Parents are forever asking us: “Can Self-Reg help me with my child’s challenging behaviours? Nothing I say or do seems to help.” Self-Reg will indeed make a difference—a huge one—in dealing with problems like explosive behaviour, aggression, defiance, tantrums, persistent crying, bouts of frenzy and constant arguing. But to address these issues we need to learn about the crucial distinction that Self-Reg draws between Blue Brain, Red Brain, and Gray Brain. Blue Brain Red Brain balance is the key.
Paul MacLean’s Triune Brain: Blue Brain, Red Brain, Gray Brain
This way of thinking goes back to Paul MacLean’s Triune Brain hypothesis that three different brains evolved in different epochs to serve the needs of radically different kinds of species. The oldest brain is the Reptilian. It was designed for solitary creatures to regulate their motor actions and metabolic functions and keep them safe when threatened. In Self-Reg, we refer to this as Gray Brain.
Next in MacLean’s model was the Paleomammalian brain, or in Self-Reg, the Red Brain. This brain developed to deal with the complex demands of social existence: raising babies, primitive emotions, relationships with group members, spotting enemies, kicking the Gray Brain into action when spotting threats, and remembering these occasions for future reference.
Finally, there is the “neocortex” or the new brain. It supports our ability to think, plan, listen, speak and be consciously aware of what’s going on inside and around us. This is what we refer to in Self-Reg as Blue Brain.
Self-Reg and the Triune Brain
Self-Reg draws on MacLean’s Triune model because of the light it sheds on the difference between rational, irrational, and non-rational behaviour. The key for parents struggling with any kind of behaviour that they find challenging is to consider whether their child is in Blue Brain/rational, Red Brain/irrational, or Gray Brain/non-rational. This can help us understand which neural processes are dominant, and how to respond accordingly.
Blue Brain and Red Brain processes are inextricably intertwined. The question is not, which one of these brains is “switched on or off” but rather, which is dominant. So much emotion permeates our thinking; so much of our thinking influences what we feel. Swing too far in one direction and we don’t feel anything. Swing too far in the other and what we feel is overwhelming. If one were searching for a suitable metaphor here, it would be that of a teeter-totter, rather than a heating system in which either the furnace or the AC is on.
Seeking Blue Brain Red Brain Balance
Why is it “balance” that we should seek, and not, as many often think, absolute Blue Brain dominion: i.e., self-control? The answer: children are at their most curious and receptive when Blue and Red Brain are working smoothly together. Energy expenditure and recovery finely counter-balanced each other. This promotes, not just digestion, cellular repair and a robust immune system, but emotion and social co-regulation, cognitive and prosocial development.
Each brain serves as a “brake” on the other. When a child goes “into Red Brain,” the teeter-totter gets stuck on hypo- or hyperarousal. This is where strong primitive emotions rule and the Blue Brain is left with its feet dangling in the air. However, we can avoid this by self-distraction or “reappraisal.” These are Blue Brain functions that can turn off the limbic alarm or help us to resist a harmful temptation.
At the same time, the Blue Brain can be an energy hog. So a system deep inside the Red Brain, that monitors blood glucose levels, will shut down a Blue Brain activity when it doesn’t have enough sense to do so on its own. The Blue Brain is the seat of internal and external awareness, but the Red Brain can tamp this down when it’s beneficial to do so (e.g. on a long portage).
In other words, well-being requires both “brains” to work together and not against one another. Blue Brain without Red Brain is Data in Star Trek. Red Brain without Blue Brain is, well, a child with challenging behaviours. The secret to dealing with the latter is to avoid sending your child into “cacostasis”: i.e., a Gray Brain, non-rational state of fight, flight or freeze. And that is where Self-Reg comes in.
The Role of Self-Reg
Self-Reg helps us recognize the signs that tell us when children are slipping out of the zone of optimal arousal (the “Window of Tolerance”): that is, out of Blue Brain Red Brain balance. Being able to know when this is happening, and why, enables us to “move the child’s fulcrum.” She then finds stress invigorating rather than overwhelming. That is, she is sufficiently aroused to deal with a challenge but not so aroused that she shuts down or becomes manic.
Children and teens will eventually have to learn how to “move their fulcrums” on their own. But mastering the art of self-regulation is much more challenging for some children than others. That is the real significance of “challenging behaviours.” And that’s why Self-Reg makes such a huge difference in how we respond.
Learn more through our Self-Reg Foundations Program & Reframing Stress Behaviour with Gray Brain Science Program.
17 Comments
Understanding the concept of blue brain, and red brain puts into perspective how the brain influences our and our students’ emotions, their behavior.
Yes, our knowledge as educators of the three types of brains helps us respond in the best way possible to our students’ behaviors and thereby avoiding the worsening of the situation. Understanding the 3 brains helps us to respond to the different behaviors without escalating that behavior. Many, a time we, as educators and School leaders, cause more harm than good by our unmatched response to either student’s behavior or teachers’ behavior because we do not understand Red Brains, Blue Brains and Gray Brains as hypothesized by Macleans.
Thanks Geoffrey for sharing. Are there some specific examples where this comes to mind? I would love to hear more.
Aviva
Learning and understanding Red Brain, Blue Brain Brown Brain. Balance is key, and then the calm.
Thanks for sharing, Yvette! Can you expand on your thinking a bit here when you say, “Balance is key, and then the calm?” I’d love to hear more.
