I will start with quite a controversial topic. It might be risky, but it is better to be damned than bore readers to death right in the beginning. Yes, in the best case scenario both happen simultaneously. Social Situations Every time we appear in a social situation, our brain starts to engage millions of computational operations. For example, one of the cognitive abilities we incorporate is inference making about mental states of the others. This amazing cognitive capacity tells us, not only what the other think (with some degree of belief), but also what they feel, and how they are going to behave. This computation is based on our previous experiences and new evidence, that continuously changes our degree of belief about the other mental states. Two notes here: The experience does not necessarily mean our own lived experience, but also the unique aesthetic experience in the form of movies, books, theater plays, etc. Stories we heard from others count too, and even stories we make up ourselves. Here I talk about the degree of belief; I assume that this inference making can be described by Bays' theorem and that our social brain computations are Bayesian interpretations. The central brain regions involved in this "mentalizing" process are the medial prefrontal cortex (MPC), the temporoparietal junction (TPJ), and the medial parietal cortex. I have now summed some brain regions, but to be precise, the brain probably works as a network (as I and some other more qualified experts think, for example, Olaf Sporns). Therefore, in its entirety social regions most likely form a network that helps us overcome the awkwardness of many social engagements. When we approach someone, and we start a conversation, we need as many initial information as possible. To estimate the most probable inferences about the mental states of our companion, we have to determine his/her gender, sex, age, origin (through accents), look for other clues like clothes, gestures, tattoos, piercings, disability, ethnicity, make-up, hairstyle, and so forth. Yes, I said it - gender is relevant here, you do not mean bad, you just compute unconsciously. Gender is one quality that our brain process in social situations. These initial cues help to reduce the computational overload we encounter during social situations. You can imagine it as many equations our brain has to solve in seconds, and it is easier to solve them with as many numbers as possible, replacing the Xs and Ys with numbers. Now you see, knowing gender helps, but you might add: 'Wait, define gender.' (especially if you ever came across philosophy). Gender Stereotypes Here I refer to gender as a social construct that is being played, presented, implied, displayed, or done publicly. I chose the broadest form that can be represented by known gender theories by Bob Conell, Candace West and Don H. Zimmerman, Susanne J. Kessler a Wendy McKenna, Judith Butler, and Iris Marion Young. (Here, I do not want to look smart that I know all these names, I just want to show how many people are known for saying nearly the same.) Gender stereotypes are ascribed characteristics that refer to one being 'feminine' for women or 'masculine' for men. All possible human characteristics (and not only them, for example colors too) can be divided into the two complementary boxes 'feminine/masculine'. You learned them through gender socialization since your kinder garden like girls wear pink, boys wear blue, girls are nurses, boys are doctors. This categorization sounds trivial, but you most likely act according to those stereotypes without realizing it because you have your gender identity. Back to our social situation - why is it important to identify gender for mentalizing? Because almost certainly you are going to act/play/perform/do you gender role, and that is when I can fill in a number for X in my social equation and solve it. Gender is like playing according to rules. The rules can change, no doubt, but without them, there would be chaos, at least in your brain during social gatherings. In this post, I touched many interesting topics. Hopefully, I will come back to them in the future. Till then - love your Mr. Brain! Mitchell JP (2009) Inferences about mental states. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 364:1309–1316. Renzetti CM, Curran DJ (1999) Women, Men, and Society. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Sporns O (2013) Structure and function of complex brain networks. Dialogues Clin Neurosci 15:247–262.
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AuthorKaterina C. is a brain enthusiast, who also enjoys yoga (sometimes not, but it sounds cool), good beer (and the associated talks), and philosophy (which covers nearly every possible field). ArchivesCategories |
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