How does your circle of friends change your brain?

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How does your circle of friends change your brain?

Has the size of people’s social network changed over time? What does your social network look like? In this activity, a map of your social network from the last two weeks will be constructed. This is one of fifteen interactive Link Station activities. Try it out in the Hall of Human Life, then view and compare your data here.

Overview

This overview shows Museum visitors’ social network size. The vertical axis shows size. Do people who use social media contact more people? Are younger people more connected? Do females or males have larger social networks? The graph shows the results of 150 Museum visitors.

Making connections

Your social experiences with family, friends, and even foes may influence how your brain makes connections in the amygdala, a part of the brain that we use for social interactions. People with larger amygdalas tend to have larger and more complex social connections. In a social group, a person must be able to figure out who is who, who is a friend, and who is a foe in order to survive and be successful.

Managing our social relationships

Today, communication technologies provide more immediate ways in which we socialize and expand our social connections. How might our technologies be changing our brains?

Where does the data come from? How do I use it?