Aviva
The concepts of Red Brains, Blue Brains and Gray Brains are all new to me, but make a lot of sense. I agree with Geoffrey, “our knowledge as educators of the three types of brains helps us respond in the best way possible to our students’ behaviors and thereby avoiding the worsening of the situation.” In addition, we will also be empowered to guide learners in appropriate directions on a timely basis.
Understanding the background to our behaviors, I believe could be a pivoting points from which we can diagnose the brain status of a learners.
Thanks for your comment, George! I keep returning to your second paragraph. How do you that “understanding the background to our behaviors,“ helps?
Aviva
This information is so easy to understand (how it is presented, metaphors and all), but the real challenge, is to learn to identify it in oneself, then help the staff to do the same so that they can help children to “move their own fulcrums” in the future. The adults who work with children also have to stay very much in tune with the day-to-day experiences of their students since there are so many factors that influence the balance between blue and red brain, let alone gray brain. As much as it is important to build a relationship with students, be in two-way communication with parents/guardians and/or caregivers is also crutial. Just last week, an EA escorted three students into the office (Grade 3). She shared that one of the three students had choked a second and punched the third. She also shared that the student who had done the choking was someone she had a close relationship with and noted that she was seeing an escallation in his behaviour this week and she was very worried about him. THe EA and I met with the student who had done the choking and we got very close, it seemed/felt, to him revealing harm being done to him at home, but then, he switched his story and reported that the issues were stemming from home. Both the EA and I informed him that we were going to keep checking on him (as we still believe something is causing him to be in his gray brain, and so our approach was very different from what he would have experienced by the staff member who simply saw him choke another student and directed him to go with the EA into the office to presumably (in his mind) “get in trouble”. We took the getting in trouble part off the table, and tried to use our close relationship with him to share what might be going on at home. I am so glad that I moved into administration in order to better meet the needs of some of our most vulnerable students and their families … however, saying that, there’s so much pressure to be “efficient” with students as an admiistrator (and the line does grow while I am with one which creates new problems for the office staff and others, BUT considering that this will potentially be a call to CAS as soon as this student feels safe enough to talk … with me or the EA, I will continue to prioritize this student and the EA this coming week and for as long as it takes to eventually rule out/confirm what we suspect is harm being done to him by someone at home.
This learning is SO critical to my role as a VP and it is learning that must start with the adults. So relvant and so timely!!
Thank you so much Lisa for your comment and for sharing this story! It makes me so happy to know that there is another administrator out there who prioritizes Self-Reg and relationships. I would love to hear how things go. I wonder if your approach will also inspire others to take the time to connect with students (and staff), figure out the root causes of problems, and problem solve together. What do you think?
Aviva
This concept is very new to me as a school nurse, we don’t get involved much when it comes to this level of awareness. I can however relate this to a nurse’s intuitive process. When a student comes to the health center, they may be in the red brain state. They’ve ducked into the red brain state as protective mechanism to remove themselves from a perceived threat, this threat could be anything from having an extremely embarrassing moment to vomiting in front of everyone in the classroom. Both situations although they address different realms of wellness, influence a similar reaction and from what I can perceive from my reading, they activate being in the red brain.
Thanks for sharing your thinking and a bit about your experiences. I wonder how this knowledge impacts on how we respond to people in this situation. What do you think?
Aviva
Understanding the concepts of the red brain, blue brain, and grey brain will help me support children’s self-regulation on a daily basis. It’s just trying to make sure i am regulated in order to support them the best that i can. I understand that The “red brain” represents a state of emotional overwhelm—fight, flight, or freeze, where logical thinking is offline. The “blue brain” symbolizes a calm, regulated state where children are capable of learning, reasoning, and connecting socially. The “grey brain” is a neutral or disengaged state, sometimes associated with boredom or being shut down. When you are in moment and when situations happen hourly, i find supporting students means recognizing these states and helping children transition toward their blue brain through, taking time, listening and looking at the situation where i am not judgemental, consistency in our class routines, emotional co-regulation, and safe, supportive relationships. Relationships, relationships, relationship with child and whanau.
Daily strategies we include are visual cues, a calming space, headphones, providing movement breaks, offering choices, and modeling calm responses, We want to empower tamariki to develop self-awareness and self-regulation skills when they can.
i also want our tamariki to feel loved and safe.
Nga Mihi
Thanks for your comment, Astee! This line really resonated with me: “It’s just trying to make sure i am regulated in order to support them the best that i can.” What are some things that you do to help self-regulate? I would love to hear more!
Aviva
We have had PLD with a guy Jacob, who been teaching us about the brain. Red, Blue, Green brain. It has help us at work, to work alongside our (tamariki) Children at kura (school). It has helped us heaps in our line off work.
Thanks for sharing, Ana! I would love to hear more about how this has helped you. Can you share any more details? I wonder how valuable this would be for others too.
Aviva
The analogy of the red and blue brain make it so much easy for all age groups to understand. I am looking forward to adding those analogies in our story time.
I’m positive that even our 3 year old’s understand that Mortimer’s parents are in a red brain state!
Thanks for your comment! I love your connection with the story, Mortimer. I think you might be right. I wonder if connecting these ideas to texts and experiences for younger kids might help them also understand some of their feelings more.
Aviva