The Social Network

How many friends do you have on Facebook? What about the amount of people that you text/ call on a regular basis? Human beings today (our generation in particular) live in a society of unprecedented social connectivity; We are able to instantly communicate with one another, and to keep in touch with old friends that we might have previously lost touch with. Overall, technology has had a significant impact on the size and maintenance of our individual social networks over the course of the past few decades, and a new study shows that a particular region of the brain is keeping up.

Kevin C. Bickart and his colleagues at the Boston University School of Medicine released a study that indicated that the size of the amygdala, a sub-cortical structure in the limbic area of the brain, has been shown to be highly correlated with the size and complexity of one’s social network. After reading this, my first thought was, “How have the social network-expanding websites and gadgets of the technological age (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, smartphones, etc.) already begun to alter our brain morphology?!” Afterall, evolving adaptations via natural selection takes millions of years. However, one will notice that social networks, in fact, have been around for millions of years. For many animals, especially primates, living with others in groups proved a significant adaptive advantage to survival and reproduction. Yet, with cooperation comes competition, and so it became favorable for one to be capable of differentiating between ally and enemy, distinguishing teammate from competitor. It also became beneficial for individuals to possess the capability of understanding who in the community holds dominant roles, and acting accordingly so to not unreasonably risk injury or death.

In accordance with the evolutionary theory of animal behavior, this form of social awareness evolved into what it is in humans today. The Social Brain Hypothesis suggests that “living in larger, more complex social groups selected for larger brain regions with a greater capacity for performing relevant computations and economic decisions.” The various functions that the amygdala is responsible for include emotional learning, fear conditioning, and affect/ empathy formation, all characteristics mandatory for successful navigation through one’s day-to-day social environment. So logically, it makes sense that a larger amygdala (with increased function), might account for a larger social network. Evolutionary theory would suggest that the amygdala has evolved this way in primates over time, specifically tailored through the generations until finally it has become able to deal with the complexities of the intricate social web that is apparent in human society today. In doing so, the larger amygdala allows us to more efficiently recognize and address different socio-emotional cues from those in our environment, furthermore providing us with sufficient information to make the best possible decisions in a world of co-existing social cooperation and competition.

The study suggests further looking into a causal relationship between amygdala size, and social network size and complexity: does being born with larger amygdala provide one with an advantage in maintaining a more vast social network? Conversely, does the amygdala grow as one increases the size/complexity of his social network? All in all, it makes one wonder...what does Mark Zuckerberg’s amygdala look like? To read more...click here.