social brain hypothesis

(noun)

The theory that improving cognitive capabilities would allow hominins to influence local groups and control resources.

Related Terms

Examples of social brain hypothesis in the following topics:

  • The Evolution of Humans

    • Although their brains were larger, Neanderthals had fewer social and technological innovations than humans, and they eventually died out.
    • The Red Queen hypothesis states that species must constantly evolve in order to compete with co-evolving animals around them.
    • The social brain hypothesis states that improving cognitive capabilities would allow hominins to influence local groups and control resources.
    • The ability of the human brain to continue to grow after birth meant that social learning and language were possible.
    • Modern humans have a brain volume of 1250 cm3.

  • Formulating the Hypothesis

    • A hypothesis is a potential answer to your research question; the research process helps you determine if your hypothesis is true.
    • In his book Making Democracy Work, Robert Putnam developed a theory that social capital makes government more responsive.
    • To demonstrate his theory, he tested several hypotheses about the ways that social capital influences government.
    • This is an example of a causal hypothesis.
    • While there is no single way to develop a hypothesis, a useful hypothesis will use deductive reasoning to make predictions that can be experimentally assessed.

  • Exercises

    • What is the null hypothesis?
    • The probability value is the probability of obtaining a statistic as different (add three words here) from the parameter specified in the null hypothesis as the statistic obtained in the experiment.
    • The probability value is computed assuming that the null hypothesis is true.
    • A correlational study on the relationship between brain size and intelligence.
    • Assume the null hypothesis is that μ = 50 and that the graph shown below is the sampling distribution of the mean (M).

  • Psychology and the Scientific Method: From Theory to Conclusion

    • Future testing may disprove the hypothesis.
    • Hypothesis testing is a type of statistics that determines the probability of a hypothesis being true or false.
    • If the hypothesis is false, create a new hypothesis or try again
    • After making a hypothesis, the researcher will then design an experiment to test his or her hypothesis and evaluate the data gathered.
    • Compared to chemistry, physics, and other "natural sciences," psychology has long been considered one of the "social sciences" because of the subjective nature of the things it seeks to study.

  • Human Language Development

    • Multiple theories have been proposed to explain the development of language, and related brain structures,  in children.
    • However, his research does not identify areas of the brain or a genetic basis that enables humans' innate ability for language.
    • Lev Vygotsky's theory of language development focused on social learning and the zone of proximal development (ZPD).
    • Vygotsky's theory also demonstrated that Piaget underestimated the importance of social interactions in the development of language.
    • In language acquisition, there is a hypothesis that a "critical period," or a time when it is optimal to learn a language, exists in children.

  • Neurodevelopmental Disorders: Mental Illnesses

    • Symptoms of the disease include the inability to differentiate between reality and imagination, inappropriate and unregulated emotional responses, difficulty thinking, and problems with social situations.
    • Treatment for the disease usually requires anti-psychotic medications that work by blocking dopamine receptors and decreasing dopamine neurotransmission in the brain.
    • Some research supports the "classic monoamine hypothesis," which suggests that depression is caused by a decrease in norepinephrine and serotonin neurotransmission.
    • Treatments for depression include psychotherapy, electroconvulsive therapy, deep-brain stimulation, and prescription medications.
    • The development of schizophrenia is thought to be caused by malfunctioning dopaminergic neurons, which causes brain dysfunction and an imbalance of chemicals in the brain.

  • The Value of Social Support in Managing Stress

    • The two main models of social support are the buffering hypothesis and the direct-effects hypothesis, both of which describe a positive relationship between social support and stress management.
    • The two dominant models of social support are the direct-effects hypothesis and the buffering hypothesis.
    • According to the direct-effects hypothesis, social support provides better health and wellness benefits all the time, regardless of whether the person being supported is currently experiencing stress
    • According to the buffering hypothesis, in contrast, social support provides such benefits most strongly when someone is supported while experiencing stress.
    • The stress and coping theory aligns with the buffering hypothesis; it states that social support protects people from the bad health effects of stressful events by influencing thought and coping ability.

  • Elements of Socialization

    • In short, socialization is the process that prepares humans to function in social life.
    • To what extent human behavior is biologically determined vs. learned is still an open question in the study of human behavior, but recent reviews of biological, genetic, neuroscience, and psychological literatures suggest that culture can influence biology and vice versa (e.g., nurture becomes nature through processes wherein learned responses and behaviors feed the development of the brain and the activation of genetic potential).
    • Socialization is, of course, a social process.
    • Not all socialization is voluntary nor is all socialization successful.
    • The impaired ability to learn language after having been isolated for so many years is often attributed to the existence of a critical period for language learning, and taken as evidence in favor of the Critical Period Hypothesis, and the examples of such children are often used to cast doubts upon potential biological and genetic determinants of human behavior and development.

  • Alzheimer's Disease

    • The cholinergic hypothesis has not maintained widespread support, largely because medications intended to treat acetylcholine deficiency have not been very effective.
    • In 1991, the amyloid hypothesis postulated that amyloid beta (Aβ) deposits are the fundamental cause of the disease.
    • DR6 is highly expressed in the human brain regions most affected by Alzheimer's, so it is possible that the N-APP/DR6 pathway might be hijacked in the ageing brain to cause damage.
    • This is a combination of two brain diagrams in one for comparison.
    • In the left normal brain, in the right brain of a person with Alzheimer's disease.

  • Etiology of Schizophrenia

    • Individuals who later develop schizophrenia may also be more socially anxious and have emotional fluctuations.
    • Some theorists suggest environmental stress associated with lower-class living may affect brain development, triggering the disease in genetically susceptible individuals.
    • The dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia is a model used by scientists to explain many schizophrenic symptoms.
    • The dopamine hypothesis has helped progress the development of antipsychotics, which are drugs that stabilize positive symptoms by blocking dopamine receptors.
    • In addition to neurotransmitters, specific neural circuitry in various areas of the brain has been linked to schizophrenia.