Pulling a gun's trigger can be an appalling act. But if it is suicidal drawing fire to save someone, it has an utterly different meaning. Placing your hand on someone's arm can be an act of deep compassion or the first step of betrayal. The punch line? It's all about context, and the biology of context is vastly more complicated than the biology of the behavior itself.
Robert M. SapolskyWhat happened in the milliseconds before a behavior to cause it? That's in the neurobiological realm.
Robert M. SapolskyWhat happened during the minutes before? That's the realm of sensory stimuli of the nervous system.
Robert M. SapolskyWe all seek out stress. We hate the wrong kinds of stress but when it's the right kind, we love it - we pay good money to be stressed by a scary movie, a roller coaster ride, a challenging puzzle.
Robert M. Sapolsky