"...why one survey found that more people feared public speaking than death..."

January 3, 2014 6:06 pm

The social animal

By Julian Baggini

Whether in education, ethics or politics, we ignore our social natures at our peril

Peering into the skull leads to some intriguing observations. For example, Lieberman says that brains “experience threats to our social connections in much the same way they experience physical pain”, and that some brain scans of social and physical pain are indistinguishable. Most surprisingly, taking paracetamol appears to lessen both. The visceral nature of emotional hurt might well explain why one survey found that more people feared public speaking than death, or why languages around the world use metaphors such as a broken heart, a punch in the gut or a slap in the face.