Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect (52 page)

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Authors: Matthew D. Lieberman

Tags: #Psychology, #Social Psychology, #Science, #Life Sciences, #Neuroscience, #Neuropsychology

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219

The longer the time a person spends reappraising
Kalisch, R. (2009). The functional neuroanatomy of reappraisal: Time matters.
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 33
, 1215–1226

219

Putting our feelings into words
Pennebaker, J. W., & Beall, S. K. (1986). Confronting a traumatic event: Toward an understanding of inhibition and disease.
Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 95
, 274–281.

219

Preschoolers who can describe their feelings
Denham, S. A. (1986). Social cognition, prosocial behavior, and emotion in preschoolers: Contextual validation.
Child Development, 57
, 194–201; Denham, S. A., & Burton, R. (1996). A social-emotional intervention for at-risk 4-year-olds.
Journal of School Psychology, 34
, 225–245; Fabes, R. A., Eisenberg, N., Hanish, L. D., & Spinrad, T. L. (2001). Preschoolers’ spontaneous emotion vocabulary: Relations to likability.
Early Education & Development, 12
, 11–27; Fujiki, M., Brinton, B., & Clarke, D. (2002). Emotion regulation in children with specific language impairment.
Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 33
, 102–111; Izard, C., Fine, S., Schultz, D., Mostow, A., Ackerman, B., & Youngstrom, E. (2001). Emotion knowledge as a predictor of social behavior and academic competence in children at risk.
Psychological Science, 12
, 18–23; Mostow, A. J., Izard, C. E., Fine, S., & Trentacosta, C. J. (2002). Modeling emotional, cognitive, and behavioral predictors of peer acceptance.
Child Development, 73
, 1775–1787.

219

High school students who write about
Ramirez, G., & Beilock, S. L. (2011). Writing about testing worries boosts exam performance in the classroom.
Science, 331
, 211–213.

219

We have found that labeling the affective aspect
Lieberman, M. D., Inagaki, T. K., Tabibnia, G., & Crockett, M. J. (2011). Subjective responses to emotional stimuli during labeling, reappraisal, and distraction.
Emotion, 3
, 468–480
;
Burklund, L. J., Creswell, J. D., Irwin, M. R., & Lieberman, M. D. (under review). The common neural bases of affect labeling and reappraisal.

220

we found that affect labeling helped the most
Kircanski, K., Lieberman, M. D., & Craske, M. G. (2012). Feelings into words: Contributions of language to exposure therapy.
Psychological Science, 23
, 1086–1091.

220

When people label an emotional picture
Hariri, A. R., Bookheimer, S. Y., & Mazziotta, J. C. (2000). Modulating emotional responses: Effects of a neocortical network on the limbic system.
Neuroreport, 11
(1), 43–48; Lieberman, M. D., Eisenberger, N. I., Crockett, M. J., Tom, S., Pfeifer, J. H., & Way, B. M. (2007). Putting feelings into words: Affect labeling disrupts amygdala activity to affective stimuli.
Psychological Science, 18
, 421–428; Burklund, L. J., Creswell, J. D., Irwin, M. R., & Lieberman, M. D. (under review). The common neural bases of affect labeling and reappraisal; Payer, D. E., Baicy, K., Lieberman, M. D., & London, E. D. (2012). Overlapping neural substrates between intentional and incidental down-regulation of negative emotions.
Emotion, 12
(2), 229.

221

We have seen similar things going on in the rVLPFC
Payer, D. E., Baicy, K., Lieberman, M. D., & London, E. D. (2012). Overlapping neural substrates between intentional and incidental down-regulation of negative emotions.
Emotion, 2
, 229–235; Burklund, L. J., Creswell, J. D., Irwin, M. R., & Lieberman, M. D. (under review). The common neural bases of affect labeling and reappraisal.

223

George is merely “experience—an entity experiencing”
Isherwood, C. (2001).
A Single Man
. London: Vintage Books, p. 11.

224

Fewer than half of the doctors in the United States
Adams, S. (2012). Why do so many doctors regret their job choice?
Forbes.com
, April 27:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2012/04/27/why-do-so-many-doctors-regret-their-job-choice/
.

224

bang ye,
which literally means “exposing grandfathers”
Glionna, J. (2010). China tries in vain to keep bellies buttoned up.
Los Angeles Times
, August 10.

225

Both with strangers and with our romantic partners
Righetti, F., & Finkenauer, C. (2011). If you are able to control yourself, I will trust you: The role of perceived self-control in interpersonal trust.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100
(5), 874.

225

This makes good sense in the case of romantic partners
Pronk, T. M., Karremans, J. C., & Wigboldus, D. H. (2011). How can you resist? Executive control helps romantically involved individuals to stay faithful.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100
(5), 827.

