECUS Report, April/May 1990, p. 5.
20. L. Berne and B. Huberman, European Approaches to Adolescent Sexual Behavior and
Responsibility (Washington, DC: Advocates for Youth), p. 67.
21. L. Riscol, "The Britney and Bob Challenge," Alternet, April 16,2001.
22. L. Berne and B. Huberman, Op Cit., p. 67.
23. Ibid., p. xvi.
24. The most comprehensive are the Unitarian Universalist Church's Our Own Lives curriculum
(Boston, MA: Unitarian Universalist Association, 2000) and sexuality educator Peggy Brick's
Teaching Safer Sex (Morristown, NJ: Planned Parenthood of Greater Northern New Jersey,
1998). The activities in Steve Brown's and Bill Taverner's Street-Wise to Sex Wise: Sexuality
Education for High Risk Youth (Morristown, NJ: Planned Parenthood of Greater Northern New
Jersey, 2001) also deal honestly and openly with teens' sexual feelings. Dr. Beverly Whipple's
and Gina Ogden's most recent book, Safe Encounters: How Women Can Say Yes to Pleasure
and No to Unsafe Sex, contains activities to help women and men explore their extragenital
sensi

tivity (New York: McGraw Hill, 1989).

25. D. Roffman, Sex and Sensibility, (Cambridge, MA: Perseus Book Group, 2001), p. 57-58.
26. R. Restak, The Secret Life of the Brain (Washington, DC: Joseph Henry Press, 2000), p.
71-6.
27. J. C. Pearce, Evolution's End: Claiming the Potential of Our Intelligence (San Francisco:
Harper Collins, 1992), pp. 189-94.
28. A. Watts, The Book on the Taboo against Knowing Who You Are (NewYork:Vintage Books,
1972), pp. 1-21.
29.J. C. Pearce, Evolution's End, p. 190.
30. C. S Lewis, Surprised by Joy (New York: Quality Paperback Book Club, 1992), p. 18.
31. C. Schoefer, "Girls and Desire," New Moon Network, January/February 2001, p. 8.
32. T. Lewis, E Amini, and R. Lannon, Op Cit., pp. 76-91.
33. M. Scott Peck, Further Along the Road Less Traveled (New York: Touchstone Books, 1993),
p. 99.
Joe Fay, M.A.
Director
Pennsylvania Coalition to Prevent Teen Pregnancy
Harrisburg, PA
Copyright Sex Information and Education Council of the U.S. Apr/May 2002
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved

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Why we all need committed somebodies; Prof Richard Whitfield argues that we must
get our relationships right if we are to give the next generation a fair chance in life FAC Essay
Richard Whitfield
The link between morality and human emotions, in the context of the nurture that babies,
children and young people need, has been seriously neglected. Yet few things have a greater
impact on the way that life is likely to turn out for both individuals and societies.
Human beings--like the other primates--are social animals, depending upon each other for
physical and psychological survival from the moment of birth. We need nurture--that is 'tender
loving care'--in order to survive, let alone thrive. We have little or no means of knowing who
we are without reference to others, to our place in time and space, and to a range of social
frames of reference. We are, quite simply, relational beings, even though too little of the way
that we modern people organize our lives in society and families reflects this truism.
We pay a high price if we neglect what I call 'basic laws of human motion and emotion'.
Central to these is that, especially when we are young, 'others' have to be 'there' for us for
long enough to provide us with not only material sustenance, but also, crucially, nurture and
emotional security. Then we can venture safely and with reasonable confidence on our own in
a complex and perplexing world for at least some of the time.
Without committed somebodies, we would all be nobodies. This imperative of human mutuality
implies the cultural availability of sufficient predictable and stable human bonds or
'attachments'.
HOPES AT BIRTH
Throughout the months of foetal development, and from the moment of birth, the baby's hope
is hugely invested in its mother. Relatively helpless compared with many other newborns in
the animal kingdom, and having a much longer period of dependency, baby relies on mother
to be the first mediator of a strange world. If secure and nurtured herself, the mother is able
to give early meaning to her child through the first glimmers of physical then verbal language;
also a sense of joy in life from providing rewarding body contact, including satisfying feeding.
Mother's capacity to mediate warm, focused and sensitive concern is vital, the child's hope and
potential mirrored in her countenance and demeanour. She is indeed baby's 'mother of hope'.
At this stage the main caring role of father, extended family and neighbours is to give practical
and emotional support to the mother.
Within a few hours of being born, infants attend selectively to human stimulation. They soon
develop preferences for the particular characteristics of those involved in their care. When the
caring is disrupted, even in ways that adults might regard as minor, distress and protest

