The social brain and its superpowers: Matthew Lieberman, Ph.D. at TEDxStLouis

Summary

Este video presenta la idea de que el dolor social es una forma real de sufrimiento, comparable al físico, y es esencial para nuestra evolución y supervivencia. El orador, un neurocientífico, comparte estudios que demuestran cómo el cerebro reacciona al rechazo social de manera similar a la respuesta al dolor físico. Explora cómo la conexión social es crucial para la cooperación y la colaboración, y cómo las habilidades de 'lectura mental' son un superpoder social. Argumenta que valorar y desarrollar estas habilidades sociales es la clave para ser más inteligentes, felices y productivos, y que debemos enfocarnos en estas en lugar de solo en la acumulación de riqueza.

Takeaways

• 🧠 La neurociencia revela que el dolor social es una experiencia real y puede ser mitigado con medicamentos para el dolor físico.
• 🤔 La capacidad de sentir dolor social es esencial para nuestra evolución y nos ayuda a mantener conexiones sociales.
• 👶 Los mamíferos, incluidos los humanos, necesitan conexión social para sobrevivir, ya que nacemos inmaduros y dependemos de la atención de otros.
• 🧐 La capacidad de leer la mente de los demás (mind reading) es una habilidad social que se utiliza diariamente y es esencial para la cooperación y colaboración.
• 🚀 La habilidad de pensar socialmente es tan crucial que la evolución ha proporcionado un sistema cerebral separado para ello, en contraste con el pensamiento analítico.
• 🧩 La red social del cerebro se activa de manera automática y predeterminada, preparándonos para interpretar las acciones de los demás en términos de sus mentes.
• 🤝 La motivación social para aprender es más efectiva que la motivación analítica, y puede mejorar nuestra capacidad para retener información.
• 💼 En el ámbito empresarial, los líderes con habilidades sociales fuertes son más propensos a ser vistos como grandes líderes y a mejorar la productividad del equipo.
• 😊 La conexión social es uno de los mejores predictores de felicidad y bienestar, a diferencia de la riqueza, que no es un buen predictor.
• 💡 No apreciar el valor de nuestros superpoderes sociales es nuestro 'kryptonita', y recordarlo es crucial para ser más inteligentes, felices y productivos.

Q & A

¿Qué es el secreto que el neurocientífico promete revelar para ser más inteligente, feliz y productivo?

El secreto radica en dos superpoderes que todos tenemos: el dolor social y la habilidad para leer mentes, y un 'kryptonita' que es no apreciar la importancia de estos superpoderes sociales en nuestras vidas.

¿Cómo demostró el estudio de Naomi Eisenberger y el narrador que el dolor social es real?

Mediante imágenes de resonancia magnética (MRI), mostraron que las mismas áreas del cerebro que se activan en respuesta al dolor físico también se activan cuando las personas son excluidas socialmente, y que el Tylenol alivia estos efectos.

¿Por qué es importante el dolor social según el punto de vista evolutivo expresado en el guion?

El dolor social es esencial para nuestra supervivencia, ya que impulsa la conexión social, la cual es crucial para los mamíferos inmaduros que dependen de la atención y el cuidado de otros para sobrevivir.

¿Cuál es la habilidad que el campeón mundial de piedra-papel-tijera, Bob Cooper, utilizó para ganar?

Bob Cooper utilizó su habilidad para predecir lo que su oponente predeciría que lanzaría y manipular sus expectativas para ganar en la competencia.

¿Cómo nos ayuda la habilidad de leer mentes en la cooperación y colaboración?

Podemos inferir pensamientos y emociones de los demás sin haber visto nunca un pensamiento o emoción, lo que nos da una capacidad única para cooperar y colaborar.

¿Qué sucede en el cerebro cuando se desactiva la red de pensamiento analítico y se activa la de pensamiento social?

Cuando se termina un razonamiento analítico, la red de pensamiento social se activa de forma refleja y espontánea, preparándonos para interpretar las acciones de los demás en términos de las mentes detrás de ellas.

¿Qué efecto tiene la conexión social en la productividad en un entorno de aprendizaje y negocios?

