Invisible Forces and Powerful Beliefs: Gravity, Gods, and Minds

239 Pages·2010·24.2 MB·English

by  The Chicago Social Brain Network

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Invisible Forces and
Powerful Beliefs
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From the Library of Wow! eBook
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From the Library of Wow! eBook
Invisible Forces and
Powerful Beliefs
Gravity, Gods, and Minds
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The Chicago Social Brain Network
From the Library of Wow! eBook
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Contents
Preface
Chapter 1 Invisible forces operating on human bodies . . . . 1
Gravity is an invisible force that holds us to the surface of
the Earth, yet the fact that gravity is invisible does not
place it beyond scientific scrutiny. Similarly, humans are a
quintessentially social species whose need for social con-
nection produces invisible forces on our brain, behavior,
and biology that are subject to scientific investigation.
Among these are forces that compel us to seek trusting
and meaningful connections with others and to seek
meaning and connection with something bigger than our-
selves. The story of these invisible forces speaks to who
we are as a species.
From selfish genes to social brains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 ptg
Chapter 2 The social nature of humankind . . . . . . . . . . . 17
The human brain has evolved under the guidance of self-
ish genes to produce more than a brain that is capable of
powerful, isolated information processing operations.
The human brain also has evolved with inherent capaci-
ties for social cognition, compassion, empathy, bonding,
coordination, cooperation, values, mortality, and a need
for social connection that extends beyond kin and even
other individuals.
From inclusive fitness to spiritual striving . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Chapter 3 Science, religion, and a revived religious
humanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
The dialogue between science and religion, if properly
pursued, can usher in a new era of religious humanism in
the leading world religions. Their central beliefs and
practices largely would remain intact, but their views of
nature and their concerns with health and well-being
would be refined through their conversations with the
vi invisible forces and powerful beliefs
sciences. How this model would work is discussed in
terms of the relation between love and health in Christ-
ian theology—especially the tension between the agape,
caritas, and eros models of Christian love.
The status of the body politic and the status
of the body itself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Chapter 4 Health by connection: from social brains
to resilient bodies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Most people feel socially connected most of the time.
Felt connectedness is typically taken for granted, but the
effects of its absence, as experienced in feelings of isola-
tion, demonstrate that our evolutionary heritage as a
social species has potent implications for health and well-
being.
From relationships to people and groups to
relationships with God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
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Chapter 5 Psychosomatic relations: from superstition
to mortality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
It has long been recognized that mental states can impact
health and well-being, but the causal pathways have only
recently begun to be understood. Thoughts, beliefs, and
attitudes can have powerful effects on physiological func-
tions, health, and disease. Examples range from supersti-
tious beliefs associated with voodoo, bone pointing, or
other black rituals to the more positive states associated
with spirituality. This chapter considers these disparate
psychological states and how they might translate into
physiological effects with real health implications.
The mind and body are one . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Chapter 6 The suspension of individual consciousness
and the dissolution of self and other
boundaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
A special case of social interaction concerns two or more
individuals engaging in temporally coordinated actions
that imply particular timing patterns such as synchrony or
From the Library of Wow! eBook
contents vii
rhythmic turn taking, such as applauding in unison or the
“wave” that is produced by thousands of individual sports
fans in a stadium. A model to explain such synchronized
behavior is proposed in terms of the neural processes that
are jointly recruited. One of the main implications sug-
gested by this model is that taking part in or being part of
a synchronized social interaction gives rise to a qualitative
shift in subjective experience due to the difficulty of
applying an individual-centered explanation to collec-
tively produced spontaneous co-action.
You and I as one . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Chapter 7 Action at a distance: the invisible force
of language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Language forms the fabric of our social institutions and
makes tangible the nature of our relationships. Although
the function of language is typically viewed in terms of
the information content it provides, some of the social
function of language may depend on the way it affects us. ptg
The idea of language impact—how language directly
affects our emotions and social connections—may be
fundamental to the way the social brain functions to con-
nect people.
Systems and signals for social coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Chapter 8 Hidden forces in understanding others:
mirror neurons and neurobiological
underpinnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Specific brain regions in monkeys contain individual
brain cells, or neurons, that respond to both observation
and execution of identical hand and mouth actions. Brain
imaging in humans has demonstrated that our brains
have similarly localized regions with similar properties.
Localized brain regions respond when goal-directed
actions of the hand and mouth are executed and when
the same or similar actions are observed. Interestingly,
these brain regions in the human also respond to obser-
vation and imitation of facial movements, and appear to
be sensitive to their emotional content.
From the Library of Wow! eBook
viii invisible forces and powerful beliefs
Connecting and binding social brains and minds . . . . . . . . 107
Chapter 9 Empathy and interpersonal sensitivity . . . . . . 109
Empathy is thought to play a key role in motivating proso-
cial behavior, guiding our preferences and behavioral
responses, and providing the affective and motivational
base for moral development. While folk conceptions of
empathy view it as the capacity to share, understand, and
respond with care to the affective states of others, neuro-
science research demonstrates that these components
can be dissociated. Empathy is not a unique characteristic
of human consciousness, but it is an important adaptive
behavior that evolved with the mammalian brain. How-
ever, humans are special in the sense that high-level
cognitive abilities (language, theory of mind, executive
functions) are layered on top of phylogenetically older
social and emotional capacities. These higher-level cogni-
tive and social capacities expand the range of behaviors
that can be driven by empathy.
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Seeing into my mind and other minds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Chapter 10 Seeing invisible minds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Other minds are inherently invisible. Being able to “see”
them requires learning about other minds, attending to
other minds, and projecting one’s own mind onto others.
Seeing minds in other agents can mean the difference
between treating others as humans and merely regarding
them as objects.
Inferring minds where none can be seen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Chapter 11 Anthropomorphism: human connection
to a universal society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
The human motivation for social connection extends
beyond the boundary of the human in the (often misun-
derstood) religious language of anthropomorphism. In this
chapter, an infamous sermon from colonial America (“Sin-
ners in the Hands of an Angry God”) is used to illustrate
the way anthropomorphic language works to incorporate
From the Library of Wow! eBook
contents ix
human society in a web of ethical obligations that connect
to the natural environment and, by imaginative extension,
to the universe as a whole.
Personifications of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Chapter 12 How does God become real? . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Becoming a person of faith is not so much about acquir-
ing certain beliefs, but about learning to use one’s mind
in particular ways. The often intensely private experience
of God is built through a profoundly social learning
process.
Belief and connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Chapter 13 Theological perspectives on God as an
invisible force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
The beliefs that religious individuals hold about the way
God operates in human life are potential factors affecting
perceived social isolation. This chapter discusses a spe-
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cific type of such belief that is common in the history of
Christian thought: the belief that God is an invisible force
of a rather impersonal sort working for the good in every-
thing that happens. The paper argues that this sort of
belief has as great or greater potential than belief in God
as a personal friend, to give one the sense that one is
never alone. However, the conception of God as perva-
sive can also lead to inattention and disconnection.
The elusiveness of meaningful connection . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Chapter 14 Visible efforts to change invisible
connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Despite the human need for social connection, many
individuals are lonely because they are unable to create
meaningful social bonds. Interventions designed to
reduce loneliness have not been successful, suggesting
the need for a better understanding of loneliness, social
connection, and the obstacles to forming meaningful con-
nections with others.
From the Library of Wow! eBook