generally follow. If the infant is often unable to engage adults' involvement, it tends to become
dejected and withdrawn, and this tends to have lifelong consequences for relational intimacy.
Maternal depression, however caused, is a powerful risk factor for child development. Aside
from post-natal hormonal depression, a mother without a good sense of self-esteem, who
lacks hope and may not have the reliable love of a partner, family or friends, tends to pass on
her low feelings to her child. We now know that the experience of attachment in infancy, for
good or ill, is strongly transmitted between generations. The negative effects of poor
experiences can only be ameliorated by early corrective intervention.
EMOTIONS
We humans have a range of feelings and emotions, though often a limited vocabulary for
expressing them. Some emotions are innate and universal; others are the product of social
learning. For about 15 years I have pondered on helpful ways of describing these two classes
of emotions, while doing justice to the balance of logic and evidence. The outcome is
summarized in the table (bottom left), in which it will be seen that 'love', if we are to regard it
as an emotion, is not innate. That crucial ingredient for our well-being is better viewed as a
gift, with covenant associations, handed on from one to another.
All of us long to be given reliable love, for it fuels our hope and trust in both life and people.
Lack of trust, which originates primarily in the lack of reliability of human bonds in too many
families, is the prime cause of the civic disintegration now growing apace. Not being certain of
love from one's mother and father, and from their union, is more often than not a crippling
emotional experience that affects moral consciousness and capability. Research shows that
secure early attachment gives the best chance of enjoying all the good outcomes in life, such
as educational achievement, health, relational stability and economic prospects.
Brain research is now suggesting that ethics, and much else in human capability, is more a
matter of 'heart' than 'head'. Our delicate emotions are driven first through the lower limbic
brain, not the much larger, reasoning, twin-hemisphere cortex. Moral behaviour has emotional
underpinnings. How we feel about ourselves has more effect on our behaviour than conscious
knowing does, particularly in stressful or testing circumstances. Amazingly, tender loving care
enhances the way our brains become hard-wired; that is, it changes brain capability and
electrochemistry. Rationally, we should therefore arrange life circumstances to be much more
friendly to the emotional brain. Our intellectual cleverness too often lacks emotional wisdom.
Before the onset of speech, the young child is programmed to 'say' something like: 'I cannot
become considerate unless you nurture my being so that I feel welcomed in this world and
valued through your consideration.' Unless this child's voice is heeded there is no possibility of
reducing the ills of society--such as relational breakdown, crime and antisocial behaviour.
Humans have a fundamental motivation to respond to a world of consistent human contacts.
Collaborative mutuality is in fact experienced as a joy, an end in itself rather than a means of
self-interest. This is our intrinsic potential for morality, easily derailed and needing sensitive
emotional conditions for its flowering into a mature concern for others. This potential for moral