En el aprendizaje, socialmente motivados a aprender, el cerebro social puede realizar mejor el aprendizaje que la red analítica. En el negocio, líderes con habilidades sociales fuertes son más propensos a ser vistos como grandes líderes y a mejorar la productividad del equipo.

¿Cómo afecta la falta de conexión social nuestra felicidad y bienestar?

La conexión social es una de las mejores predicciones del bienestar y la felicidad, mientras que aumentar la riqueza no es un buen predictor de estos, y sin embargo, a menudo valoramos más la riqueza a costa de nuestro bienestar social.

¿Qué decisión difícil tuvo que tomar el narrador y por qué?

El narrador tuvo que decidir entre aceptar una oferta económicamente irresistible para trabajar en Rusia y permanecer con su familia, que es la base de su bienestar social. A pesar de la tentación económica, decidió no ir porque el tiempo con su familia no puede ser reemplazado por dinero.

¿Por qué es fundamental enseñar a las futuras generaciones sobre sus superpoderes sociales desde temprana edad?

Para que las futuras generaciones sean más inteligentes, felices y productivas, es necesario que comprendan y desarrollen sus habilidades sociales, que son esenciales para su éxito y bienestar a lo largo de su vida.

Outlines

00:00

🧠 La Ciencia del Dolor Social

El orador, un neurocientífico con quince años de experiencia, introduce el tema del dolor social y cómo está intrínsecamente ligado a nuestra inteligencia, felicidad y productividad. Presenta la historia de Earl y Gloria, una pareja que vivido el sueño americano, y cómo la muerte de Earl afectó profundamente a Gloria, cambiando su personalidad y memoria. A través de la historia de su abuela, el orador nos lleva a reflexionar sobre el dolor emocional y cómo la ciencia puede demostrar que el dolor social es real, utilizando estudios de MRI que muestran que las áreas del cerebro que procesan el dolor físico también se activan en respuesta al rechazo social. Además, menciona que el Tylenol, un analgésico común, puede aliviar este tipo de dolor, lo que sugiere una conexión tangible entre el dolor físico y el social.

05:03

🤝 La Conexión Social como Superpoder

El orador argumenta que, a diferencia de lo que sugiere la pirámide de necesidades de Maslow, lo que realmente necesitamos para sobrevivir más allá de necesidades básicas como comida, agua y refugio es una conexión social. Expone que los mamíferos, incluidos los humanos, nacen dependientes y requieren el cuidado de otros para sobrevivir, lo que implica una fuerte conexión social. Esta conexión no es solo un mecanismo de supervivencia, sino también una superpotencia que nos impulsa a colaborar y cooperar. A través de la historia de Bob Cooper, el campeón mundial de piedra-papel-tijera, se ilustra cómo la habilidad de leer mentes y predecir las acciones de los demás puede ser una herramienta poderosa tanto en juegos como en la vida real. El orador enfatiza la importancia de valorar nuestra capacidad para el dolor social y la empatía, que son esenciales para nuestra evolución y éxito como especie.

10:04

🧠 Dos Redes Cerebrales: Social vs. Analítico

Se explica que el cerebro humano tiene dos redes principales: una para el pensamiento analítico y lógico y otra para el pensamiento social y la lectura de mentes. Mientras que la primera se activa durante tareas de resolución de problemas y razonamiento lógico, la segunda se enfoca en la interacción social y la comprensión de las intenciones de los demás. El orador menciona que cuando el cerebro se encuentra en reposo, la red social se activa de manera automática, preparándonos para interactuar socialmente. Además, esta red se activa también al recibir nueva información, impulsándonos a compartir lo que hemos aprendido con otros, lo que ha sido crucial para el éxito de la humanidad. El orador sugiere que no valorar suficientemente estas superpotencias sociales puede ser nuestra 'kryptonita', y que al hacerlo, podemos mejorar nuestra inteligencia, felicidad y productividad.

