The Neuroscience of Social Justice

Tyler Fair

Introductions: Tyler Fair• Pronouns: he, him, his• 4th year student studying Neuroscience• Minor in Spanish and a certificate in

Public Health• 3rd year RA in Kitt West• Passions include singing, spirituality,

science, sports, and social justice• Hope to go to medical school after

undergrad

What is social justice?

Social Justice

What is oppression?

Equality vs. Equity

Social Determinants of Health

“The term social determinants of health refers to social practices and conditions, class position, stressful circumstances, poverty, and economic, political, and religious factors that affect the health of individuals, groups, and communities, either positively or negatively.”

Neuroscience

Neuron

Neuroscience Topics•Learned Helplessness•Stress Response

•Action vs. Habit Learning• Implicit Bias•Neuroplasticity

Learned Helplessness

Social Justice Connection: Caste System in Nepal

Steven Maier Lab• One of the researchers in the

1960s working with Martin Seligman• Started studying Learned

Helplessness as a neuroscientist• Discover the “neuro-circuitry”

of this response.

Neuro-circuitry

Neuro-circuitry

• Dorsal Raphe Nucleus (DRN)• If this area was turned off, Learned

Helplessness not seen.• Ventral Medial Prefrontal Cortex

(mPFC)• Control inhibited brain activity, rather

than lack of control.

For the RA

•How might your residents be experiencing learned helplessness? •How might their identities be impacting why

they experience this response?

Stress Response

Fight or FlightRegulated by a region of the brain called the amygdala.

HPA Axis

Impact of Stress • Problems with digestion• Heart disease, stroke• Slowing of cognition• Related to anxiety and depression• Problems with immune system• Chronic inflammation

Social Justice Connection:Social Stress and Health

• Long term stress associated with low socioeconomic status (SES)• Negative effects of stress seen

• Negative health outcomes among African Americans• Baby’s birth weight research.

• Higher levels of stress seen in people that come from non-dominant groups.

For the RA”Subjective feelings of belonging, being accepted, and being needed have consistently shown themselves to be crucial in the development of feelings of well-being and… reducing potentially harmful effects of stress upon the body and mind.”Medical Sociology Thirteenth Edition by William C. Cockerham

Action vs. Habit Learning

Guess what is in charge of action learning?

Prelimbic Prefrontal Cortex

Social Justice Connection:Implicit Bias

For the RAAmerican Psychological Association’s recommendation for retraining a biased brain:

• Becoming aware of one's implicit bias.• Being concerned about the consequences of the bias.• Learning to replace the biased response with non-prejudiced

responses—ones that more closely match the values people consciously believe that they hold.

Neuroplasticity

My neuroscience professors didn’t teach me about social justice and my sociology

professors didn’t teach me about neuroscience!

Draw your own connections. Follow your passion!

If social justice is a priority for you, how are you going to use it to change your

community? your field? yourself?

Sources• Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers by Robert M.

Sapolsky• Medical Sociology Thirteenth Edition by William

C. Cockerham• Lectures from Dr. Jerry Rudy’s Neurobiology of

Learning and Memory• Information from Dr. Rudy’s Neuroplasticity

Seminar• Lectures from Dr. Heidi Day’s Neurobiology of

Stress• Information from the Maier/Watkins Neuroscience

Lab• Lectures from Dr. Richard Rogers’ Medical

Sociology• Lectures from Dr. Matt McQueen’s Epidemiology

• http://www.jneurosci.org/content/34/12/4161#sec-16

• http://www.psysr.org/jsacp/ivey-v3n1-11_103-116.pdf

• http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v18/n10/full/nn.4086.html

• https://ppc.sas.upenn.edu/sites/ppc.sas.upenn.edu/files/learnedhelplessnessat50.pdf

• http://www.apa.org/monitor/2011/10/biased-brain.aspx

• https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CM2wIS8UejE• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCknUJJc3qU