intuition is affected by attachment experiences. Treat a child with deep ethical concern and it
then has a chance of becoming an ethical adult. This way a reservoir of inner value builds up
involving surpluses of positive emotion. This satisfies the ego's hungers, so that energy is
freed from intense longings to be naturally shared with others whose needs are more easily
recognized and responded to. This positive emotional surplus can also be drawn upon for selfsustaining in the inevitable moments of stress, crisis and loss.
HAND-ME-ON LOVE
Unselfish, reliable love thus tends to create both new outreaching love and personal resilience.
This is an emotional affair in which mutuality in the attachment dance, first to mother, then to
others, becomes supremely satisfying. It thus makes both ethical and practical sense for
parenting to be practised in unstressed circumstances. Careful adult interaction with the young
is thus a prime social and cultural priority. The basic 'hand-me-on love' sequence, having
strong intergenerational links, now informed by extensive research, is summarized in the
flowchart above.
Carlo Collodi's children's classic Pinnochio is well-known. Pinnochio is the puppet creation of
the elderly Italian woodcarver Geppetto. He is a loveable, mischievous 'boy', who means well.
He sustains our attention through his many ups and downs. We identify with the parental care
and concern of 'father' Geppetto, as well as with the waywardness and unclear direction of the
'boy'. At one point, floundering in his own self-doubt, Pinnochio turns to his maker Geppetto,
saying: 'Papa, I'm not sure who I am. But if I'm all right with you, then I guess I'm all right
with me.'
Embodied here is profound insight about right relationships of self with Maker, self with self,
and self with other, in which faith and trust is based upon the steady experience of care.
GIFT RELATIONSHIPS
No society can be sustained without covenant relationships. Looking after one another, yet
giving each other space to grow and to be; keeping each other in mind; and living in an ethical
environment are not luxuries. They are central to being fully human. Our fast-moving world
sidelines children's emotional interests, placing the need for secure attachment and safe
separation at risk. This is neither rational, nor ethically defensible. Status, recognition and
resources for parenting and partnering are key aspects of sound social management. They are
also a business investment, with extensive educational, social and economic advantages.
The future depends on the experiences of today's child. Gifts of time for togetherness, touch,
and tenderness build up that other 'T'--trust--the platform for almost everything else at
whatever age. Parenting is at core a matter of gifting unique self-worth through a network of
lasting human bonds. These act both as social glue, and as a bulwark against factors that
prompt despair or a sense of insignificance and disposability.

Westernized culture desperately needs new research-informed social and ethical vision.
Planning and investment for reliable bonds, including parenting within and beyond kin, needs
to be at its core. That means that girls who would be mothers, and boys who would be
fathers, must be given every encouragement to view those roles as prime career tasks
needing their active and collaborative involvement.
Human welfare is always dependent upon the gift of loving relationships. But now 'hand-medown reliable love' is in seriously declining supply. Society, individuals and governments must
act to stem the draining tides of emotional and thus ethical deprivation.

Basic, innate emotions

Socially learned emotions

Hunger
Fear
Anger
Joy
Distress (pain)
Sadness

Love
Envy
Pride
Disgust
Guilt
Embarrassment

Richard Whitfield is a Professor Emeritus of Education, and he and his wife Shirley share four
grown children and, so far, five grandchildren. Originally an antibiotic chemist who became a
Dean of Social Sciences and Humanities and Director of UK Child Care at the Save the Children
Fund, his last full-time post was Warden of St George's House, Windsor Castle.
His latest book, the final part of a trilogy of poetic commentary on life, is 'Messages in Time',
Bracken Bank Books, 2002, ISBN 0-9538624-2-9.
COPYRIGHT 2003 For A Change
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group

