Considering Activism and Protesting as a Bucket List Item? Slight Nuances in Your Approach Can Decide Better Brain Health or Psychological Decline.

by Dr. Jeffrey DeSarbo, The Bucket List Doctor

Joining a protest for a cause one believes in is, for many, a meaningful goal to add to one's bucket list. This isn't just about seeking adventure or novelty; a bucket list reflects the desire to act on personal values, step into meaning, and feel one's presence in the world. At its best, protesting can be a profound expression of identity and purpose. Public protests have existed in nearly every civilization, from ancient city forums to modern city streets. They remain one of the most enduring forms of collective human expression. Protests put pressure on systems of power, but more deeply, they let individuals feel they matter. Taking to the streets enables action and agency, transforming helplessness into voice.

Protests also meet fundamental social needs. They create spaces of belonging, where people recognize themselves in others. They reduce isolation by restoring real-world presence, experiences such as eye contact, physical proximity, and synchronized movement, that are increasingly displaced by digital communication. In crowds, we gain access to what sociologist Émile Durkheim once described as collective effervescence: the sensation of being lifted, amplified, and emotionally carried by a shared purpose. And importantly, protests let us fight for something that feels meaningful. Humans are wired to pursue significance, living in ways that affirm their values, identity, and purpose. A protest is a stage for that pursuit.

However, while protests can be psychologically fulfilling, not all forms of protest feel the same internally. Consider, for instance, the subtle but meaningful neuropsychological distinction between protesting for something we hope to build and protesting against something we fear or reject. Both are motivating. Both are valid. Yet they recruit different emotional systems in the brain. Over time, these differences shape our internal experience, either supporting resilience and meaning or pulling us into chronic tension, anger, and fatigue. Understanding this distinction — approach versus avoidance in collective action — helps explain why two protests can appear identical from the outside but feel profoundly different inside the nervous system.

The Brain’s Motivational Dial

Approach-oriented motivation engages the brain’s reward and valuation systems, particularly the ventral striatum and ventromedial prefrontal cortex, which are involved in purpose, anticipation, and the emotional “lean-in” toward something desired.1,2 These systems are heavily influenced by dopamine, a neuromodulator that supports drive, curiosity, and sustained effort.

Avoidance-oriented motivation, by contrast, activates the salience and threat-monitoring systems, including the amygdala, anterior insula, and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex.3,4 These circuits mobilize action when something feels at risk. They are protective, vigilant, and intense. Both circuits are adaptive. But they produce different emotional climates:

Approach (For something)

Ventral striatum & vmPFC

Hopeful, energized, expanding

Sustains meaning and resilience

Avoidance (Against something)

Amygdala, Insula, dACC

Urgent, tense, protective

Can lead to fatigue and chronic stress

Two activists holding signs may look the same to a passerby. Inside, one is moving toward a purpose, while the other is guarding against a threat.

How Meaning is Shaped by Framing

The brain interprets actions through framing. The same external goal can be experienced as building or preventing loss, and this distinction changes neural activation.^1

• “Fund our schools” signals a possibility.
• “Stop cutting our schools” signals danger.

Approach frames amplify reward expectancy and shared hope. Avoidance frames amplify vigilance and shared urgency.3,4 Hope renews itself. Urgency drains.

Moral Emotion as Fuel

Protests are powered by moral emotion. These emotions —empathy, righteous anger, guilt, and pride —activate networks linking the insula, anterior cingulate, and medial prefrontal cortex, allowing values to become action.5,6 Because political values are tied to identity, challenges to those values activate neural networks associated with self-protection.7 This intensity arises because protests are more than just about policies; they are deeply connected to personal and collective identity.

Shared Identity and Neural Synchrony

When people gather in protest around shared meaning, research shows their brain activity begins to synchronize.8 Shared narrative literally aligns neural processing. This is why chanting, singing, and marching in rhythm feel bonding and powerful. Approach-framed protests tend to generate a shared sense of uplift. Avoidance-framed protests tend to generate a shared sense of alertness. Both can unify, but one expands the emotional field, while the other tightens it.

Why This Matters for Psychological Well-Being

Protesting for something tends to support psychological resilience, positive emotional reinforcement, and sustainable motivation^2. Protesting against something can be powerful in the short term, but it can shift the system toward hypervigilance, chronic stress states, and emotional burnout3,4 This is where bucket listing comes in again. Consider, for example, when someone adds “Participate in a protest” to their list. The framing matters: protesting for a hopeful or constructive cause allows the experience to strengthen one's identity, sense of belonging, and purpose. In contrast, protesting solely against something, especially for prolonged periods, can activate and reinforce emotional states that erode well-being.

A bucket list is meant to expand life, not constrict it. The goal is to choose actions that build meaning, connection, vitality, and hope. not just resistance or reactivity. May this article prompt you to reflect on the nuances of how and why you protest. If participating in a protest is on your list, consider choosing one that reflects the world you want to create, rather than only reacting to what you wish to change. You can usually reach the same end results with just an intentional assessment of your approach. 

References

1.De Martino B, Kumaran D, Seymour B, Dolan RJ. Frames, biases, and rational decision-making in the human brain. Science. 2006;313(5787):684-687. PMID: 17008532.

2.Seymour B, Daw ND, Roiser JP, Dayan P, Dolan R. Serotonin selectively modulates reward value in human decision-making. J Neurosci. 2012;32(17):5833-5842. PMID: 22539845.

3.Aupperle RL, Paulus MP. Neural systems underlying approach and avoidance in anxiety. Dialogues Clin Neurosci.2010;12(4):517-531. PMID: 21485744.

4.Mobbs D, Marchant JL, et al. From threat to fear to panic: neural mechanisms of escape decisions. Trends Cogn Sci. 2007;11(1):14-21. PMID: 17129751.

5.Fourie MM, et al. Neural correlates of experienced moral emotion. Neuropsychologia. 2014;64:134-144. PMID: 24530850.

6.Wagner U, N'Diaye K, Ethofer T, Vuilleumier P. Guilt-specific processing in the prefrontal cortex. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2011;6(2):274-281. PMID: 20884753.

7.Kaplan JT, Gimbel SI, Harris S. Neural correlates of maintaining one’s political beliefs in the face of counterevidence. Sci Rep. 2016;6:39589. PMID: 28009065.

8.Katabi N, Goldstein A, et al. Shared neural responses during political content predict intergroup attitudes. J Cogn Neurosci. 2023;35(4):577-592. PMID: 36658290.