It’s a widely held belief that humans are motivated by pain and pleasure. It makes intuitive sense that we are driven by desire for things we like, and strive to avoid experiences that hurt us. However, this might not be the full story. In his enlightening book: Social, Why Our Brains are Wired to Connect, Matthew D. Lieberman points to research which proves that the same areas of the brain are activated when we are socially rejected, as are activated when we’re in pain. This suggests that our social world may play a far greater role in our day to day decisions then has been previously believed.

One of the more interesting revelations to come from the book involves the 10,000 hour rule. Lieberman points out that it takes 10,000 hours to master a skill, and believes that by age ten, almost every human has already committed those 10,000 hours learning how to be social. This revelation makes the reader wonder, if 10,000 hours have been committed to the art of being social by the age of ten, how many hours have been committed by the age of thirty or forty?

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Learn More:  Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect by Matthew D. Lieberman