Journal of Experiential Education, The > Fall 2002 >

Beyond learning by doing: The brain compatible approach

Roberts, Jay W
The current position of the field of experiential education within mainstream education places
at a premium attempts to significantly broaden and deepen experiential pedagogy beyond
mere "learning by doing." This article will explore one such attempt-the Brain Compatible
Approach-and its potential linkages with experiential education. An overview of the Brain
Compatible Approach will be outlined, followed by a discussion of several key principles.
Linkages between these principles and experiential education will be discussed, as well as
several "Quick Tips" on possible practical applications of the research. Finally, the benefits of
aligning experiential education with the Brain Compatible Approach will be explored.
Keywords: Education, Brain Compatible, Pedagogy
Over the last ten years, experiential education has made many in-roads with the mainstream
educational establishment. The success of programs such as Project Adventure and Outward
Bound working within schools has been well documented. Additionally, ropes course,
environmental, and outdoor education programs have become prevalent in many school
districts across the country. Yet, with all these advances, there are still many barriers between
our pedagogy and traditional schooling. We remain literally, and figuratively, "outside" the
educational establishment. Recent initiatives toward accountability and standards have placed
experiential education in the crosshairs of reform-minded politicians and school consultants.
"Learning by doing" is often described as "process heavy," devoid of content, and a hold-out
from 1960s progressivists' approaches. One researcher has gone so far as to say "recent
history of American education and controlled observations have shown that learning by doing
and its adaptations are among the least effective pedagogies available to the teacher" (Hirsch,
1996, p. 257).
The current position of the field within mainstream education places at a premium attempts to
significantly broaden and deepen experiential pedagogy beyond mere "learning by doing." This
paper will explore one such attempt-the Brain Compatible Approach-and its potential linkages
with experiential education. An overview of the Brain Compatible Approach will be outlined,
followed by a discussion of several key principles. Linkages between these principles and
experiential education will be discussed as well as several "Quick Tips" on possible practical
applications of the research. Finally, the benefits of aligning experiential education with the
Brain Compatible Approach will be explored.
The Brain Compatible Approach
In July of 1989, President George Bush declared the 1990s the "Decade of the Brain." What
followed was a revolution in research, articles, books, and television specials on what we know
about how the brain functions and learns. The medical advances in particular have been many

and remarkable. We have learned more about the brain in the past five years than the
previous one hundred. Additionally, nearly 90 percent of all neuroscientists who have ever
lived are alive today (Brandt & Wolfe, 1998).
While still relatively new as a field of inquiry, the Brain Compatible Approach has yielded
several intriguing findings:
* Neuroplasticity: The brain changes physiologically as a result of experience and it happens
much quicker than originally thought. The environment in which the brain operates determines
to a large degree the functioning ability of the brain (Brandt & Wolfe. 1998).
* The brain is complex and interconnected: just as a city or jazz quartet has many levels of
interaction and connectedness, the brain has an infinite number of possible interconnections.
In essence, there are no isolated, specialized areas but rather the brain is simultaneously
processing a wide variety of information all at once (Caine & Caine, 1994).
* Every brain is unique: Our brains are far more individualized in terms of physiology, neural
wiring, bio-chemical balance, and developmental stage than previously thought (Jensen,
2000).
Each of these findings suggests re-consideration of the way we currently educate. Caution
must also be practiced. Much of the current research is new, and steps from research to
application are inherently complex and difficult. Already, several researchers have questioned
the validity of educational applications of brain research (Bruer, 1997). If nothing else, the
sheer volume of new information about how the brain functions and learns forces us to
question what we truly "know" about learning and educational practice.
Principles of Brain Based Learning
Drawing from the findings above, several intriguing principles and practical implications have
emerged. The following principles are of particular interest to experiential educators as they
support some long-standing practices within experiential education and also push the envelope
of what may be possible in the future.
Principle # 1: Pattern and Meaning Making
Research supports the claim that the search for meaning is innate and occurs through
patterning (Caine & Caine, 1994). Patterning refers to the meaningful organization and
categorization of information (Nummela & Rosegren, 1986). The brain is designed to search
for and integrate new information into existing structures and actively resists "meaningless"
patterns (Caine & Caine). The process is constant and does not stop-regardless of whether or
not we have stopped teaching! This principle reinforces many of the practices we attribute to
experiential learning including emphasis on context and framing, learner involvement in the
teaching of the material, alternating between details and big picture (whole/part), reflection

