Scientists Find Out How We Understand Other’s Popularity

In a new research, scientists have found out how our brains recognise popular people and responds to social status.

Scientists say that though they know the brain is able to go ahead with this recognition, they do not know how the brain is able to do this. Scientists said that we follow people's popularity through the brain part which is linked to foreseeing rewards.

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"Being able to track other people's status in your group is incredibly important in survival terms," said Kevin Ochsner, PhD of Columbia University. "Knowing who is popular or likeable is critically important in times of need or distress, when you seek an alliance, or need help — whether physical or political - etc."

The research team got people from student organizations to come into the lab and rate how much they like each other. These ratings were then used to mathematically determine who is most liked in each social network.

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After further analysis, scientists said we learn who is likeable by getting the rewarding effects of conversing with someone.

Ochsner said, "The emotional evaluation system really holds the key to unlocking the popularity of group members and tells the social cognition systems, 'hey, this is a person with whom I can expect rewarding interactions', triggering the person to think about what the popular individual's thoughts, intentions, and feelings are."

Source: Medindia