The human brain is wired to connect with others so strongly that it experiences what they experience as if it's happening to us.
It's kind of just empathy, but it goes even deeper. A new study from University of Virginia researchers supports the idea.
Results from this latest study shows that we care when things happen to other people, but if someone is close enough to us (as a loved one), the brain doesn't differentiate between it happening to someone else or it happening to us, it's the same thing. But, the brain is almost incapable of doing that with strangers.
And, the way they tested this was kind of crazy. They had participants undergoing magnetic resonance imaging.
During this MRI, they threaten to shock the person in the machine, then taking a break from that, to threaten a friend of theirs; then taking a break from that, to threaten a stranger. The results showed that the regions at the brain for threat response reacted much the same, in a very similar fashion, whether it be to that person, or to one of their friends. But, with a stranger, there was virtually no activity.
There's an evolutionary psychologist by the name of Robin Dunbar...
...and through his research, he has come up with Dunbar's number. This number which is 150 or less people (beyond that number, our brains begin to strain to sync with others).
Basically, we may be much closer to the people we keep around us, than those we let on.
It's kind of just empathy, but it goes even deeper. A new study from University of Virginia researchers supports the idea.
Results from this latest study shows that we care when things happen to other people, but if someone is close enough to us (as a loved one), the brain doesn't differentiate between it happening to someone else or it happening to us, it's the same thing. But, the brain is almost incapable of doing that with strangers.
And, the way they tested this was kind of crazy. They had participants undergoing magnetic resonance imaging.
During this MRI, they threaten to shock the person in the machine, then taking a break from that, to threaten a friend of theirs; then taking a break from that, to threaten a stranger. The results showed that the regions at the brain for threat response reacted much the same, in a very similar fashion, whether it be to that person, or to one of their friends. But, with a stranger, there was virtually no activity.
There's an evolutionary psychologist by the name of Robin Dunbar...
...and through his research, he has come up with Dunbar's number. This number which is 150 or less people (beyond that number, our brains begin to strain to sync with others).
Basically, we may be much closer to the people we keep around us, than those we let on.
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