15:05

💼 Aplicaciones en Educación, Negocios y Felicidad

El orador discute cómo el pensamiento social puede mejorar la educación, la productividad en el trabajo y la felicidad personal. En el ámbito educativo, aprender con la intención de enseñar a otros se ha demostrado ser más efectivo que aprender solo para rendir un examen. En el contexto laboral, los líderes con habilidades sociales son más propensos a ser vistos como excelentes líderes, ya que las habilidades sociales multiplican la efectividad de los equipos. Finalmente, en cuanto a la felicidad, el orador argumenta que las conexiones sociales son mejores predictores de bienestar que la riqueza. Comparte una experiencia personal donde tuvo que decidir entre una oportunidad de ganar una gran suma de dinero o permanecer con su familia, resaltando la importancia de las relaciones sobre el dinero. El orador concluye apelando a la necesidad de enseñar a las futuras generaciones sobre sus superpotencias sociales desde temprana edad.

Keywords

💡neurocientífico

Un neurocientífico es un investigador que estudia el cerebro y el sistema nervioso. En el video, el narrador es un neurocientífico con 15 años de experiencia, lo que le da credibilidad para hacer afirmaciones audaces sobre cómo ser más inteligente, feliz y productivo.

💡superpoder

En el contexto del video, un superpoder se refiere a una habilidad innata y excepcional del ser humano, como la capacidad de sentir y responder al dolor social o la habilidad de leer mentes. Estos superpoderes son esenciales para la interacción social y la colaboración.

💡dolor social

El dolor social es el sufrimiento emocional causado por la exclusión social o la pérdida de relaciones. En el video, se discute cómo el dolor social activa las mismas áreas cerebrales que el dolor físico, lo que sugiere que es una forma real de sufrimiento y es fundamental para mantener conexiones sociales.

💡kryptonita

Kryptonita es un término tomado del universo de Superman que hace referencia a una sustancia que debilita a un superhéroe. En el video, se usa metafóricamente para describir la falta de apreciación por los superpoderes sociales, que puede debilitar nuestra capacidad para ser inteligentes, felices y productivos.

💡conexión social

La conexión social es la interacción y la relación con otros seres humanos, que es fundamental para la supervivencia y el bienestar. El video argumenta que la conexión social es más esencial que necesidades físicas básicas como la comida, el agua y el refugio.

💡hierarquía de necesidades

La jerarquía de necesidades de Abraham Maslow es una teoría psicológica que clasifica las necesidades humanas en niveles. Aunque el video sugiere que Maslow tenía una visión limitada al centrarse en necesidades físicas antes que en necesidades sociales, la jerarquía sigue siendo un concepto clave en psicología.

💡Rock-Paper-Scissors

Rock-Paper-Scissors es un juego sencillo de elección simultánea que se menciona en el video para ilustrar cómo las tendencias y las pistas no verbales pueden ser explotadas por jugadores más experimentados, demostrando la capacidad humana de leer la mente de los demás.

💡lectura de mentes

La lectura de mentes es la habilidad de inferir los pensamientos, sentimientos o intenciones de otra persona. En el video, se argumenta que todos somos lectores de mentes cada día, utilizando pistas para predecir y comprender las acciones de los demás.

💡cooperación y colaboración

La cooperación y la colaboración son aspectos fundamentales del trabajo en equipo y la realización de proyectos conjuntos. El video subraya la importancia de la capacidad de leer mentes y la conexión social para la cooperación efectiva.

💡felicidad y bienestar

El bienestar y la felicidad son estados de ánimo positivos que se asocian con la satisfacción y el contento. El video argumenta que la conexión social es un predictor más fiable de la felicidad y el bienestar que la riqueza, lo que sugiere que las relaciones son esenciales para el bienestar emocional.

Highlights

Neuroscientist claims to reveal a secret to be smarter, happier, and more productive.

Introduction of Earl and Gloria's story to illustrate the impact of social connection and loss.

The concept of 'broken heart syndrome' and its physical manifestations.

Social pain is real and has neurological correlates, as shown by MRI studies.

Tylenol can alleviate social pain, indicating a shared mechanism with physical pain.

Social pain as an evolutionary feature that promotes social connection.

The necessity of social connection for survival, contrasting with Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

The importance of social pain in motivating care and protection among mammals.

The game 'rock-paper-scissors' as an analogy for the predictability of social interactions.

