Unit 7: People Are Social Animals

I wasn't surprised by the information presented in this chapter. I've often observed social behavior in public - people in grocery stores stand in front of you, for instance or engage in conversation. Ever get stopped on a highway because of an accident? I have - in Florida - we all got out of our cars and communicated with one another about what could be happening. Social behavior might even explain the cell phone obsession as well - the constant need to stay in touch with those in our "tribe."

As with previous chapters, the author presents the information in a very succinct manner and I really enjoy the correlations she uses with each bullet point. Shortly after reading this chapter I was flipping through channels and stopped on Searching for Bigfoot, mostly out of curiosity that folks are spending their time and energy on a subject that comes from folklore. The interesting thing was the recounting of a "witness" who says he saw Bigfoot in his bedroom window and when he went to the window Bigfoot imitated his facial expressions. The host explains that this is typical behavior for Bigfoot(s?) - they're very curious. Although the whole scene was like watching a play, it made me think of #64, People are Hard-Wired for Imitation and Empathy where the author addresses mirror neurons. Mirror Neurons began in infancy and are shared by other species - it's when we mimic the other person's facial expressions and recent theories suggest it may be how we empathize with another person - these neurons seem to sync when a person or audience is focused on the speaker. This bleeds into the topic of synchronous activity - when groups perform a ritual together they bond. Kind of like a collective or hive. For me it's synonymous with church rituals or cults!

Dunbar’s Number: "We are the product of our evolutionary history and this colours our everyday lives - including the number of friends we can have. Robin Dunbar, Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Oxford, says 150 is the maximum number of friendships that the human mind is capable of handling. 'Dunbar's number', as it is known, even applies to the Facebook generation. Professor Dunbar concludes that the volume of the neocortex region of our brain, used for language and thought, limits the number of friends we can maintain. He argues this number has not changed much throughout history and applies in the same way on the web as it does in real life."  - excerpts from the University of Oxford's book review How Many Friends Does One Person Need.

The bullet point that was especially poignant to me was #70, Laughter Bonds People Together. A few days prior to reading this chapter, I had just attended "Jump Start" with a group of web students from AIS. A small group of us met before and after the event and shared stories and laughter over food and drinks. Driving home afterwards - it's an hour drive for me - I reflected on our time together, thinking of the stories we shared and feeling happy about the evening and noticed that I was genuinely smiling. You can't fake a genuine smile, you really can't. People know, they see it in your eyes, your forehead, your cheek muscles, even your whole body posture. It's more obvious in person as well as videos, but lesser so in photos. In a psychology class at AIS we took a test, on BBC Science & Nature, and tried to guess if the person was really smiling - we got a few wrong!

Demonstration of the mechanics
of facial expression. Duchenne and
an assistant faradizethe mimetic
muscles of  "The Old Man."

Duchenne smile: Guillaume Duchenne was a French doctor who experimented with electrical currents to see which muscles controlled a genuine smile. He discovered that there were two major muscle groups: the zygomatic which raises the corners of the mouth; and, the orbicularis oculi muscle which raises the cheeks and makes the eyes crinkle. "Smiles that contract both of these muscles groups are called Duchenne smiles" - from #71, 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People.