Social Brain
The brain is a social animal. Social connections such as a sense of status, etc., are as important as food, shelter and water for the brain. By experiencing others' emotions, we get to know each other, such as by sharing personal experiences.
Safe social connections with others are vital for the health and for good collaboration. Much work is required to create good collaboration as it is too easy to mis-read social cues and allow limbic responses to dominate. . Our memories of social interactions are vast. The social network involves the medial prefrontal cortex, the right and left ventrolateral cortex, the anterior cingulated cortex, insula and amygdale. The social network bias is something we are born with, ie new-born babies prefer a picture of a face. In our priorities of needs, social needs are on the same level for basic survival as food and water, ie threat and pain responses activate similar responses in the network as being ostracized. This challenges Maslow's hierarchy of needs which locates social needs in the middle. Social relatedness is, in fact, a primary need of the brain.
Importance of body language, especially facial expression, in developing relatedness. We need the visual interaction. The stronger the emotions, the greater the impact
There are "mirror neurons" that occur when someone does something you are familiar with, ie your brain mirrors others' behaviours after witnessing someone else's action. This activates the same circuits in your brain
Safe social connections with others are vital for health and for effective collaboration. Much work/interaction is required to create such refined collaboration as it is otherwise too easy to mis-read social cues and allow limbic responses to dominate
People are classified as friend or foe quickly (as with the reward or threat response); "foe" is the brain's default choice in the absence of positive cues. There are different brain circuits for handling friend or foe. "Friend" generates a "toward" emotional response which releases oxytocin (a pleasurable chemical). This explains why developing rapport with strangers can be important as it provides the chance to connect at a human level.
Deciding that someone is a foe or competitor results in your brain making accidental connections, misreading intent, becoming easily upset and discarding their good ideas.
Importance of quality & quantity of social connections - the brain thrives on quality social connections, ie happiness and performance increases with release of good chemicals like dopamine and oxytocins. Loneliness can increase risk of health issues like heart, etc. Loneliness generates a threat response.
Loneliness is on the increase eg in Australia
"...hyper-connected 18 to 24-year-olds report being the most lonely (38%)..."
Michelle Lim as quoted by Peter Quarry, 2023
People are feeling lonely even though they're not physically isolated. Many people are glued to their devices and ignoring people around them.
"...online communication favours display, pretence and performance. Instead of human connection and interaction..."
Peter Quarry, 2023
The antidotes for loneliness are warm, empathy and understanding. Unfortunately, loneliness can discourage the expression of vulnerability, fear and pain, ie most people feel ashamed of admitting they feel lonely.
Perhaps people need to remember that every relationship starts with a conversation.
Loneliness can have a negative impact on well-being and health.
"...social connection has been scientifically proved to benefit your health......by connecting with six people in your neighbourhood, feelings of loneliness and stress are decreased and there is a positive impact on your mental health and well-being..."
Jennie Sager, 2023
Some reasons for the increase in loneliness include
- technology replacing human interaction (we send e-mails and instant messages rather than talk to people plus use technology-based communication programs like Facebook, LinkedIn, Slack, Trello, etc; use virtual team workspaces; techniques like hot-desking, working part-time/flexible hours, etc all contribute to less socialisation, ie face-to-face communications; use of headphones, ie
"...We don't have work families anymore. There's this sense that nobody knows you and you don't know other people..."
Jo Carnegie 2018...")
- heavier workloads (resulting in less socialisation)
- increasing popularity of working from home (decreasing face-to-face contact)
Generally, humans are social creatures that prefer to live in groups. Social exclusion hurts as it takes away your connection with others; loneliness is a major risk factor for physical and mental health
"...Loneliness increases the levels of stress hormones in our blood, and makes us more susceptible to FOMO, which is the fear of missing out on fun and happiness..."
Catherine Price, 2022
Research has shown the people with the
"'...strongest relationships live longer, reported higher levels of happiness and satisfaction, and suffered less cognitive decline..."
Catherine Price, 2022
Furthermore,
"...When we do, experience and unexpected sense of connection with other people, the resulting energy can be rapturous. When it involves a playful spirit, collective effervescence in itself is a former fun..."
Catherine Price, 2022
Research showing that chronic long-term loneliness can affect your health as much as obesity, smoking, lack of exercise, poor nutrition, etc.
Need to encourage social conversations and workplace connections (face-to-face contact), ie need to get to know other people with whom you are working.
People who have effective, positive social networks (thus less threat) perform better, eg better thinking (including creativity, seeing others' points of view, etc), planning, controlling emotions, etc.
Verbalising an idea activates more parts of your brain (including memory and language regions and motor centres) than just thinking about it. This improves your learning, retention, etc.
Key point:
. Whenever you meet somebody new, endeavour to connect at a human level as soon as possible to reduce the threat response; share personal experience, stories, etc; actively encourage people to connect on a human level.