Bob Cooper's strategy for winning the Rock-Paper-Scissors World Championship.

The innate human ability to read minds and its significance in daily life.

The brain's dual systems for analytical and social thinking.

The automatic activation of the social thinking network during idle moments.

The role of the social thinking network in sharing information and its impact on collaboration.

The underappreciation of social superpowers as a hindrance to human potential.

The benefits of learning with a social motivation and its effectiveness.

The correlation between social skills in leadership and team productivity.

The impact of social connection on happiness and well-being, over material wealth.

Personal anecdote illustrating the value of social well-being over financial gain.

The call to educate future generations about the importance of social superpowers.

Transcripts

Transcriber: Reiko Bovee Reviewer: Freakbill Huang

All right. I've been a neuroscientist for the past 15 years.

And based on what I learned, I'd like to make a pretty bold claim.

Now, this isn't a late-night infomercial, and there's nothing for you to buy.

But I'm going to give you the secret by the end of my talk

to be smarter, happier and more productive.

This secret depends on a couple of superpowers that we all have

and one "kryptonite" that kind of gets in the way.

Let's start with Earl and Gloria.

For more than half a century they lived the American dream.

They were high school sweethearts,

and Earl volunteered to be a World War II naval pilot,

and Gloria went off to the training camp with them.

And when they returned, he built his own house

and a thriving business.

where they worked together for years while raising their family.

But at the age of 67, Earl died of prostate cancer.

And Gloria was never the same after Earl died.

She became fixated on her past with him,

and yet her memory was slipping away more and more each day.

And her personality changed too.

She used to be charming and witty, and now she became inattentive even mean.

Her family and friends tried to understand her dramatic transformation, doctors too.

But they were never able to identify a physical cause.

For Gloria, the cause of these changes was clear.

She was dying from the pain of a broken heart.

And I know this because she told me every chance she got.

See, Gloria was my grandmother.

So, was my grandmother right?

Well, at the very least, it should lead us to wonder about the painful experiences

we've all had in our own lives.

If I asked you to think about your most painful memories,

you'd probably list the death of a loved one before a broken leg.

But when you hear my grandmother's story

you're probably thinking that her "pain" is metaphorical.

So, a broken leg that causes real pain,

but social pain, the pain that comes from loss of rejection,

maybe not so much.

About a decade ago, Naomi Eisenberger and I set out to test

whether social pain is more than just a metaphor.

We asked people to come in and lay in MRI scanners

where they believed that they were playing this simple ball tossing game

with two other people, also laying in scanners.

If you were in our study you just hold this little hand

at the bottom of the screen.

And whenever the ball came to you you'd decide who to throw it to next.

Pretty boring stuff.

But then something interesting happens.

The other two people stop throwing you the ball, forever.

You never get the ball again.

(Laughter)

When we looked at the brains of these individulas

who had just been rejected we saw two fascinating things.

First the same brain regions that register the distress of physical pain

were also more active when people were left out of the game

compared to when they had been included.

And second the more someone told us

they felt bad about being left out of the game

the stronger the response was in these regions.

Now if this doesn't persuade you that social pain is real pain,

consider the following.

Tylenol makes these effects go away.

The same pain killer that you take for your headache

can help with your heartache, too.

Social pain is real pain.

I don't mean to suggest

that a broken heart is the same as a broken leg,

any more than a stomachache is the same as arthritis.

But we distinguish various kinds of pain.

And social pain ought to be awarded a membership

in a pain club.

So, why would we be built this way?

At first blush, the fact that social pain is so distressing

and can derail us for days or weeks on end,

seems like an evolutionary misstep.

Why would we be built with this vulnerability?

Well, just like other kinds of pain.

Social pain may not be pleasant in a moment,

but we would be lost without it.

If I asked you what you think you need to survive, most of you might say,

food, water and shelter.

A psychologist, Abraham Maslow in his hierarchy of needs

suggested that these physical needs are the most basic,

and other needs only become relevant when these needs have been met.

But Maslow had it wrong.

See if you're a mammal - and I'm pretty sure all of you are -

then what you need more than anything to survive is social connection

because mammals are born immature, incapable of taking care of themselves.

