Now there's a coincidence - my last Substack post was about Sleeping Beauty (I've got a fairytale thing going on) and of course in that story the bad fairy does the curse because she does not receive either an invitation to the feast, or (in the original chivalric romance version) a knife to eat with at the feast.
So when we talk about gift-giving and reciprocity we're also talking about 'manners' and 'etiquette' which exist after the invention of money. And this assumed manners is true whatever 'class' of society you live in. Like if I lend you something, however small, like a book for example, or I buy the round at the pub, if I don't receive it back in kind then I'm going to get pissed off with you.
And hopefully, you would feel guilty about the fact that you haven't paid off your debt to me.
So this is where neuroscience (and psychology, which stems from neuroscience) agrees with the reciprocal society - it's actually very simple. The human brain has 'positive' neurotransmitters/receptors and negative ones, each processed by different bits of the brain. The negative ones actually cause genuine physical pain sensations. Like all animals, humans try and avoid pain. And the feeling we call 'guilt' is simply 'pain' - this leads to what we also call the 'conscience' - which is a pre-emptive avoidance of 'guilt'.
And vice versa for the positive. As social animals we get positive neurotransmitters when the other members of our social group are happy with us. We share in that.
So all this social stuff really does have its basis in neuroscience...
Now there's a coincidence - my last Substack post was about Sleeping Beauty (I've got a fairytale thing going on) and of course in that story the bad fairy does the curse because she does not receive either an invitation to the feast, or (in the original chivalric romance version) a knife to eat with at the feast.
So when we talk about gift-giving and reciprocity we're also talking about 'manners' and 'etiquette' which exist after the invention of money. And this assumed manners is true whatever 'class' of society you live in. Like if I lend you something, however small, like a book for example, or I buy the round at the pub, if I don't receive it back in kind then I'm going to get pissed off with you.
And hopefully, you would feel guilty about the fact that you haven't paid off your debt to me.
So this is where neuroscience (and psychology, which stems from neuroscience) agrees with the reciprocal society - it's actually very simple. The human brain has 'positive' neurotransmitters/receptors and negative ones, each processed by different bits of the brain. The negative ones actually cause genuine physical pain sensations. Like all animals, humans try and avoid pain. And the feeling we call 'guilt' is simply 'pain' - this leads to what we also call the 'conscience' - which is a pre-emptive avoidance of 'guilt'.
And vice versa for the positive. As social animals we get positive neurotransmitters when the other members of our social group are happy with us. We share in that.
So all this social stuff really does have its basis in neuroscience...