Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman Ep 53 " Can societies fight better? "
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Apr 1, 2024 Conflict researcher Jonathan Stray discusses the neuroscience of conflict, societal polarization, social media's role, and strategies for building bridges. Topics include tribalistic brains, political divides, identity influence, empathy, and constructive dialogues.
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Shared Brain Wiring Explains Tribalism
- Modern humans share essentially the same brain 'OS' because anatomically modern humans spread from Africa ~60k years ago.
- That shared biology explains universal tribal instincts like in-groups and out-groups.
Brains Empathize Less With Out-Groups
- Neuroscience shows our brains simulate pain for in-group members but less so for out-groups, reducing empathy.
- This neural bias can make out-groups feel like objects rather than fellow humans.
fMRI Study Showing Group-Based Pain Responses
- In Eagleman's fMRI study, labeled hands (Christian, Muslim, etc.) elicited stronger pain responses when the label matched the subject's group.
- Every group showed greater neural empathy for their labeled in-group hand than for out-groups.