Social Nature Chapter 6

Social Nature of Intelligence* Hyper Rich social experience (over million years) hyper social instincts (memory, language, empathy, sympathy, collaboration, and reasoning) Facilitate meeting of minds Expectant Capacity to think, learn and achieve is expectant (depends) of the social experience that constructed it Cultivate common purpose Dependent Social experience is the greatest provocateur of thinking and learning * Interrelated

Extended Invention of a variety of media that extends social interactions beyond face-to-face encounters Extended the mind’s reach Virtuous Instinctive moral orientation to prosocial behavior Achieve behaviors that would benefit the group

Human brain evolved from rich social experiences Physiological architecture of the brain is the platform in which your intelligence performs, but social experience is an influential architect and operator of the platform Social definition as living together or as interrelated interdependent elements The beginning of the universeorganized simple structures into complex and evolving systems = brain is a system that is disposed to interact with like brain systems

Selfish gene theory = individual life forms consistently do things to benefit the survival of genes The History – The Experience Ancient primate, 50 million yrs. ago began to develop the size of their brain as result of cost benefit calculations on how to get food Benefiting life in social communities – vigilance against enemies So they began to refine their sensory processing of visual and auditory information to be attuned to any type of communication or warning—those who were better at it became leaders of the communities And hierarchies in the social group were developed

Emotions began to develop within the social group by Stability Emotions began to develop within the social group by social observation skills as result of keeping homeostasis within the group With emotions became the development of awareness and the ability to infer, predict, and planmental capacity to anticipate events And approximately 2.5 millions years ago, humans put together a neural pattern for tool making = social aspect of learninginventions are usual contributions of a few working together Language emerged from social experience (intimacy) Broca area and Wernicke’s area were developed in the brain to deal with this behavior

What are the implications for the future using the evolution information that we have discussed? In other words, based on what we are currently doing in our lives, how do you see the human being as a social entity in the future?

Evolutionrefinement of what already been changed Collateral Development Collateral Development Walking erect – 2 footed balancenew brain circuitry Upright posture – better perspective for visual scanning Hand dexterity to make and use tools Reduced exposure to the sun Linear Development Evolutionrefinement of what already been changed Cognitive fluidity = Swiss Army Knife Social heritage of brain’s evolutionary experience is displayed in: Its size and organization Emotional acuity (security) Capacity to create and manipulate mental templates (executive functions) And, figure things out Cells and molecules opened to environmental influences

Facing Environmental Influences Highly evolved neural mechanisms Syntactic and & semantic language Evolved neural mechanisms for social interactions Muscle endings in their facial skinfacial expressions Verbal messages include expressions, tone And at times smell, taste & touch Gut feeling Consciousness = meaning, memory, emotion, & reflection Reflective manipulation of informationexecutive skills Awareness and management of emotions to good effect

Let’s refine our previous answers…. Do you see any future linear evolutionary changes as result of your past answers? How about collateral development? Do you think that we will expand our present state of consciousness as result of the changes that you mentioned?

Social unfolding of its potential Ontogeny (development) Philogeny (evolution) Fundamental work of the brain occurs through the flow of electrochemically encoded information at the neural cell The growth of the cell is both environmentally and genetically directed As the primitive brain began to face more complicated tasks, specifically neural networks were developed (evolution) These networks progressively influenced the genetic adaptations These genetic adaptations needed the influence of the environment to flourish

The Human Brain is Experience Expectant and Experience Dependant At certain developmental periods on the human life, there is a genetically generated excess of neural networks Occurs from birth to adolescence Dendritic & axonal extensions ready Pruning also occurs Expectations of certain stimulation cues occur Plasticity Life long process Experience Dependant Brain is ready to have environmental interaction in order to grow and mature “Use it or lose it, but do not abuse it”

Social Experience Actualizes Human Intelligence The Human Brain Seeks Ways to Expand Opportunities to Interact With Other Brains 50,000 yrs. ago written language graphics Now, communication technologies, radio, photography, movies, television, & Internet Social Experience Actualizes Human Intelligence Brain was made to interact with other brains Social interaction since early childhood are the bases for adulthood intellectual capacities