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Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect Hardcover – October 8, 2013

by Matthew D. Lieberman (Author)

144 customer reviews

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We are profoundly social creatures – more than we know.

In Social, renowned psychologist Matthew Lieberman explores groundbreaking research in social neuroscience revealing that our need to connect with other people is even more fundamental, more basic, than our need for food or shelter. Because of this, our brain uses its spare time to learn about the social world – other people and our relation to them. It is believed that we must commit 10,000 hours to master a skill. According to Lieberman, each of us has spent 10,000 hours learning to make sense of people and groups by the time we are ten.

Social argues that our need to reach out to and connect with others is a primary driver behind our behavior. We believe that pain and pleasure alone guide our actions. Yet, new research using fMRI – including a great deal of original research conducted by Lieberman and his UCLA lab -- shows that our brains react to social pain and pleasure in much the same way as they do to physical pain and pleasure. Fortunately, the brain has evolved sophisticated mechanisms for securing our place in the social world. We have a unique ability to read other people’s minds, to figure out their hopes, fears, and motivations, allowing us to effectively coordinate our lives with one another. And our most private sense of who we are is intimately linked to the important people and groups in our lives. This wiring often leads us to restrain our selfish impulses for the greater good. These mechanisms lead to behavior that might seem irrational, but is really just the result of our deep social wiring and necessary for our success as a species.

Based on the latest cutting edge research, the findings in Social have important real-world implications. Our schools and businesses, for example, attempt to minimalize social distractions. But this is exactly the wrong thing to do to encourage engagement and learning, and literally shuts down the social brain, leaving powerful neuro-cognitive resources untapped. The insights revealed in this pioneering book suggest ways to improve learning in schools, make the workplace more productive, and improve our overall well-being.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

It seems natural that when a person is rewarded with a cash prize there is intense activity in the pleasure centers of his or her brain. But why do we experience neurally identical pleasure when giving away money? Why is the emotional pain of being left out of a game of catch identical to that of physical injury? Using the latest research in neuroscience, Lieberman, an award-winning social psychologist, shows readers how their brains may be wired, first and foremost, to harmonize and connect with others, rather than simply to act in their own interests. With the help of new functional MRI technology, Lieberman explores the surprising new science of social interaction, investigating how our perceptions of others affect our cognition and, even more elementally, how social interaction and its absence can produce the same mental responses as physical pain and pleasure, as well as what that fact might mean about the evolution of the brain. Lieberman's findings are convincing: over the course of their evolution, humans have developed sophisticated means of responding to group challenges and the norms of altruism and cohesion have become ingrained in neural biology. The end of the book outlines how to integrate social cognition into teaching and management. Social is a far-ranging and sometimes long-winded introduction to how humans think together. Agent: Max Brockman, Brockman Inc. (Oct.)

From Booklist

Do we really know what drives us? Compelling evidence is emerging that shows that, more than money or other extrinsic incentives, the human brain gets a hefty reward by forging connections with others. That evidence, much of it uncovered by Lieberman, a pioneer of social cognitive neuroscience, is presented in a collegial manner in this often-surprising account. He contends that the human brain has been primed by evolution to view the world in social terms. With the details from study after study, many of them based on imaging scans that examine activity in certain parts of the brain, Lieberman’s book is perfect for Malcolm Gladwell fans who want to delve much deeper into the biology behind our social abilities. The investigations reveal the impressive social abilities we hold, often unappreciated but noticeable when lacking in others, and so ingrained they may influence our very sense of self. The book provides anecdotes and insights sure to be shared with others because, after all, we’re social creatures. --Bridget Thoreson

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Product details

Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: Crown; 1St Edition edition (October 8, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9780307889096
ISBN-13: 978-0307889096
ASIN: 0307889092
Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 1.3 x 8.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
Average Customer Review: 144 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #515,619 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #897 in Books > Medical Books > Psychology > Neuropsychology
- #1187 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Psychology & Counseling > Neuropsychology
- #1328 in Books > Medical Books > Psychology > Social Psychology & Interactions

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Kristen Manieri

Anyone with an interest in the human brain will love this book

October 15, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Matthew Lieberman has brought together so much science on why we do what we do and feel how we feel. This was a fascinating book on the field of social cognitive neuroscience. So well written. Anyone with an interest in the human brain will love this book.

5 people found this helpful

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Doc Rakestraw

Neuroscience meets psychology

May 12, 2018

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Psychology, sociology and anthropology have been dominated by authors and theories that can be described kindly as “imaginative.” Lieberman here outlines recent developments in neuroscience that finally offer the hope of understanding the connections of mind to society in a way that is authentic and perhaps even practical. Highly recommended.

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SAK

and the author does an excellent job of demonstrating

March 31, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Read the first few pages and this book and it is mind blowing...i am a foreigner living in the US and one of the things i have struggled with is blending in and building solid relationships with people, for different reasons including my accent, cultural differences and lack of enough commonality. Social pain is just as real as physical pain, and the author does an excellent job of demonstrating ...can wait to finish the rest

9 people found this helpful

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P. Sacco

Must read instruction manual for your brain!

May 2, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Very readable book on how humans are hard-wired for connection and how that impacts all aspects of our lives. Not overly clinical or technical but comprehensive, and an easily-digestible writing style. Fully recommend if you're trying to understand the human condition and/or psyche at a deeper level.

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Jonathan Gorman

Well-researched and interesting

July 30, 2018

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

The author is very knowledgeable on the subject and the studies he presents are interesting. I wish he would go into more detail with some of the studies that he talks about. While some of the neuroscience findings are surprising, the ultimate conclusion that humans have a social brain is not. I would still recommend this book.

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July 3, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

A very compelling book on the physical goings on within our minds during our most average everyday lives. Dr Lieberman is a psychologist who has dedicated his life to understanding the functionality of the brain and why it responses the way it does. This book breaks down how nature has adapted our evolution as a social society and why. This gives a great insight to what portions of the brain react to certain situations and why. It also gives a comprehensive understanding as to how our society has evolved into the social dependency it is today. Dr Lieberman is not shy about sharing his own possibility embarrassing experiences in order to further his point on our social dependencies. For that..... I give five stars. Although I probably would have done so anyway because his research is fascinating on its own. 😃

6 people found this helpful

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Gilbert Brenson-Lazan

Looking Beyond the Obvious

November 13, 2013

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

You may be tempted, as I was, to say "DUH!" to the affirmation that we are wired to connect. Nonetheless, Dr. Matthew Lieberman has presented some fascinating and compelling hard data to show how meaningful conversations and well-being are so intimately related. In the leadership development programs that I design, I have found the information in this book very valuable.

4 people found this helpful

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Paul Williams

A must read on how to relate well with others

September 21, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

An amazing up-to-date explanation of how we relate. For a future edition, and as a carer of my wife with Alzheimer's disease, I would like Matthew to consider a chapter on sustaining relationships when a person has advanced dementia.

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