Each one of you only survived infancy

because someone had such an urge to connect with you

that every time they were separated from you or heard you cry,

it caused them a pain that motivated them

to come find you and help you over and over again.

And as infants each of you cried when you were hungry, thirsty or cold.

But you also cried when you were simply separated

from your caregiver

because social separation causes pain in infants.

You might think that our tendency to feel social pain

is a kind of kryptonite.

But our urge to connect

and the pain we feel when this need is thwarted,

is one of the seminal achievements of our brain

that motivates us to live, work and play together.

You can have the greatest idea in the world,

but if you can't connect with other people nothing will come of it.

You can't build a rocket ship by yourself.

Rather than being a kind of kryptonite, our capacity for social pain

is one of our greatest superpowers.

Let's talk about another one.

How many of you have played "rock-paper-scissors" before?

Two people each throw one of three gestures to see who wins.

So we know that "rock" beats "scissors" "scissors" beats "paper,"

and for some mysterious reason "paper" beats "rock."

(Laughter)

Now this seems like a reasonable way to settle a minor dispute

because neither side knows what the other will throw.

So, the outcome should be random, fair,

except that it isn't.

See, rock-paper-scissor novices have a variety of tendencies

that can be exploited by more experienced players.

For instance, inexperienced male players

have an increased likelihood of starting with a throw of "rock,"

because rocks are implicitly associated with power.

(Laughter)

And this gives a smart opponent the upper hand.

Now in 2006 this guy, Bob Cooper

emerged victorious over 500 other competitors

to be crowned Rock-Paper-Scissors World Champion.

(Laughter)

And yes that's the thing.

Now Bob Cooper is the real deal,

he even beat a math professor who chose his sequence of throws

based on the digits of Pi.

Now after he won he revealed his secret.

He said, "It's about predicting what your opponent predicts your throw.

It's about manipulating what they think you'll throw,

and then getting inside their heads to see if you've successfully misdirected them."

He said he grew the beard so that he looks like a tough guy

who would throw rock a lot and said,

"How ofter did you see me throwing rock in the finals?"

Cooper has this amazing talent for reading minds,

but so do each of you.

Every one of us is a mind reader countless times each day.

Let me give you an example.

Imagine I had come up on stage followed by someone holding a gun to my head.

I then proceeded to declare

that Justin Bieber is the greatest musical talent

of this or any other generation.

You would be easily moved from the visible signs,

the gun, my gender, my age

to the invisible, my thoughts and feelings,

my fear of being shot if I don't do as I've been instructed.

Now our mind reading abilities aren't perfect, far from it,

but it is extraordinary that we can do this at all,

given that none of us have ever seen a thought or feeling.

The fact that we can peer into the minds of those around us

and imagine their responses to nearly any situation

gives us an unparalleled capacity for cooperation and collaboration.

This is unquestionably a social superpower.

Then you might think

that this is just another application of our general ability

to think and reason analytically,

use our big old prefrontal cortex to solve nearly any problem we're given.

You might think this, but you'd be wrong.

Our ability to think socially is so essential to our survival

that evolution gave us a separate brain system

just for this kind of thinking.

So, the outer surface of your brain, there's this network

that's just for doing almost any kind of analytical thinking you can imagine,

logical reasoning down to holding a phone number in mind

while you hunt for your phone.

And then there's this other network, more on the midline of the brain

that's just for social thinking for mind reading.

We know that this network for social thinking tends

to be quieted down by other kinds of thinking.

So, it's as if these two networks for social and analytical thinking

are on two ends of a see-saw; when one goes up, the other goes down.

We also know that this network for social thinking

comes on like a reflex.

Whenever you finish doing any kind of analytical thinking

whenever your brain gets a chance to rest, to idle

this network for mind-reading pops up immediately.

And if I were to ask you in a minute from now -

ok, to do some kind of mind reading task -

then right now before I had asked you,

the extent to which this network spontaneously and preemptively pops up,

the better you'll do on the mind reading task

when I asked you to do it.

