As human beings, our social interactions and connections are rich, complex, and packed with meaning. This is quite obvious and shouldn't surprise anyone. But sometimes we overlook how our experiences in the world are so elaborately woven into manifold layers of social fabric.
For starters, our social lives begin extremely early. Shortly after we come out of the womb we are faced with a barrage of buzzing social information: smiles, sounds, gestures, facial expressions, emotions—just to name a few. We receive this information first from our caregivers, then other family members, friends, and many others as we develop over our lifespan. In transitioning from early childhood to adolescence and then to adulthood, we forge a sense of our social selves, complete with preferences, values, and beliefs that profoundly affect with whom we associate and from whom we distance ourselves.
Over time, we naturally evaluate and learn from the contours and outcomes of our social experiences. In turn, we consciously (and unconsciously) make assumptions and form theories about the psychology of social phenomena. This "folk" psychology encompasses everything from the origin and expression of emotions, to how we perceive and stereotype others and compare ourselves to them.
Folk psychology about social life has been galvanized by the pursuits of countless philosophers, political theorists, and theologians who have speculated on human nature and its core qualities—in order to reach some semblance of a consensus that could settle the big questions once and for all: is human behavior governed by the cool voice of reason, or raw, carnal emotion? Are humans fundamentally selfish and egotistical, or selfless and altruistic? Any conclusions, even tentative ones, about these issues hold huge implications for how society views itself and how it functions at every level. For a long time, the social scientist's toolbox addressed these hard questions on two fronts, drawing from theoretical, hyper-idealized models (e.g. Rational Choice Theory), as well as empirical studies in social psychology and behavioral economics.
Within the past ten to fifteen years, a promising new instrument has appeared in the toolbox: social neuroscience. This burgeoning field holds the potential, some believe, of completely revolutionizing the study of psychology and human nature altogether. While I am hesitant to make such a sweeping claim, I would maintain that findings from social neuroscience will at times overturn our long-held assumptions and theories about social phenomena and human behavior.
Social neuroscience is the scientific study of social phenomena (like those described above) that employs the tools and methods traditionally used by cognitive neuroscientists. Some of these methods include functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electroencephalography (EEG), and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). The most popular method is fMRI, which effectively measures the brain's consumption of glucose over time and therefore, in a word, showcases the brain in action.
To give you a flavor of what a social neuroscience experiment might look like, imagine yourself getting scanned in an fMRI machine while you view and rate photographs of loved ones: parents, friends, maybe even a romantic partner or spouse. The experimenter might be interested to see which brain areas become active when you think about close others. She might also determine whether this brain activity predicts your emotions and behaviors towards them, based on your responses in a follow up questionnaire that you fill out daily for several weeks following your brain scan.
This blog is about our wonderfully mysterious social brains, which are just beginning to be understood by psychologists—myself included—who have taken the plunge into the dynamic arena of social neuroscience. I will guide us through the research world of social neuroscience, and hopefully convince you why findings from this field matter for us in our daily lives.I will also try to establish my role as middle man between the scientific community and the lay public, so that I can intelligibly convey the latest, freshest research in helpful ways.
Above all, I invite the reader to be curious and engaged as I blog about phenomena that hopefully everyone can relate to on some level. I hope the blog's content will catalyze thoughtful conversations between you and others who care about the issues discussed here. You should also always feel free to contact me if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions.
Welcome to your social brain. I hope you enjoy the ride!
