New Links Between Social Status, Brain Activity

[Blackking]

I'm only putting this up because we are Americans... so it's in our collective soul to not recognize these things and to focus solely on the symptoms of social issues as opposed the root causes. It simply makes us feel good inside to Always blame victims and place 100% of the blame on the de facto pawns - as opposed to a shared responsibility. Most of u on HL think like this and basically I find it disgusting.



http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/11/131113092546.htm
New studies released today reveal links between social status and specific brain structures and activity, particularly in the context of social stress. The findings were presented at Neuroscience 2013, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience and the world's largest source of emerging news about brain science and health.

Using human and animal models, these studies may help explain why position in social hierarchies strongly influences decision-making, motivation, and altruism, as well as physical and mental health. Understanding social decision-making and social ladders may also aid strategies to enhance cooperation and could be applied to everyday situations from the classroom to the boardroom.

Today's new findings show that:

• Adult rats living in disrupted environments produce fewer new brain cells than rats in stable societies, supporting theories that unstable conditions impair mental health and cognition
• People who have many friends have certain brain regions that are bigger and better connected than those with fewer friends. It's unknown whether their brains were predisposed to social engagement or whether larger social networks prompted brain development
• In situations where monkeys can potentially cooperate to improve their mutual reward, certain groups of brain cells work to accurately predict the responses of other monkeys
• Following extreme social stress, enhancing brain changes associated with depression can have an anti-depressant effect in mice

Other recent findings discussed show that:

• Defeats heighten sensitivity to social hierarchies and may exacerbate brain activity related to social anxiety

"Social subordination and social instability have been associated with an increased incidence of mental illness in humans," said press conference moderator Larry Young, PhD, of Emory University, an expert in brain functions involved with social behavior. "We now have a better picture of how these situations impact the brain. While this information could lead to new treatments, it also calls on us to evaluate how we construct social hierarchies -- whether in the workplace or school -- and their impacts on human well-being."


Furthermore ---

Brain-Behavior Associations: Researchers Look at Ties Between Early Social Experiences and Adolescent Brain Function

and also...

Brain Dopamine Receptor Density Correlates With Social Status

and

Our Own Status Affects the Way Our Brains Respond to Others

plus

Lower Education Levels Linked to Unhealthy Diets

and then

http://www.spotlightonpoverty.org/health_and_poverty.aspx along with http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/01/0131_030203_jubilee2.html and http://voices.yahoo.com/the-psychological-effects-slavery-colonization-3349634.html

 

[IronFist]

The question is how this effects those who are beginning to see what is going on in the world. The process of overstanding how things really work is a major reality change then add to that the social isolation many people experience as they try to talk to others about these things and the end result is even more social isolation.

 

[Serious]

There's something off about this study that I can't quite put my finger on....


@Broletariat

 

[The_King_of_Everything]

 

[Blackking]

The question is how this effects those who are beginning to see what is going on in the world. The process of overstanding how things really work is a major reality change then add to that the social isolation many people experience as they try to talk to others about these things and the end result is even more social isolation.

there's not serious effects in the case of being more aware and understanding --- except having to be frustrated with your own people, or stating to feel mentally isolated.

But if you're focused on helping the situation in anyway you can, you don't have time to worry about the isolation or mental process you're going through.

 

[Spin]

The whole social status system determines what you have access to growing up. People love to point to the diamond in the rough anecdote examples, but I'm talking about on average. If you're in the upper class you have access to better education, food, healthcare, etc. The benefits of this from birth is you're more prepared for the game (better college, jobs, etc). It's a simple fact that a person in upper class, on average, has more repetitions of doing what is deemed "good" to be prosperous later in life. When studies like this come out, I take them with a grain of salt. Yes there is the cream that rises to the top, but there is much more than that. Beyond skill and talent, there is the ability to sell yourself. The person that knows some skills, but can network and sell himself will most likely end up in a higher financial position than someone that is pure skill. Again, if you're in a higher class you have access to networks that the regular person doesn't have. Despite what many people may think, people tend to operate on emotion rather than logic. This is true of rich, genius, poor, etc.

Obviously, you can still break barriers coming from a non privileged background. The key is not to get caught up in the BS. If it was man made, it can be broken.