Just like seeing this word [FACE] primes you and get you ready

to see this illusion as two faces rather than as a vase,

this network for social thinking coming on preemptively

before you walk into the next situation of your life,

gets you ready to see the actions around you

in terms of the minds behind them.

Evolution has made a bet that the best thing for your brain to do

in any spare moment is to get ready to see the world socially.

And finally this network also comes on when we're taking in new information.

My lab's found that when you're watching a trailer for an upcoming movie,

the more this network pops up, the more likely you'll be

to go get on Facebook and tell your friends about it.

This network switches us from being information consumers

to information DJs, motivating us to share what we learn with those around us.

Something essential to the success of mankind.

So, if social pain keeps us close to important others,

and mind reading abilities keep us living well with one another,

well, what's our kryptonite?

Simple.

Not appreciating the value of our social superpowers

is our kryptonite.

We don't realize the importance of social in our lives.

When we do we too easily forget again.

Getting more social is the secret

to making us a smarter, happier and more productive.

Let me take those in turn.

In the classroom being social is treated as the enemy of learning

but it turns out that if you learn in order to teach someone else

you learn better than if you learn in order to take a test.

Research in my lab and another has shown

that when you're socially motivated to learn,

your social brain can do the learning,

and it can do it better than the analytical network

that you typically activate when you try to memorize.

This idea of learning for teaching was actually implemented

as a national standard in France.

After the French Revolution there was a massive teacher shortage

and children were recruited to teach other children.

And it was wildly successful, but when France got back on its feet

and forgot about social and went back to the traditional classroom.

Let's talk about business.

We know that great leaders make teams more productive.

But what makes for a great leader?

According to a large recent survey,

a leader who has an analytically-minded focus

and is focused on getting results has relatively small chance

of being seen as a great leader.

But if that same leader also has strong social skills,

the chance of being seen as a great leader skyrockets.

Social, social skill are a multiplier,

they allow us to leverage the analytical abilities

of those around us.

If we really connected with one another on a team, each of us will work

to complement the strengths and weaknesses of others on the team.

And remember you can't build a rocket by yourself.

So what percentage of leaders do score high

on being both results-focused and having strong social skills?

Less than one percent.

Because we don't recognize the value of social,

we're promoting the wrong people into leadership positions

and not giving them the social skills training they need once they get there.

And as a side note,

because of the social brain's wiring when you praise an employee's performance

you're doing the same thing to their brains reward system

that giving them a raise would do but at no cost to the company.

Finally happiness.

We know that social connection is one of the best predictors

of happiness and well-being.

And in contrast, increasing wealth is not a very good predictor

of happiness and well-being.

Nevertheless over the past 50 years we have come to value

the pursuit of wealth more and more, often at the expense of our social well-being,

spending more time at the office and away from family and friends.

Last month

I received an outrageous offer

for a huge sum of money to move to Russia

for four months for each of the next two years

to help train neuroscientists.

It was the kind of money that an academic only dreams about.

And frankly I became completely obsessed witht the idea of going,

so obsessed that I couldn't sleep for days on end.

But ultimately I decided not to go.

See my wife and son are the bedrock of my social well-being,

and they weren't going to be going.

My time with them can't be replaced by the money that I would make in Russia.

My son will only be seven once,

and no amount of money could ever make him seven again

and give me back those moments that will be able to share with him.

For those of you with full grown children how much money would you spend

to have a few more months with them back when they were seven years old?

Now if I needed to do this to put food on the table,

I would go in a heartbeat, no question about it.

But we have what we need, we have enough money.

This money would let us buy nicer cars and maybe a bigger house.

But if I went it would be at the risk of sacrificing my own social well-being

and my family's too.

These are the real roots of happiness and even knowing that,

even studying the social brain like I do,

This was one of the single hardest decisions of my life.

Not knowing in our guts the value of social,

the real literal value of social is our greatest kryptonite.

And if we want future generations to be smarter, happier and more productive,

we need to be teaching them about their social superpowers

from a very young age and helping them train these abilities.

You might not be able to explain to your kids

why they need to learn algebra.

But there is no question

that strengthening and understanding these social superpowers

will help our children for their entire lives.

Thank you.

(Applause)