Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
position because he was strong and clever enough to lead the tribe in
catching food. Each family had a head, usually the father or the grandfa-
ther if he was still alive. Among the siblings was an age-related hierarchy.
Older siblings took care of the younger ones. In Part 3 of this topic, we
will reuse this tribe structure to create safety behavior. The roles of older
sibling (the experienced and wise colleague), father (direct boss), and tribe
leader (department manager) are especially important. There is no funda-
mental difference between raising children and managing people.
Relationships with the human herd are still active today.
Another tactic of our predecessors was to steal food from another
tribe that was more successful in hunting. In times of food scarcity,
other tribes or clans became enemies. Tribe members learned to make
distinctions between those that belonged to the group and those that
did not, the in-group and the out-group. Even today, members of dif-
ferent departments within the same company can become enemies
when budgets have to be reduced. In our mind-set, safety is strongly
related to the group of people that belongs to us and can be trusted. If
we want to promote safety, the in-group is the best vehicle to do this.
The in-group is most suitable for teaching safety measures.
Summarizing, safety management has a strong social and emotional
component. We create safety together and anxiety is a crucial element
in all risk perception. As far as this risk perception is innate, it must be
programmed for objects or situations that exist in our modern life. We
have to learn the dangers of this world during our life.
2.3 STAGE 3, FROM 2.5 MILLION TO 10 THOUSAND YEARS
AGO
—
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MODERN BRAIN
The third stage started approximately 2.5 million years ago. This is the
period sometimes referred to as the Stone Age. The
Homo sapiens
emerged and developed in this period. We have evidence of human beings
going back to 200 thousand years ago, but they are probably much older.
In this period, the brain developed a third layer called the modern brain,
the neocortex. This system is dedicated to perception and adds cognitions
to what we perceive. Speech, music, geographical orientation, and fine
