Hard-wired to forget traumatizing moments much faster than happy moments
By – Piyoosh Rautela
You and I, both have something in common. We both are hard-wired by evolution to forget and for that matter, we tend to forget unpleasant and traumatizing moments much faster than happy moments.
You might find it hard to believe.
So, just close your eyes for a moment and try recalling something from your childhood.
What really could you recollect?
- Memories of some gift, prize or appreciation you received?
- Your birthday celebration?
- Some festive celebration in the family? or
- Happy moments visiting some place or relative?
But your childhood would have been much more than just that. There would certainly be some traumatic, unhappy, unpleasant, and sad moments as well.
Why could you not recall those traumatic moments?
Those memories have perhaps been erased or buried somewhere deep.
And it is not just about childhood memories.
An earthquake quiz
You might claim to know your place or region quite well, together with major incidences that have transpired therein. If so, what if I enquire about previous devastating earthquakes in your region?
If you are from Maharashtra or Gujarat you might remember the 1993 Latur or 2001 Bhuj earthquakes.
If you live in Uttarakhand you are likely to recollect memories of the 1991 Uttarkashi or 1999 Chamoli earthquakes.
If from Sikkim or the northeast, you can remember the 2011 Sikkim Earthquake.
If from Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh you could recall your memories of the 2005 Muzaffarabad Earthquake.
If from Uttar Pradesh or Bihar, you are sure to remember the tremors and ground shaking of the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake or Dolakha Earthquake that followed it on 12 May 2015.
But then, these were not the only earthquakes to rattle your region. There have been many more violent and devastating earthquake incidences in your region before all these that you remember or could recollect.
For that matter how many of you could recall Rann of the Kutch Earthquake of 16 June 1819 or the Garhwal Earthquake of 1 September 1803?
I am sure that even those living in Gujrat or Uttarakhand don’t have any memory of these earthquakes.
Isn’t that surprising?
Fading affect bias
Really speaking there is nothing wrong with people or their memory.
This is how we are programmed – evolution has hard-wired us to forget painful and traumatic memories.
Psychologists call this fading affect bias but for this, we would have remained engrossed forever with the pain, trauma and sorrow of one single devastating incidence, and moving ahead with routine livelihood chores would have become extremely difficult.
So, evolution has programmed us to overcome this handicap, and you can call this the therapy provided to us by nature.
Poor record keeping
Despite fading affect bias, the historical record could have helped us refresh memories of previous devastating incidences.
But then, we have been poor at that as well.
It is clear from the very fact that for getting to know information on the state of affairs during Harshvardhan’s reign we have to consult the records left behind by Hiuen Tsang.
Similarly, we are forced to consult the narratives of Fa Hein if we have to comment on anything on life and social affairs during the time of Chandragupta.
And believe me, these are not some stray examples. We really have no historical record of what transpired – good or bad. Therefore it is no surprise that we have no record of disasters that took place in this region in the past.
I and you, therefore have no knowledge or memory of these.
Storytellers par excellence
Being a poor historian does not however imply that we lack writing skills. We just did not have a tradition of historical record-keeping.
No denying the fact that we were storytellers par excellence.
I often wonder how those storytellers could manage to create so many distinct characters, keep track of their moods and temperaments,s and maintain the continuity of incidents. It is hard to do so even presently, despite a number of computer software available to help us.
To better appreciate this, just recollect any film you have recently seen.
How many prominent characters can you recollect from that film?
5, 10, or 15 ?
Against this just think of Mahabharat. How many distinct characters can you recollect?
Bhishma, Gandhari, Kunti, Dronacharya, Shakuni, Draupadi, Shikhandi, Dhtitrashtra, Karna, Dushasan, Ashwatthama, Jayadrath, Duryodhan, Abhimanyu, and the list would be endless even if you leave apart Krishna and the Pandavas.
And there is vivid detail attached to each and every one of these to the extent that their weapons and conch shells have been assigned distinct names. Moreover, there are stories further elaborating on their character.
And Mahabharat is only one amongst many that our ancestors created.
Hazard perception lacking
However, good storytellers, we are, lacking historical recordkeeping amalgamated with fading affect bias completely blurs our hazard perception.
So, most of us have no idea as to what all hazards have taken place in our surroundings in the past.
This has two distinct implications.
Firstly, with a lack of historical data, hazard assessments done meticulously is likely to deviate from reality. This is evident from incidences wherein masses have been taken by surprise and hazard maps had to be revised after major incidences. The seismic Zonation Map was actually revised after both the 1993 Latur and 2001 Bhuj earthquakes and is again under revision presently.
Secondly, with no previous memory of devastating incidences, the attitude of the masses becomes highly casual towards disaster safety measures. This enhances their vulnerability and it is no surprise that they are hit hard by hazards.
The solution
The solution lies in digging out records or previous disasters taking the masses into confidence and reminding them of the devastation that these have caused in their region previously.
We have to, at the same time, put in place a system with a mechanism of authentically recording disaster-induced losses.
Believe me, we are doing nothing for this.
As on date but for human life loss count, there is no system for recording other disaster-induced losses and the data of economic losses is pathetically off the mark as no attempt is ever made to evaluate the quantum of economic losses, except that of some states owned assets for which assistance in admissible out of SDRF.
The figures often projected as being disaster-induced economic loss, actually relate to relief and not to actual economic losses. Lacking data makes justifying investment on prevention and mitigation difficult, as there are no figures to project as a return on investment.
Moreover, the vulnerability functions of damaged infrastructure and properties are not known. No one therefore knows if the losses were due to the inherent vulnerability of the lost structures or the increased magnitude of the hazard. This is a major hindrance in disaster risk reduction.
Awareness can indeed help and make masses aware of hazards they are exposed to, their vulnerability to these hazards, and ways and means of reducing the risk.
If done in a planned, well-programmed, and sustained manner this is sure to bring forth voluntary compliance of disaster safety, risk reduction, and risk transfer measures and lead us toward resilience.
This is however not as easy as put forth.
Well well-planned and programmed, aggressive and sustained mass awareness campaign has to be carried out for a long time; for our attitude towards hazards is not going to change overnight or by piecemeal interventions.
(The post Hard-wired to forget appeared first on the Risk Prevention Mitigation and Management Forum.)