This chapter explores a study on cultural neuroscience, comparing Chinese and American brains in terms of their response to norm violations. It also delves into another study on how Chinese individuals synchronize their brains when feeling threatened by an outgroup.
What ultimately drives human behaviour? A leading professor of psychology, Michele Gelfand, suggests that culture is one of the last uncharted frontiers. From her pioneering research into cultural and social norms she’s found an important distinction between tight and loose cultures, and their tendency to make or break rules. These social norms or informal rules of conduct determine whether we co-operate or come into conflict, at both the collective and individual levels.
This program was first broadcast in June 2019