225

the creators of the SAT designed it to be a measure of intelligence
Gladwell, M. (2001, December 17). Examined life: What Stanley H. Kaplan taught us about the SAT.
New Yorker
, 86.

226

“socialized behavior is thus the supreme achievement
Allport, F. H. (1924).
Social Psychology
. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, p. 31.

227

“I have a lot of beliefs, and I live by none of them”
Louis C.K. Live at the Beacon Theater
.

227

“morals reformed—health preserved—industry invigorated”
Bentham, J. (1995).
The Panopticon Writings.
Edited by M. Bozovic. London: Verso, pp. 29–95.

229

The subject was 30 percent more likely
van Rompay, T. J., Vonk, D. J., & Fransen, M. L. (2009). The eye of the camera effects of security cameras on prosocial behavior.
Environment and Behavior, 41
(1), 60–74.

229

Another study found that individuals were twice as likely to cheat
Zhong, C. B., Bohns, V. K., & Gino, F. (2010). Good lamps are the best police: Darkness increases dishonesty and self-interested behavior.
Psychological Science, 21
(3), 311–314.

229

subjects wearing eye tracking devices
Risko, E. F., & Kingstone, A. (2011). Eyes wide shut: Implied social presence, eye tracking and attention.
Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 73
(2), 291–296.

229

led people to pay 276 percent more into the honesty box
Bateson, M., Nettle, D., & Roberts, G. (2006). Cues of being watched enhance cooperation in a real-world setting.
Biology Letters, 2
(3), 412–414.

229

a similar “eyes poster” nearly halved the amount of littering
Ernest-Jones, M., Nettle, D., & Bateson, M. (2011). Effects of eye images on everyday cooperative behavior: A field experiment.
Evolution and Human Behavior, 32
(3), 172–178; see also Powell, K. L., Roberts, G., & Nettle, D. (2012). Eye images increase charitable donations: Evidence from an opportunistic field experiment in a supermarket.
Ethology, 118
, 1096–1101; Nettle, D., Nott, K., & Bateson, M. (2012). “Cycle thieves, we are watching you”: Impact of a simple signage intervention against bicycle theft.
PLOS One, 7
(12), e51738.

229

Even pictures of a defunct toy robot’s eyes
Burnham, T. C., & Hare, B. (2007). Engineering human cooperation.
Human Nature, 18
(2), 88–108.

230

Men presented with the “face” version of the three dots
Rigdon, M., Ishii, K., Watabe, M., & Kitayama, S. (2009). Minimal social cues in the dictator game.
Journal of Economic Psychology, 30
(3), 358–367.

231

When children (ages nine and up) were put in this scenario
Beaman, A. L., Klentz, B., Diener, E., & Svanum, S. (1979). Self-awareness and transgression in children: Two field studies.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37
(10), 1835.

231

self-consciousness is essentially a dialogue
Mead, G. H. (1934).
Mind, Self, and Society from the Standpoint of a Social Behaviorist.
Edited by C. W. Morris. Chicago: University of Chicago; Cooley, C. H. (1902).
Human Nature and the Social Order
. New York: Scribner.

231

first-year college students were ten times less likely
Diener, E., & Wallbom, M. (1976). Effects of self-awareness on antinormative behavior.
Journal of Research in Personality, 10
(1), 107–111.

231

People are also more likely to conform
Abrams, D., & Brown, R. (1989). Self-consciousness and social identity: Self-regulation as a group member.
Social Psychology Quarterly, 52
, 311–318; Duval, S. (1976). Conformity on a visual task as a function of personal novelty on attitudinal dimensions and being reminded of the object status of self.
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 12
(1), 87–98; Swart, C., Ickes, W., & Morgenthaler, E. S. (1978). The effect of objective self awareness on compliance in a reactance situation.
Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal, 6
(1), 135–139.

233

Manfred Spitzer and Ernst Fehr ran this study
Spitzer, M., Fischbacher, U., Herrnberger, B., Grön, G., & Fehr, E. (2007). The neural signature of social norm compliance.
Neuron, 56
(1), 185–196.

234

People who conform most to this kind of norm
Campbell-Meiklejohn, D. K., Bach, D. R., Roepstorff, A., Dolan, R. J., & Frith, C. D. (2010). How the opinion of others affects our valuation of objects.
Current Biology, 20
(13), 1165–1170; Campbell-Meiklejohn, D. K., Kanai, R., Bahrami, B., Bach, D. R., Dolan, R. J., Roepstorff, A., & Frith, C. D. (2012). Structure of orbitofrontal cortex predicts social influence.
Current Biology, 22
(4), R123–R124.

