CONNECTION: How Big Is Your Brain?

Neuroscientist and social psychologist Matthew Lieberman writes that close relationships are essential in order for a person to thrive in life. But those close relationships and intimate connections are more and more absent for many of us. In the words of Aristotle, “Man is by nature a social animal…anyone who either cannot lead the common life or is so self-sufficient as not to need to, and therefore does not partake of society, is either a beast or a god.” According to Lieberman, the primary purpose of the human brain is social thinking. Animals with complex social lives have the largest brains. Elephants have big brains, and we humans have the largest brain relative to body of any animal. Scientists like Lieberman argue that this is no coincidence; our brains are big because we need to connect deeply with other beings.