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100 CHARACTERISTICS OF BRAIN AND BEHAVIORis embedded in the neural operations of self-regulation in an interpersonal context.If so, then perhaps a scientific understanding of the challenges of interpersonalrelations, such as those encountered by each adolescent brain, may berelevant to clarifying the vagaries of political self-regulation in societies (Freeman,1995). The metamorphosis of individuation may not be limited to adolescentsand their life changes. Similar neural dynamics may determine the balanceof fundamentalist and progressive movements in societies facing the challengesof cultural change. Given the principles of abstract cognitive capacity forgedthrough structural differentiation of cognition by limbic motive engines, we couldconclude that neither right wing nor left wing orientations are adequate for establishingabstract, flexible, and complex structures of self-regulation. In societiesof brains, abstract interpersonal relations—created by the dialectical balance ofattachment and autonomy—may be essential to allow the appreciation of mutualintentionality and mutual perspective to allow a balanced understanding of socialissues.Of course, the laterality of attentional orientation is something of a quirk ofnature. Nonetheless, our leaders line up each day on opposite sides of the politicalaisle, unaware of the neural or psychological basis of their lateral orientations.More generally, both leaders and followers make fundamental decisions about thefate of nations and the Earth, with little understanding of the motivational mechanismsthat shape their attitudes and behavior. In this speculative overview, we haveattempted to trace integral mechanisms of the adolescent brain that give form tothe metamorphosis of self in the social context. The motive biases shaping thelateral orientation of attention appear to reflect an accident of neural evolution, abyproduct of lateral specialization of the bilaterally symmetric vertebrate plan.Still, as they emerge through the course of personality development, these biasesapply integral motive mechanisms within the human neuraxis, shaping the capacityfor balanced, abstract reasoning on social issues.ReferencesBaldwin, D. A. (1989). Priorities in children’s expectations about object label reference:Form over color. Child Development, 60(6), 1291–1306.Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss (Vol. 1). New York: Basic Books.Bowlby, J. (1973). Separation (Vol. 2). New York: Basic Books.Borod, J. C. (1992). Interhemispheric and intrahemispheric control of emotion: A focus onunilateral brain damage. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 60, 339–348.Davidson, R. J., Jackson, D. C., & Kalin, N. H. (2000). Emotion, plasticity, context, andregulation: Perspectives from affective neuroscience. Psychological Bulletin, 126(6),890–909.Davidson, R. J., Schwartz, G. E., Saron, C., Bennett, J., & Goleman, D. J. (1979). Frontalversus parietal EEG asymmetry during positive and negative affect. Psychophysiology,16, 202–203.