components, and relevancy (i.e., relating information to students' previous experience and
learning).
Quick Tip #1: Chunking can be an effective tool for presenting the learner with information in
an organized, meaningful way. Look at the following list of letters: IBFVTNOJBLKFJ. Try to
memorize them as presented. Now look at the next list of letters: JFK, LBJ, ON, TV, FBI. The
second list is much easier to memorize even though they are the same letters. They have
simply been chunked and arranged in a meaningful way that draws on previous experience
and information. Consider how you might chunk small activities (lessons or even directions)
and large, multi-day experiences. How can you arrange the information in a more meaningful,
patterned way?
Quick Tip #2: Use a "Big Picture." Remember that your students do not have the same view of
the course, lesson, or program that you do. Provide them with a big picture as soon as
possible at the beginning of the experience. Rather than an exhaustive outline or itinerary, the
big picture gives your students a taste of what's coming and allows them to begin making
patterns, connections, and frames for the experience. Re-visit the big picture a few times
throughout the experience to further solidify the link. In this regard, it is helpful to have it on
a flip chart or other visual aid. Try using a "you are here" map with a movable arrow.
Principle #2: The Brain as a Parallel Processor
The human brain is the ultimate, multi-tasking machine, constantly doing many things at
once. This is because the brain is geared toward survival and is, in actuality, poorly designed
for linear, lock-step instruction (Jensen, 2000). Consider how you learned to ride a bicycle. Did
you learn through reading a book or hearing a lecture on the separate topics of bike parts,
safety, and operation? No. It is more likely you learned through a more dynamic and complex
series of experiences. Current research supports the notion that the brain learns best through
rich, complex, and multi-sensory environments (Jensen). In this sense, the teacher is seen
more as an orchestrator of learning environments rather than an instructor of linear lesson
plans or even a facilitator of experiences (Deporter, Reardon, & Singer-- Nourie, 1999).
Practical applications for parallel processing include the use of multi-modal instructional
techniques (visual, auditory, kinesthetic) and multiple intelligence activities (Gardner, 1985).
Simulations and role-plays mimic our natural learning environment and encourage complex
processing. Lastly, enriched learning environments can be orchestrated through the
components of challenge, novelty, choice, high feedback, social interaction, and active
participation (Diamond & Hopson, 1998). If the benefits of enriched, multi-sensory, complex
learning environments continue to be supported by the research, experiential theory and
practice can and must play a larger role in the classroom of the future.
Quick Tip #3: Use the EELDRC (Enroll, Experience, Label, Demonstrate, Review, Celebrate)
design frame (Deporter et al., 1999) to create a dynamic, complex, multi-sensory lesson plan.
In the Enroll segment, seek to engage students in the material through intrigue and answering
the learner question "What's In It For Me?" Give them a brief Experience to immerse students
in the new information. Use the Label segment to punctuate the most salient points with a

