Everyone
has friends! But why is it that we try so hard to keep them close to
us? A study done by researchers in the University of Virginia suggests
that we associate kith and kin with ourselves.
This study was published in the August issue of the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience.
James Coan, psychology professor at University of Virginia, along with his colleagues used functi
onal
MRI brain scans to study 22 young adults. The fMRI was used to monitor
brain activity in the participants while they received threats of mild
electrical shocks being delivered to themselves, to a friend or to a
stranger.
The anterior insula, putamen and supramarginal gyrus
(brain regions responsible for threat response) experienced activity
when the threat was targeted at the subject. This was as expected.
However, when the threat was targeted at a friend, the same areas in the
brain lighted up, as though the threat was targeted at the self. In
contrast, when the threat was targeted at a stranger, the same areas in
the brain experienced little activity.
Coan says, “Our self
comes to include the people we feel close to.” The reason for this is
that humans need to have allies and friends. Eventually, humans perceive
their friends to be the same as themselves. Friendship and alliance
likely evolved because it allowed for resource expansion. A threat can
take away resources. With friendship, common goals are formed and
survivability increases.
“We can understand the pain or difficulty they may be going through in the same way we understand our own pain,” said Coan.
Read all about it: http://bit.ly/19LMJCW
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