The instinctual fear and suspicion of anything that is different to us or our ingroup may have once aided human survival, but in a world of eight billion humans and finite volume of habitable land it is cause for division and conflict. Imaging studies on political orientation have shown that the part of the brain associated with the processing of fear and negative emotion, the right amygdala, is enlarged in participants who align with conservative political attitudes. A greater volume in the amygdala is associated with heightened sensitivity and bias toward threat. Further studies show that political conservativism is associated with “low effort thought”; that is, a lack of engagement with the brains’ higher executive functions. Anti-intellectualism, prohibition of critical thought, lack of social cooperation and the inflammation of the fear related to difference are all factors keeping conservative politicians in power.

A study by Hall et al. (2015) discovered that women engineers reported greater levels of mental exhaustion and social identity threat on days they had conversations with male engineers (but not female colleagues) which “cued feelings of incompetence and a lack of acceptance.” Our critical voice is composed of feelings of social identity threat and are often imitations of the sexist projections of individuals in the social environment. The crux of imposter syndrome lies in the feeling of not belonging, and of not being ‘good enough’, so we must remind ourselves of the unique value, voice and experience we bring to any situation.

Humanity is consuming Earth’s biological resources at a rate that is well beyond its means, driven by the capitalist economic system at the foundation of human society which encourages over-consumption of finite resources to ensure the stability of that economic system. Maintaining a system that compromises the future survival and quality of life for the species is not true moral leadership, and it defies not only logic, a trait humans are thought to be uniquely capable of, but the biologically hardwired instinct of all animals to survive.