Aversion to Uncertainty

Ask anyone how they feel toward uncertainty and you'll get a consistent response that we humans don't like it. We want life to be predictable. We hate ambivalence. When things are uncertain, we even become stressed. We feel an inner drive to resolve the uncertainty and rid ourselves of the accompanying feeling of anxiety.

Some recent, very cleverly-planned research sheds light on what's going on in our heads when we face uncertainty. Scientists have known for a long time that when we feel uncertain, our stress level increases. Recent studies have shown that dopamine in the brain plays a big role in this aversion of ours to uncertainty.

Science has previously shown that when good things happen, dopamine floods our brain, causing us to feel pleasure. This release of brain chemicals induces us to seek more of the good stuff and thus get more dopamine release—it literally propels us into action. This can cause addiction, when we become captive of the drive for more pleasure. What's fascinating is that the part of the brain—the “reward center” or striatum—that responds to the influx of dopamine and activates us to go for more of the good stuff, is the same place that propels us to run away from the bad stuff. In either case, dopamine plays a role. Whether our brain predicts good or bad outcomes, we feel the urge to act.

What this recent research shows is that when our brain cannot predict (either good or bad) outcomes, we stress out. The uncertainty creates anxiety. As an example, suppose you are driving across town for an important appointment. If you left early and traffic is light, you will arrive in plenty of time. Well before you arrive, it's certain that you'll be there on schedule, so you can relax and focus your attention on the impending meeting. In contrast, if you left a little later and got caught in a traffic jam, it becomes certain that you'll be late, so you might as well let go of anxiety and put your attention to how you'll deal with missing the appointment. You can even start working on your excuse. But if it's nip and tuck; if the traffic is very heavy and maybe getting worse, and it's really uncertain whether you'll make it or not, your stress level climbs.

It's kind of a control issue. If I'm convinced that either I'll win or lose in a situation—if I either have control or I don't—I feel less stress and maybe even not necessarily have a motive to act. I'll either coast to a win or concede defeat. Either way, I accept the situation. But if I'm uncertain of success or failure—if my ability to control the situation is up in the air—I feel anxious and I will be driven to take some kind of action, in an attempt to gain control.

Evolution has instilled this aversion to uncertainty in us. All animals—including Homo sapiens—need to take action when the situation is unpredictable. So there's good reason for the stress we experience: it's telling us to do something. Our survival can depend upon our transforming that unpredictability into certainty, and thus lower our stress and get on with life.

Sylvan Sanity

When I moved from the big city to the country, over a quarter-century ago, most of my urban companions and cohorts thought I had worked a few screws loose in my cranium. They were puzzled by my desire to trade a good job and the cultural assets of the city for the loneliness, hard labor, and fiscal uncertainty of the boondocks. I could only respond unconvincingly to them that it was just something I had a strong urge to do. How could I persuade them, when I was almost as naïve about sylvan life as they were? A few of them seemed to have a wee bit of appreciation for my courage, but most of them, I was sure, considered it a foolish move, and probably expected me soon to retreat back to the comforts of city life.

At the time it seemed to me that urban life was endangering my mental and physical health, and a move to the boondocks could be a healing step for me. As it has turned out, life out here has certainly been a physical challenge and finances have had to be carefully managed. Nonetheless I've never experienced any desire to go back, and I've felt that my health definitely benefited from the move. But how do I really know that's true? I can't live out two simultaneous separate lives and then later compare them. Besides, there's a tendency for one to make a life-changing decision and then later justify it as a wise move.

Now, after all these years, I get some kind of independent verification. Unbiased scientific research has recently shown that “the brains of people living in cities operate differently from those in rural areas,” according to a study just conducted at the University of Heidelberg. I'm willing to allow that German brains are wired similarly to American brains, so the results should apply to me too.

The German researchers noted that previous research findings (before they began their study) had already shown that city life increased three mental disorders over country life by: (1) 21% for anxiety disorders, (2) 39% for mood disorders, and (3) 100% for schizophrenia. Those numbers alone impress me! But what the Heidelberg professors wanted to know is why this was so. That was the aim of their research.

In these days when brain scans are routinely done for most any human study, the German scientists examined the brains of two groups of volunteers (city dwellers and country folks) who were put under artificially-induced stress in the lab. They found that two areas of the brain were far more active in city dwellers: the amygdala and the cingulate cortex. The amygdala is the danger-sensor of the brain and is linked to anxiety and depression. The cingulate cortex is important for controlling emotion and dealing with environmental stress.

The researchers noted that these areas of the brain are very sensitive to developmental stress, and that cities are “known for a greater demanding and stressful social environment” than rural locations. Other similar studies have demonstrated that stress is aggravated in the city by “social threats, lack of control, and subordination.”

So maybe I am better off having come out here! Certainly, I recognize that all types of personalities do not suffer from living in the city. Some thrive on the excitement of urban life. The frantic pace there, however, certainly seemed to be increasing my stress level. It's nice to discover all these years later that I may not have had a screw loose, but just needed the peace and quiet of the sylvan life.