The structure of the self (how the behaviour organizes)
According to Freud the motivation/emotion gives rise to behaviour, and determines the investment of energy. He distinguishes the behaviour in affect (for us wave) and in affect’ representation (for us correlated sequence of facts). In the subject who undergone a psychic trauma, the affect and representation do not correspond any more to the same motivation. The affect is invested in other representation or it is repressed (unconscious). If we read the Freud’s doctrine according to the biological theory of the mind, we can assert the emotional intensity, caused by trauma, it acts on the emotional centres RAS (Reticular Activation System), amygdala, limbic system, hypothalamus, hypophysis etc. causing the activation of the Autonomous Nervous System (ANS). The latter gives rise to a cascade of chemical reactions which change the biological substrate and, then, the rhythms of the synaptic speed and the elaboration of the frequencies of the two aspects of energy of both spaces as well. The wave and quantum are unable to synchronize on the reference systems in order to belong to the same image (affect and representation); as a consequence, the answer is incoherent, improper, unfit.
The “out time” of information changes and reduces the knowledge of the self and the context too; simultaneously it changes the affectivity and the need for which the man plans the action. In accordance with the sophists, to define everything it is subjective: the thing does not change, what changes is the subject, the man. A criterion of truth does not exit, on the contrary, it exits a criterion to prefer one thing to the other. The criterion is always the one of the useful, of the need of who subjectively acts.
The neuropsychological studies about unfit, antisocial and criminal behaviour are recent and have a brief history. The first studies in this field started about the year 1970. The research made by Terrie E. Moffit6 and col. It is the example of that. We will take these studies into consideration, because the data pointed out, they underpin also strengthen our theory. The research of these authors lasted along six years, it involved 500 criminals. The main goal was to verify if these subjects had learning difficulties which reducing good results in school, they could increase the probability of criminal behaviours.
In order to facilitate the comparison among various studies, Terrie Maffit and col. decided to assemble the tests in accordance with the cerebral areas whose functions was believed corresponding to the investigated areas: the frontal lobe responsible for answer planning, the parietal lobe responsible for language abilities (by neuroimaging).
Without exceptions, the research’ conclusions pointed out a large number of neuropsychological abnormal profiles in relapsed, persistent criminals. The intellective quotient (IQ) proved also lower in the criminal group than the control one. The Wechsler Adult Intelligent Scale (WAIS) was the evaluation scale. These and others studies stated the prevalence of neuropsychological disfunctions among the criminals and a direct relationship has been deduced between deficit and crime. Slavin7, for example, stress the weight of the deficit in information processing for the etiology of the crime.
The research above mentioned, starting from observation of neuroimaging, points out particular characteristics of these subjects which can be yet explained only by means of the biological theory of the mind (as we will see later): poor self-esteem, relationship difficulties, poor arousal (lack of fear), poor emotion, difficulties in understanding and remembering, poor attention and concentration, inability to plan un intention and to foresee the consequences; also, visual deficits and lack of lateralization were pointed out. Difficulties in learning language was a further data highlighted by these studies.
The current research, unlike our, does not admit the casual link between verbal competence and abnormal neuropsychological profile. In fact, the neuroimaging cannot survey the phases 1 and 2 of the cognitive process so that it considers the language to be native. According to Bernardini Alba8, the language is a cognitive process, it depends on ability’s subject to perceive the own internal space, the own self. The language is made up by conventional signs which “represent” the perceived object and, like that, it is represented by a series of abstractions of two aspects of energy caused by the object’ conscious perception in phase I and 2 of the cognitive process. For these reasons, the language cannot be considered as the criteria to evaluate others abilities because it itself is an ability. The autistic subjects, for example, who are unable to perceive in a conscious way the own body’ energy, they have language difficulties and are unable to speech in the more severe cases. For the same reasons they are unable to relate each other, to socialize. For them it is impossible to use their own body as a reference system and the proprioception as a constant, what joins all of individuals.
The language is not native, also, it is not a first cause. On the contrary, really the autistics show the first cause is the conscious perception of the energy of the own internal space/body. To the latter we have to pay our attention in educative and re-educative fields.
According to us, the inability to understand and memorize is the most significative data the research shows, it summarizes and explains all of the others. In accordance with our theory, the memory is possible only if the information of the two spaces and of the two aspects of energy synchronizes in the unit of time on the reference systems and becomes part of the neuronal maps, it acquires meaning and consciousness, pas from objective to subjective.
The lack of memory/consciousness is responsible for reduction of arousal and emotion as well. With the term of the arousal we are used to understand the alert state which precedes the pre-established action or behaviour. Before every action the nervous system NS, on the basis of the previous experiences, activates a number of neuronal cells in the Promotor area PMA (frontal lobe), which the subject deems necessary to the same action. The number of the activated cells, in the unit of time, it will be as much larger and selective as more the ability of memory and attention will be developed. This is effective for both aspects of energy.
We hold the CNS organizes the answer on a spatial image/wave memorized, abstracted and generalized through motor experience, in which, evaluated the space coordinates in the unit of time in virtue of proprioception assumed as a constant, it inserts the temporal information (quantum) correlated and connected all of it memorized, abstracted and generalized as well (Bernardini A.9 ).
In the case of perceptive deficit, the right hemisphere (RH wave), which activates before of the left hemisphere (LH quantum), it is unable to guess the neuronal, useful pathway in the unit of time, as well as the left hemisphere is unable to put the quantum information correlated and connected in the wave in the unit of time. For that the arousal lessens as well as fear and emotivity.
As above seen, emotion (Eros) and consciousness (Logos) characterize the human intelligence, the behaviour of these subjects, in addition to poor intelligence, it will highlight poor consciousness and emotion as well.
What we have so far discussed it explains the unfit and/or aggressive, violent behaviour.
In this context we do not want to discuss again about data pertinent to Moffit’ research, on the contrary, we want to come back to the causes which give rise to the lack of synchronism between the information of the two spaces (internal, external). The “out of time” can happen, in addition to the psychic trauma, how Freud widely demonstrated, also as a consequence of neurological insults, of visual perceptive deficits or the proprioceptive ones due to genetic causes like in autistic subjects, for example.
The causes, therefore, can depend on deficits own of the subject and/or can be caused by the relationship between subject and environment.
In accordance with Maffit and col., we want to highlight and vigorously confirm that:
- in order to adjust oneself to surroundings good abilities for information processing are necessary. The socialization process, for example, does not depend only in the child’ social context, as the current research asserts, but also on cognitive abilities.
- These abilities organize through motor experiences and not by a representation of an independent reality.
The self of which we are speaking, therefore, it corresponds to the conscious perception the subject has of his internal space/body whose he takes consciousness consequently to his motor experiences in the correlation with the external environment, the other included.
The self builds through motor experiences in the external space, the body is the reference system and the unit of measure to know the environment and to adjust oneself to it. The conscious behaviour is possible only if the subject will be able to perceive in a conscious way the own space/body.