"lecturette" or de-brief. Provide an opportunity for the participants to Demonstrate with the
new information to encourage connections and personalization of the material. Review the
material to cement the big picture and, finally, find a way to Celebrate the experience to
reinforce positive associations with the learning.
Principle # 3: Stress and Threat
Learning is enhanced by challenge and inhibited by threat (Jensen, 2000). Paul MacLean offers
a model for considering this principle through his Triune Brain theory (1978). MacLean
categorizes the brain into three main regions or separate brains-the Reptilian (or R-complex), the Mammalian (or Limbic), and the Neo-- Mammalian (or Neo-Cortex). The
reptilian brain controls physical survival and basic needs (flight or fight responses). This is our
most primitive "brain." The second brain-the Mammalian-houses both the hippocampus and
amygdala-the primary centers for emotion and memory. Lastly, the most advanced part of our
brains, according to MacLean, is our Neo-Cortex. It is here where we use higher order thinking
skills-synthesizing, logical and operational thinking, speech, and planning for the future (Caine
& Caine, 1994).
In this model, the brain has the capacity to "shift" up or down depending on perception of the
immediate environment. Perceived threat can force the brain to "downshift" to lower order
thinking (Hart, 1983). Yet, heightened challenge and stress, referred to as eustress, can invite
an up-shift response into higher order thinking skills in the neo-cortex. Recent research has
suggested that the chemical and physiological responses to stress and threat are radically
different (Caine & Caine, 1994). Psychological models also support a difference between
perceived challenge and threat (Csikszentmihalyi, 1991). This idea is expressed in experiential
pedagogy through the concepts of adaptive dissonance and the "comfort zone." In both cases,
the facilitator or teacher intentionally places the learner in stressful situations to encourage
and invite new adaptive behaviors and mental models that may be more successful or
effective for the learner.
Caine and Caine (1994), suggest that specific learning conditions can create situations of upshifting or downshifting. Downshifting can occur when "pre-specified 'correct' outcomes have
been established by an external agent; personal meaning is limited; rewards and punishments
are externally controlled; restrictive time lines are given; and the work to be done is relatively
unfamiliar with little support available" (Came & Caine, p. 84). By contrast, to create upshifting conditions "outcomes should be relatively open ended; personal meaning should be
maximized; emphasis should be on intrinsic motivation; tasks should have relatively openended time lines; and should be manageable and supported" (Caine & Caine, p. 85). Emotions
also play a critical role in both memory encoding and threat perception (LeDoux, 1996). Too
little emotion and the brain has a difficult time "tagging" the material for long term memory.
Too much emotion and the situation may be perceived as threatening, causing a downshift in
mental functions (Brandt & Wolfe, 1998).
Practical applications of the stress/threat principle are numerous and exciting for the
experiential field. Experiential pedagogy, with its emphasis on novelty, interpersonal

interaction, challenge by choice, and the use of emotions such as play, fear, and humor, is
uniquely suited to address stress/threat balances. Understanding how these brain compatible
principles can be strengthened by experiential learning opens the possibility for meaningful
dialogue with mainstream education.
Quick Tip #4: To lower threat levels early in your program, make a strong emphasis on
relationship building both peer-peer and teacher-student. Work the group from the "insideout" by making a conscious effort to spend personal time with as many students as possible,
either on the trail or at water breaks. Work the group "outside-in" by facilitating highly
interactive experiences like paired shares, new games, or trust activities.
Quick Tip #5: Use the 60/40 rule for planning your lesson plans. Sixty percent of your
experiences should be ritual based activities that are repetitive (like morning check-ins, skill
progressions, warm-- ups, or post-activity debriefs) to allow your participants to experience
known activities in an unknown environment. But be sure to make approximately 40 percent
of activities novel. The introduction of elements of suspense, surprise, and disorder keep
learners engaged and can be an effective way to manage attention spans. Instead of circling
up every time, "rhombus-up" with your group every so often. Mix-- up de-briefs by using
paired shares, group reports, or silent journaling instead of large group discussion. Introduce
skill sections playfully with characters and costumes (knots with Ivana Climbalot, or baking
with Chef Boyarentyouhungry).
Conclusion
Evidence and theories from the Brain Compatible Approach support much of what we do.
Understanding the human brain's tendency toward pattern and "meaning-making" reinforces
the intentional use of reflection and synthesis in experiential education. Viewing the brain as a
parallel processor encourages the creation of enriched environments for learners. Experiential
methodology facilitates such enriched environments through challenge, social interaction,
feedback, and active participation. Finally, the differences between stress and threat responses
support our pedagogical approach including the effective use of emotion and the importance of
novelty and choice. Recent developments in brain research should also push us toward new
questions and research queries. What is the role of emotion in experiential education? How do
we define, operationally, the differences between stressful and threatening experiences and
responses? How is the mind-body connection supported in current brain research? What part
can experiential methodology play in the creation of enriched classroom environments?
We must move beyond mere "learning by doing" for our fields' philosophical underpinnings and
practical approaches to become more influential in mainstream education. Using only the
learning by doing definition, experiential education becomes nothing more than activities and
events with little to no significance beyond the initial experience. One educator recently told
me she calls this the "Inoculation Effect" (shoot 'em up; hope it takes). This was not John
Dewey's vision and it cannot be our lasting legacy. Many of us entered this field after
becoming disenchanted or burned-out on mainstream educational practice. We have also seen
the remarkable changes and results that can occur through experiential learning. We believe

