This brief TEDx talk provides a basic introduction to the way the human mind was shaped by social interactions. More than maybe any other factor, the need to live in ever-increasing groups spurred the brain to expand and adapt in ways other species (including other primates) were not required to do.

In a lot of ways, this is a mirror of the developmental models of psychoanalytic theory which argue that the human mind, and even the sense of self, is entirely constructed by the interpersonal and intersubjective experiences of the infant in relation to the primary caregivers. Without that attachment experience, we fail in many profound ways to become fully human.

Researcher Danilo Bzdok is a post-doc in cognitive neuroscience and data mining at the Jülich Research Center, and he is working on another PhD in informatics.

Here is one of his articles, relevant to this topic: Definition and characterization of an extended social-affective 3 default network, available as a free download from ResearchGate.

Society in the brain | Dr. Danilo Bzdok | TEDxRWTHAachen

Published on Aug 21, 2014


Researcher Danilo Bzdok explains how our brains have been shaped by the necessity to establish relationships with other humans. The ability to effectively interact with friends and enemies, he proposes, might even be at the basis of all human.

Dr. Danilo Bzdok is a former RWTH Aachen student and now Post-Doc in cognitive neuroscience and data mining at the Jülich Research Center. Working on another PhD in informatics, Mr Bzdok has a thorough understanding of how big data can help solving the greatest riddles about the human brain. 

This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences.