Brooks: Reading Online Hostility Triggers Adrenaline Release Within 74 Milliseconds
Arthur Brooks · Harvard Professor: There Is a FORMULA to Happiness | Arthur Brooks · Feb 26, 2025 · at 1:04:25
Harvard professor Arthur Brooks explains the neurological and physiological threat response triggered by hostile social media interactions to host Codie Sanchez.
0:00 / 0:31exact quote · 31.2s
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“So what happens is that you see something, it stimulates your optic nerve, is processed for what you're reading online with the, in the occipital lobe of your brain, sending a signal to your amygdala, which is the fear and anger, part of the limbic system of the brain, stimulating a signal that goes through the hypothalamus to the pituitary gland in your brain, Then sending a signal to your adrenal glands, which sit above your kidneys, which will start to spit out epinephrine adrenaline, and this happens in 74 milliseconds.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Arthur Brooks
Brooks: Polyamory is nonsense because humans are built for pair-bonding
“All of the nonsense about, I don't know, polyamory that are coming around. That's all Nonsense. And again, I mean, look, no judgment, different strokes, but look, I'm a behavioral scientist, and the truth of the matter is that we are built for pair-bond mating”
Brooks: Dark Triad personalities are disproportionately social activists
“There's a really interesting papers that we've seen recently, the dark triads, they're disproportionately social activists.”
Brooks: Anonymous internet posters are overwhelmingly likely Dark Triad personalities
“Do you like to post anonymously on the internet? Because the answer is yes, you're overwhelmingly likely to be talking to a dark triad. You're overwhelmingly likely to be talking to a pathological personality, somebody who really likes to stir up trouble and h…”
Brooks: The therapy industrial complex mistakenly wants you to relive trauma
“And again, that's been largely overlooked by the therapy industrial complex that wants you to relive your trauma. No, no, no, no, no, no. You need to reframe and understand your trauma, understanding that you probably weren't the person who was suffering the m…”
Brooks: Using AI as a therapist, lover, or friend causes depression and emptiness
“If you use AI as your therapist or your lover or your friend, It will leave you feeling empty, depressed, and anxious. That's the bottom line.”
Brooks: Happiness and unhappiness are processed in different brain hemispheres
“Happiness and unhappiness are not opposites. They're largely governed in different hemispheres of the brain, as a matter of fact. So to say, if I got rid of the screens and had fewer aggravations and mood disorders, I would be happier. That's wrong. You'd be l…”