very strongly that it works. Yet, as a field, we remain long on practice and short on theory and
research. The Brain Compatible Approach is one avenue for helping experiential educators
articulate how and why the methodology is effective.
How can we achieve more legitimacy while holding fast to our principles? Moves toward
identifying the philosophical approaches of experiential education should be encouraged (Itin,
1999). Efforts must be made to increase both qualitative and quantitative research that cross
into mainstream education. As educators, we also have a responsibility to learn about our
field. At a recent AEE conference, I was surprised to learn how few experiential education
practitioners knew of E.D. Hirsch-one of the strongest critics of progressive approaches and a
major figure in the standards-based movement. Hirsch defines learning by doing as "a phrase
once used to characterize the progressivist movement but little used today, possibly because
the formulation has been the object of much criticism and even ridicule" (Hirsch, 1996, p.
256). With critics like this and few legitimate platforms from which to respond, it is not
surprising that experiential education remains largely locked out of our schools. Knowing some
of the latest trends and movements within the fields of education, psychology, and sociology
will strengthen our voice and message.
While there is value in experiential education's subversive, outside-the-mainstream persona,
we must also seek ways to come in from the "outside," invite dialogue, and encourage
interaction across disciplines. The Brain Compatible Approach, as a promising new area of
research and study, offers an excellent opportunity to do just that. In the next 20 years, will
experiential education be a program (like field trips, ropes courses, and character education)
to be implemented in schools or, will it be a broader, pedagogical foundation from which to
work? The future depends on how we live that question.
References
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56(3), 8-13.
Bruer, J. T. (1997). Education and the brain: A bridge too far. Educational Researcher, 26(8),
4-16.
Caine, G., & Caine, R. (1994). Making connections: Teaching and the human brain. New York:
Addison Wesley.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1991). Flow: The psychology of optimal experi. ence. New York: Harper
Perrenial.
Deporter, B., Reardon, M., & Singer-Nourie, S. (1999). Quantum teaching. Needham Heights,
MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Diamond, M., & Hopson, J. (1998). Magic trees of the mind. New York: Penguin Putnum.

Gardner, H. (1985). Frames of mind.- The theory of multiple intelligences. New York: Basic
Books.
Hart, L. (1983). Human brain, human learning. New York: Longman.
Hirsch, E. D. (1996). The schools we need and why we don't have them. New York: Doubleday.
Itin, C. (1999). Reasserting the philosophy of experiential education as a vehicle for change in
the 21st century. Journal of Experiential Education, 22(2), 91-98.
Jensen, E. (2000). Brain-based learning. San Diego, CA: The Brain Store.
LeDoux, J. (1996). The emotional brain: The mysterious underpinnings of emotional life. New
York: Simon & Schuster.
MacLean, P. D. (1978). A mind of three Minds: Educating the triune brain. In J. Chall, & A.
Mirsky (Eds.), Education and the brain (pp. 308-342). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Nummela, R., & Rosengren, T (1986). What's happening in students' brains may redefine
teaching. Educational Leadership 43(8), 49-53.
Jay W. Roberts
Jay Roberts, M.Ed., is the Director of Wilderness Programs at Earlham College in Richmond,
Indiana and teaches in the Education program. He also spent seven years working as a
facilitator for Learning Forum Supercamp, an internationally recognized brain compatible
learning program. He can be reached at roberja@earlham.edu
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