234

there is research indicating that just imagining what others think of you
Pfeifer, J. H., Masten, C. L., Borofsky, L. A., Dapretto, M., Fuligni, A. J., & Lieberman, M. D. (2009). Neural correlates of direct and reflected self-appraisals in adolescents and adults: When social perspective-taking informs self-perception.
Child Development, 80
(4), 1016–1038; Ochsner, K. N., Beer, J. S., Robertson, E. R., Cooper, J. C., Gabrieli, J. D., Kihsltrom, J. F., & D’Esposito, M. (2005). The neural correlates of direct and reflected self-knowledge.
NeuroImage, 28
(4), 797–814.

234

Can you guess which brain region
Lieberman, M. D. (2007). Social cognitive neuroscience: A review of core processes.
Annual Review of Psychology, 58
, 259–289.

Chapter 10: Living with a Social Brain

242

In 1989, more than 200,000 college freshmen were asked
Easterlin, R. A., & Crimmins, E. M. (1991). Private materialism, personal self-fulfillment, family life, and public interest: The nature, effects, and causes of recent changes in the values of American youth.
Public Opinion Quarterly, 55
(4), 499–533.

243

Economists have been obsessed with this question
Easterlin, R. A. (1974). Does economic growth improve the human lot? In P. A. David and M. W. Reder (Eds.).
Nations and Households in Economic Growth: Essays in Honour of Moses Abramovitz
. New York: Academic Press; Diener, E., & Seligman, M. E. (2004). Beyond money.
Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 5
(1), 1–31.

243

If we look at a large number of countries
Diener, E., Sandvik, E., Seidlitz, L., & Diener, M. (1993). The relationship between income and subjective well-being: Relative or absolute?
Social Indicators Research, 28
(3), 195–223.

244

happiness researcher Ed Diener looked at surveys of thousands of U.S. adults
Ibid.

244

one study examined changing U.S. income levels between 1946 and 1990
Diener, E., & Suh, E. (1997). Measuring quality of life: Economic, social, and subjective indicators.
Social Indicators Research, 40
, 189–216.

244

This effect, called the
Easterlin Paradox
Easterlin, R. A. (1974). Does economic growth improve the human lot? In P. A. David and M. W. Reder (Eds.).
Nations and Households in Economic Growth: Essays in Honour of Moses Abramovitz
. New York: Academic Press; Diener, E., & Seligman, M. E. (2004). Beyond money.
Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 5
(1), 1–31.

244

real income increased 500 percent
Easterlin, R. A. (1995). Will raising the incomes of all increase the happiness of all?
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 27
(1), 35–47.

246

Psychologists pointed out that humans
Frederick, S., & Loewenstein, G. (1999). Hedonic adaptation. In D. Kanheman & E. Diener (Eds.).
The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology
. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, pp. 302–329.

246

They reported being no happier
Brickman, P., Coates, D., & Janoff-Bulman, R. (1978). Lottery winners and accident victims: Is happiness relative?
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36
(8), 917.

246

This
relative income
argument suggests
Kahneman, D., Krueger, A. B., Schkade, D., Schwarz, N., & Stone, A. A. (2006). Would you be happier if you were richer? A focusing illusion.
Science, 312
(5782), 1908–1910.

246

In the book
Bowling Alone
Robert Putman
Putnam, R. D. (2000).
Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community
. New York: Simon & Schuster.

247

Pretty much any way economists examine
Ibid.; Helliwell, J. F., & Putnam, R. D. (2004). The social context of well-being.
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B: Biological Sciences
, 1435–1446.

247

One study compared the impact of income
Becchetti, L., Pelloni, A., & Rossetti, F. (2008). Relational goods, sociability, and happiness.
Kyklos, 61
(3), 343–363.

247

volunteering was associated with greater well-being
Borgonovi, F. (2008). Doing well by doing good: The relationship between formal volunteering and self-reported health and happiness.
Social Science & Medicine, 66
(11), 2321–2334.

247

giving to charity is related to changes in well-being
Aknin, L. B., Barrington-Leigh, C. P., Dunn, E. W., Helliwell, J. F., Biswas-Diener, R., Kemeza, I., … , & Norton, M. I. (2010). Prosocial spending and well-being: Cross-cultural evidence for a psychological universal (No. w16415). National Bureau of Economic Research.

247

having a friend whom you see on most days,
Powdthavee, N. (2008). Putting a price tag on friends, relatives, and neighbours: Using surveys of life satisfaction to value social relationships.
Journal of Socio-economics, 37
(4), 1459–1480.

