The Molecule of More

THE MOLECULE OF MORE

The scientists found a direct relationship between receptor density and
personal engagement. High density was associated with a high level of
emotional detachment. In a separate study, people who had the highest
detachment scores described themselves as “cold, socially aloof, and vin-
dictive in their relationships.” By contrast, those with the lowest detach-
ment scores described themselves as “overly nurturing and exploitable.”
Most people have personalities that fall somewhere between the
highest and lowest scores on the detachment scale. We’re neither aloof
nor overly nurturing. How we react depends on the circumstances.
If we’re engaged with the peripersonal—up close, in direct contact,
focused on the present moment—H&N circuits are activated, and the
warm, emotional aspects of our personality come out. When we’re
engaged in the extrapersonal—at a distance, thinking abstractly,
focused on the future—the rational, emotionless parts of our personal-
ity  are  more likely to  be  seen. These two  different ways of thinking are 
illustrated by the ethics dilemma called “the trolley problem”:

A runaway train hurtles down the tracks toward a group of five workers.

If nothing is done, they will all die. It’s possible, however, to stop the train

by pushing a bystander onto the tracks. His death will slow down the train

enough to save the five workers. Would you push the bystander onto the tracks?

In this scenario, most people would be unable to push the bystander
onto the tracks—unable to kill a person with their own hands even to
save  the lives  of five  other people. The  H&N neurotransmitters in  play 
are responsible for generating empathy for others and will overwhelm
dopamine’s calculated reason in most people. The H&N reaction is so
strong in this situation because we’re so close, right in the peripersonal
zone. We  would have to  actually put  our  hands on  the victim as  we 
send him to his death. That would be impossible for all but the most
detached person.
But  since H&N’s strongest influence is  in  the  peripersonal space—in 
the  immediate realm of what the  five  senses tell  us—what would happen 
if we moved back, one step at a time, incrementally diminishing H&N’s
influence on  our  decision? Does our  willingness—our ability—to trade