by IF you think about where “science” happens, you might picture a lab with people in white coats looking into microscopes. You probably don’t think of a messy bedroom that sparks arguments between teens and parents. But the science is very much involved – the science of conflict.
A new mini-exhibition currently on view at the Glasgow Science Center focuses on the science of conflict – and how families can calm arguments when they get serious.
The mini-exhibition showcases the work of the Cyrenians Scottish Center for Conflict Resolution (SCCR). Cyrenians’ goal is to address the causes and consequences of homelessness. Knowing that there are many ways to become homeless, Cyrenians offers services that address homelessness from multiple angles.
The mission of one such service, the SCCR, is to prevent youth homelessness. Every year in Scotland 5,000 young people are declared homeless, a number almost the equivalent of five high school children. Just remember! The most common reason young people leave home is the failure of a relationship.
With a focus on conflict resolution, mediation and early intervention work, SCCR equips young people and their families with the skills to amicably end disputes through tips and techniques available free of charge on their website and through events in schools, in the community and online. For events of different lengths, seats can be reserved via the SCCR website.
When parents and carers and young people know a little about the science of conflict, when they can see their arguments as part of a developmental cycle that all people go through, it tends to take some of the heat out of the situation.
With the help of scholars, filmmakers, web developers and illustrators, over the past nearly decade the SCCR has created a series of eye-catching digital resources that take a whimsical and easy-to-understand look at conflict studies. They can be found on the SCCR’s website by clicking on the Brainy Stuff tab.
Take Cranial Cocktail, for example, which was inspired by the Glasgow Science Center’s Cortical Homunculus exhibition. The word homunculus literally translates from Latin as little man, but here it refers to our inner man.
Cranial Cocktail offers people the opportunity to meet their emotional homunculus, the part of the brain that uses feelings and emotions to decide how we act and react. It illustrates a range of emotional states – ‘anxious and anxious’, ‘freezing and shutting down’ – by showing how they affect the body physically – such that when we feel the fight or flight emotion, our body moves our legs prioritizes arms, heart and lungs (with its illustration showing the homunculus with giant limbs), while when we rest and digest, our stomach and brain dominate (with the drawing of this homunculus large on the abdomen and head).
Below the illustrations are the different brain chemicals that create those emotional states you may have heard of, such as dopamine, adrenaline, and serotonin. Together, these chemicals form the cranial cocktails behind each of the states we feel.
As part of the mini-exhibition, the various developments of the SCCR emerge from the screen to create eye-catching dioramas. In addition to the Cranial Cocktail resources, visitors to the science center will encounter Monkey vs. Lizard, where an interactive quiz checks where your mind sits on an evolutionary spectrum that stretches from the empathetic mammalian to the more reactionary reptilian brain.
#KeepTheHeid uses circus characters to illustrate different temperaments and explores how we—or don’t—manage anger.
The most recent development, The Three Brains, explores the mind-body connection and uses the metaphor of a rock band to understand how the harmony of the brain, heart and gut can help build resilience in your emotional and mental health , so that you can make decisions that strengthen rather than weaken family ties.
Visitors to the Science Center will find the mini exhibit on the ground floor, where it will remain for the time being. For those interested in learning more about conflict science and resolving harmful arguments, tablets will be attached to the mini-exhibit, allowing the public to try out SCCR’s quizzes and resources for themselves. The mini exhibit also has QR codes that take your phone straight to the SCCR website.
With 5,000 young people becoming homeless each year, we must seize every opportunity to give young people and families the tools to improve relationships – and there is no doubt about that.
To learn more about the Scottish Cyrenian Conflict Resolution Center visit scottishconflictresolution.org.uk
