Brain can Help Humans Navigate Social Differences: Here's How

Having small talk with a person from a different social class may require more brainpower than speaking to someone with a similar background, reports a new study.

Speaking with someone from a different social class may require more brainpower compared to speaking to someone with a similar background, reports a new study. The findings of the study are published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience.

Around 39 pairs of strangers had their heads scanned as they held conversations. They found that having a conversation with someone from a different social class makes the basic small talk more taxing.

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‘People's prejudice towards those richer or poorer than them even makes the basic small talk more taxing. ’

Participants were not told if someone was from a more affluent or poorer background but worked it out based on cues like appearance, mannerisms, and how well-spoken the other person was.

Study author Joy Hirsch stated: 'If we meet someone unfamiliar, these findings reveal the brain has to work differently to process that successfully. If people feel they are making more effort, it may be because they use a part of the brain that they do not habitually use.'

The conversation task lasted for 12 minutes and involved participants being randomly assigned four subjects on themes like "What did you do last summer?" and "How do you bake a cake?"

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The participants' brain activity was tracked by using near-infrared light to detect blood flow and oxygen levels. They found that pairs of people with very different socioeconomic backgrounds had a higher activity level in an area of the frontal lobe known as the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.

In a questionnaire following their task, participants of the study paired with people of different backgrounds reported slightly higher anxiety levels and effort during their conversation compared to those in similar-background pairs.

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The author stated: "We wanted to know if the brain reacted differently when we talked to others of a different socioeconomic background. Now we know that it does and that humans have neurobiology that helps us navigate social differences."

Source-Medindia

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