? The same studies demonstrated that anger hinders performance on complex cognitive tasks, showing how anger means you can’t “think straight.” Not always helpful, but it would inevitably feed into the same system. You could calmly assess all the properties of the threat you encounter and decide that, overall, it’s too risky to deal with. But anger hinders this rational thinking, messing up the delicate analysis that leads to you avoid the issue and compels you to go right at it, fists flailing.
? Aggression can also happen without anger. Contact sports such as rugby or football often involve aggression, but no anger is required; it’s just the desire to win at the expense of the other team that motivates it.
§ Exactly why this “runner’s high” occurs is uncertain. Some say it’s using up the muscles’ oxygen supplies, triggering anaerobic respiration (oxygen-free cellular activity, which produces acid by-products that can cause pain, such as cramps or a “stitch”), which the brain responds to by releasing endorphins, the pain-killing pleasure-inducing transmitters. Others say it’s more to do with elevated body temperature, or constant rhythmic activity providing a sense of well-being that the brain wants to encourage. Marathon runners often report this runner’s high, which as a rewarding sensation seems to come second only to telling people, “I’m training for a marathon you know,” given how often they find excuses to do this.
? Freud still has a lot of influence and many adhere to his theories, even a century later. This may seem odd. Granted, he did largely usher in the whole concept of psychoanalysis and should be lauded for it, but this doesn’t mean his original theories are automatically correct. It is the diffuse and uncertain nature of psychology and psychiatry that means he still wields such influence today; it’s hard to disprove things conclusively. Yes, Freud founded the whole field, but the Wright brothers invented aeroplanes, and while they’ll always be remembered for this, we don’t still use aircraft that they designed for long-haul flights to South America. Times move on, and all that.
# It may seem wasteful or lazy, but repetition is a very important process in science because repeating an experiment and getting the same results helps make sure that the findings are reliable, not just due to luck or sneaky manipulation. This is a particularly big problem in psychology, given the unpredictability and unreliability of the human brain. It even thwarts attempts to study it, which is another annoying property of it.
7
Group hug!
How the brain is influenced by other people
Many claim to not care what anyone thinks of them. They will say this often, and loudly, going to great lengths to behave in ways that make it absolutely clear to anyone who’ll listen. Apparently, not caring what people think of you isn’t valid unless people, the ones you supposedly don’t care about, know about it. Those who shun “social norms” invariably just end up as part of a different recognizable group. From the mods and skinheads of the mid-twentieth century to goths and emos today, the first thing someone does when they don’t want to conform to normal standards is to find another group identity to conform to instead. Even biker gangs or the Mafia all tend to dress alike; they may have no respect for the law, but they want the respect of their peers.
If hardened criminals and outlaws can’t fight the urge to form groups, it must be quite deeply rooted in our brains. Placing a prisoner in solitary confinement for too long is considered a form of psychological torture,1 demonstrating that human contact is more a necessity than a desire. The truth is, odd as it may seem, much of the human brain is dedicated to and formed by interactions with other people, and we grow to depend on people as a result, to a surprising extent.
There’s the classic argument about what makes a person who they are—nature or nurture? Genes or environment? It’s a combination of both; genes obviously have a big impact on how we end up, but so do all the things that happen to us as we develop and, for the developing brain, one of if not the main source of information and experience is other humans. What people tell us, how they behave, what they do and think/suggest/create/believe, all of this has a direct impact on a still-forming brain. On top of this, much of our selves (self-worth, ego, motivation, ambition and so on) is derived from how others think and behave towards us.
When you consider that other people influence our brain’s development, and they are in turn being controlled by their brains, there’s only one possible conclusion: human brains are controlling their own development! Much apocalyptic sci-fi is based on the idea of computers doing exactly this, but it’s not as scary if it’s brains doing it because, as we’ve seen repeatedly, human brains are quite ridiculous. As a result, so are people. And thus we have large portions of our brains dedicated to engaging with others.
What follows are numerous examples of how bizarre this arrangement can end up being.
Written all over your face
(Why it’s hard to hide what you’re really thinking)
People don’t like it when you have a miserable facial expression, even if there’s good reason for it, like having had a big fight with your partner, or realizing you’ve stepped in dog poop. But, whatever the cause, it’s often made worse by some random stranger telling you to smile.
Facial expressions mean other people can tell what someone is thinking or feeling. It’s mind reading, but via the face. It’s actually a useful form of communication, which shouldn’t come as a shock as the brain has a surprisingly extensive variety of processes dedicated to communicating with others.
You may have heard the claim that “90 percent of communication is non-verbal.” The “90 percent” claim varies considerably depending on who’s saying it, but in truth it varies because people communicate differently in different contexts; people trying to communicate in a crowded nightclub use different methods from those they’d opt for when trying to communicate while trapped in a cage with a sleeping tiger. The overall point is that much or most of our interpersonal communication is conducted via means other than spoken words.
We have several brain regions dedicated to language processing and speech, so the importance of verbal communication should go without saying (ironically). For many years, it was all attributed to two brain regions. Broca’s area, named for Pierre Paul Broca, at the rear of the frontal lobe, was believed to be integral to speech formation. Thinking of something to say and putting the relevant words in the correct order, that was Broca’s area at work.