Social Buchzusammenfassung - das Wichtigste aus Social

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Zusammenfassung von Social

Name: Social
Rating: 4.3 (97 reviews)
Author: Matthew D. Lieberman

Matthew D. Lieberman

Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect

4.3 (97 Bewertungen)

18 Min.

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Personality

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Social
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What’s in it for me? Gain insight into the importance of sociality.

What makes you who you are? One answer is the “self” – that set of consciously held preferences, ideas and desires which molds your character and sets you apart from others. It’s a well-established idea but is it true?

That’s one of the questions psychologist Daniel Lieberman asks in Social. Drawing on his own path-breaking research with functional magnetic resonance imaging or fMRI scans and the latest neuroscientific evidence, he reaches a slightly different conclusion. What really defines us, genetically and culturally, is our sociality.

And the urge to connect with others – the desire to be more than an isolated island – is pretty much hardwired into us from birth. In fact, as Lieberman shows, the ability to think socially and “read” other people’s minds is one of the most important parts of our early development. More importantly still, it’s our best bet for happiness and success.

Read on to learn:

why volunteering at a local charity might make you happier than a pay raise;
how we learn how to “read” other people’s intentions and desires; and
why self-restraint is such an important social factor.

Our brains have a built-in passion for thinking socially.

In 1997, Gordon Schulman and his colleagues at Washington University published a scientific paper which looked at an unusual question about the human brain. What, they asked, is it up to when it’s not engaged in any specific task? The answer was surprising. When we’re resting, a part of the brain known as the “default network” springs into action. So what’s going on – why would our minds turn on when we’re switching off?

Well, that’s where “social thinking” comes into play. When we’re unoccupied, we often end up idly mulling over our place in the social order and our relationships with other people. Scientists call that social cognition. Research indicates that it’s always the same region of the brain that turns on when we’re engaged in that type of mental activity, suggesting that the human mind comes equipped with a special tool to help us understand social affairs.

According to the author, the default network is a product of evolution that automatically nudges us into using our downtime to dwell on human interaction. Take newborn babies, for example. Research shows that their default networks are already active long before they’re able to consciously reflect on the world around them.

As a result we spend an extraordinary amount of time contemplating social interaction. How much? Well, let’s start with an article published in the journal Human Nature in 1997, which found that a good 70 percent of what we talk about is directly related to social matters. If we then make the pretty conservative estimate that our default networks are active for at least 20 percent of the 15 hours we’re awake each day, that leaves us with three hours a day spent on social thinking.

To put that into perspective, consider Malcolm Gladwell’s famous claim in his book Outliers that it takes 10,000 hours of practice before we become experts in any given area. That would mean that every one of us is a bonafide expert on social living by the age of just ten!

Human brains naturally encourage social connection, which is why social pain hurts so much.

The human brain is a complex machine capable of generating amazing ideas. But it takes time before it can accomplish such feats – after all, childbirth would be virtually impossible if the brain were fully formed from the start. We enter the world with immature brains that need tender care if they’re to develop properly. And that’s why our social needs are so important.

Newborn children simply aren’t capable of taking care of themselves. We don’t just need food and water to survive in our youngest years – we also need someone to provide them for us. That makes care the most important human need. Luckily, all mammals have a pretty neat way of making sure they get that: they can cry when they perceive that the connection with their primary caregiver is threatened.

The ability to understand the thoughts and feelings of others allows our social endeavors to thrive.

What would your dream coworker be like? Chances are, an ability to intuitively understand your actions and work seamlessly together with you would rank pretty high on any list of desirable characteristics. It’s not just an idle fantasy, however. In fact, humans read each other’s minds – to a certain extent, at least – all the time.

That comes down to our hardwiring: the human brain is designed to help us see active minds with defined intentions wherever we look. The ability to discern the thoughts behind people’s behavior is what scientists call theory of mind. When we act on it, we’re mentalizing. That happens all the time. Imagine raising your hand to catch a bus driver’s attention and signal you want to get off at the next stop, for example. Mentalizing tells the driver what it is you’re trying to communicate and that you’re not simply waving your arms about!

Our sense of self allows us to connect and adapt to social groups.

We tend to think of the self as a private space housing our innermost thoughts and desires. Getting to know these, the idea goes, helps us develop a “sense of self” and understand what we really want in life. It’s a neat idea, but is it true?

Well, not quite. The “self” is more like a Trojan horse – it sneaks the social world into what we perceive as our own independent personality. Just think of the sorts of common beliefs that we often hold without ever paying them much attention.

Our capacity for self-control serves more than just ourselves – it’s also valuable for social cohesion.

Picture a group of preschoolers being given a choice between eating a marshmallow right away or holding out and receiving two later on. How many do you think would plump for the second option?

That’s the question psychologist Walter Mischel set out to answer when he asked children to make exactly that choice back in the 1970s in what became known as the Marshmallow Test. The result: less than a third of the children tested could resist instant gratification and wait to have the extra marshmallow. It wasn’t just a second sweet treat they were missing out on, however – follow-up studies also suggested that the kids who were able to resist the temptation outperformed their less patient peers in SATs. The research also linked self-control to better health outcomes and higher income.

Social factors can increase our well-being in daily life and productivity in the workplace.

We’ve all heard the old saying that money can’t buy happiness. Few would dispute that, but that doesn’t stop us acting as though wealth is the answer to the most pressing issues in our personal and professional lives. So what’s the alternative?

Well, here’s an idea: If we want to boost our sense of wellbeing, we should focus on social factors. That’s not nearly as abstract as it might sound. The relationship between our social lives and overall happiness is so important that economists regularly place it at the heart of their research.

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Worum geht es in Social?

Social (2013) is a whistlestop tour led by noted psychologist Matthew Lieberman through the latest neuroscientific research into our social lives. Foregrounding the deeply human need for connection, these blinks examine how evolution has molded the ways in which we navigate complex social situations. Packed full of original research conducted in the Lieberman’s UCLA lab, Social shows that getting along with others is a primary driver in all our lives.

Wer Social lesen sollte

People working in teams
Anyone who’s wondered why a “broken heart” is so painful
Amateur psychologists

Über den Autor

Matthew D. Lieberman is a professor of psychology and director of the Social Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory at the University of California, Los Angeles. His work has been published in numerous journals including Science, Nature and American Psychologist. In 2007, he received the American Psychological Association’s Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology.

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