248

social factors are also huge determinants of physical health
Holt-Lunstad, J., Smith, T. B., & Layton, J. B. (2010). Social relationships and mortality risk: A meta-analytic review.
PLOS Medicine, 7
(7), e1000316.

248

People are significantly less likely to be married today
Bumpass, L. L., Sweet, J. A., & Cherlin, A. (1991). The role of cohabitation in declining rates of marriage.
Journal of Marriage and the Family, 53
, 913–927; Popenoe, D. (1993). American family decline, 1960–1990: A review and appraisal.
Journal of Marriage and the Family
, 55, 527–542.

248

We volunteer less, participate in fewer social groups
Costa, D. L., & Kahn, M. E. (2001). Understanding the decline in social capital, 1952–1998 (No. w8295). National Bureau of Economic Research; Putnam, R. D. (2000).
Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community
. New York: Simon & Schuster.

248

people were asked to list their friends
McPherson, M., Smith-Lovin, L., & Brashears, M. E. (2006). Social isolation in America: Changes in core discussion networks over two decades.
American Sociological Review, 71
(3), 353–375.

250

In 1965, only 45 percent of college freshmen
Easterlin, R. A., & Crimmins, E. M. (1991). Private materialism, personal self-fulfillment, family life, and public interest: The nature, effects, and causes of recent changes in the values of American youth.
Public Opinion Quarterly, 55
(4), 499–533.

250

more individuals endorse materialism
Nickerson, C., Schwarz, N., Diener, E., & Kahneman, D. (2003). Zeroing in on the dark side of the American dream: A closer look at the negative consequences of the goal for financial success.
Psychological Science, 14
(6), 531–536; Chan, R., & Joseph, S. (2000). Dimensions of personality, domains of aspiration, and subjective well-being.
Personality and Individual Differences, 28
(2), 347–354.

252

Approximately a third of all Americans live in apartments
NMHC tabulations of 2012 Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplement, U.S. Census Bureau (
http://www.census.gov/cps
). Updated October 2012.
http://www.nmhc.org/Content.cfm?ItemNumber=55508
.

254

when people are prompted to think about time
Mogilner, C. (2010). The pursuit of happiness.
Psychological Science, 21
(9), 1348–1354.

254

benefits of socializing through social snacking
Gardner, W. L., Pickett, C. L., & Knowles, M. (2005). Social snacking and shielding. In K. D. Williams, J. P. Forgas, & W. V. Hippel (Eds.).
The Social Outcast: Ostracism, Social Exclusion, Rejection, & Bullying
. New York: Psychology Press.

254

they reported the pain to be less painful
Master, S. L., Eisenberger, N. I., Taylor, S. E., Naliboff, B. D., & Lieberman, M. D. (2009). A picture’s worth: Partner photographs reduce experimentally induced pain.
Psychological Science, 20
, 1316–1318; Eisenberger, N. I., Master, S. L., Inagaki, T. K., Taylor, S. E., Shirinyan, D., Lieberman, M. D., & Naliboff, B. (2011). Attachment figures activate a safety signal-related neural region and reduce pain experience.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108
, 11721–11726.

254

digital picture frames to people in hospitals
http://www.nikon-kraftderbilder.de
.

255

we are more motivated to tune in to our favorite shows
Derrick, J. L., Gabriel, S., & Hugenberg, K. (2009). Social surrogacy: How favored television programs provide the experience of belonging.
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45
(2), 352–362.

255

it is also likely to “crowd out”
Bruni, L., & Stanca, L. (2008). Watching alone: Relational goods, television and happiness.
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 65
(3), 506–528.

255

first seminal study examining these questions
Kraut, R., Patterson, M., Lundmark, V., Kiesler, S., Mukophadhyay, T., & Scherlis, W. (1998). Internet paradox: A social technology that reduces social involvement and psychological well-being?
American Psychologist, 53
(9), 1017.

255

A series of other papers came out soon after
Valkenburg, P. M., & Peter, J. (2009). Social consequences of the Internet for adolescents: A decade of research.
Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18
(1), 1–5.

256

Because Facebook use is more of an extension
Ellison, N. B., Steinfield, C., & Lampe, C. (2007). The benefits of Facebook “friends”: Social capital and college students’ use of online social network sites.
Journal of Computer
-
Mediated Communication, 12
(4), 1143–1168; Grieve, R., Indian, M., Witteveen, K., Anne Tolan, G., & Marrington, J. (2013). Face-to-face or Facebook: Can social connectedness be derived online?
Computers in Human Behavior, 29
(3), 604–609; Steinfield, C., Ellison, N. B., & Lampe, C. (2008). Social capital, self-esteem, and use of online social network sites: A longitudinal analysis.
Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 29
(6), 434–445.

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