Unpredictable harm damages organisms more than predictable but greater harm

Evidence

The pattern that emerged from these findings was not random. In each case, the brain region most affected was the region most heavily involved in processing the specific type of adversity at the specific developmental stage when it occurred. The visual cortex processes the faces of threatening people. The language areas process threatening verbal communication. The somatosensory cortex processes the tactile experience of abuse. … The sensitive-periods framework explained why the same general adversity — growing up in a household where one is hit, humiliated, or frightened — produces somewhat different neurological signatures in different people: the specific timing of the adversity shapes which neural systems are most affected, because different neural systems have different sensitive periods during which they are most plastic and most vulnerable to experience-dependent alteration. — , The Rod and the Child, 9655 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Different adversities alter brain regions matched to the developmental stage of harm — , The Rod and the Child: A Global History…, 9655; Small-probability threats are superior to large certain threats in compellence — Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, 442; Frequent ‘disasters’ select for traits while rare ‘catastrophes’ mostly just decrease fitness — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 95

Related

• Different adversities alter brain regions matched to the developmental stage of harm (similarity 0.89)

Broader Connections

• Different adversities alter brain regions matched to the developmental stage of harm #expands (0.72) — , The Rod and the Child, 9655