Social Human
A Social Human is a human who is a social animal (with social intelligence).
- Context:
- They can (typically) have Emotional Intelligence (have the ability to Understand People/theory of mind)
- They can (typically) have the ability to Read Situations and discern the underlying patterns.
- They can (typically) have the ability to build Trusting Relationships.
- They can (typically) have the ability to recognize and correct their shortcomings.
- They can (typically) have the ability to imagine alternate futures.
- They can have the ability to inspire people.
- They can range from being a Social Young Human to being a Social Mature Human.
- …
- Counter-Example(s):
- a Hermit Human.
- a Social Chimpanzee.
- a Social Machine.
- See: Rational Human, Intelligent Human.
References
2012
- (Brooks, 2012) ⇒ David Brooks. (2012). “The social animal." Random House.
2011
- (Brooks, 2011) ⇒ David Brooks. (2011). “Social Animal: How the new sciences of human nature can help make sense of a life.” In: The New Yorker, January 17, 2011.
- QUOTE: Intelligence, academic performance, and prestigious schools don’t correlate well with fulfillment, or even with outstanding accomplishment. The traits that do make a difference are poorly understood, and can’t be taught in a classroom, no matter what the tuition: the ability to understand and inspire people; to read situations and discern the underlying patterns; to build trusting relationships; to recognize and correct one’s shortcomings; to imagine alternate futures. In short, these achievers have a sense that they are shallower than they need to be. ...
... The cognitive revolution of the past thirty years provides a different perspective on our lives, one that emphasizes the relative importance of emotion over pure reason, social connections over individual choice, moral intuition over abstract logic, perceptiveness over I.Q.
“I guess I used to think of myself as a lone agent, who made certain choices and established certain alliances with colleagues and friends,” he said. “Now, though, I see things differently. I believe we inherit a great river of knowledge, a flow of patterns coming from many sources. The information that comes from deep in the evolutionary past we call genetics. The information passed along from hundreds of years ago we call culture. The information passed along from decades ago we call family, and the information offered months ago we call education. But it is all information that flows through us. The brain is adapted to the river of knowledge and exists only as a creature in that river. Our thoughts are profoundly molded by this long historic flow, and none of us exists, self-made, in isolation from it.
“And though history has made us self-conscious in order to enhance our survival prospects, we still have deep impulses to erase the skull lines in our head and become immersed directly in the river. I’ve come to think that flourishing consists of putting yourself in situations in which you lose self-consciousness and become fused with other people, experiences, or tasks. It happens sometimes when you are lost in a hard challenge, or when an artist or a craftsman becomes one with the brush or the tool. It happens sometimes while you’re playing sports, or listening to music or lost in a story, or to some people when they feel enveloped by God’s love. And it happens most when we connect with other people. I’ve come to think that happiness isn’t really produced by conscious accomplishments. Happiness is a measure of how thickly the unconscious parts of our minds are intertwined with other people and with activities. Happiness is determined by how much information and affection flows through us covertly every day and year.” ...
... Yet maybe sentiments were at the core of everything. ...
... Harold concluded that it might be time for a revolution in his own consciousness — time to take the proto-conversations that had been shoved to the periphery of life and put them back in the center. Maybe it was time to use this science to cultivate an entirely different viewpoint. ...
... But maybe the real action was in this deeper layer. After all, the conscious mind chooses what we buy, but the unconscious mind chooses what we like. So resolved, he boldly surveyed the gelato selections before him and confidently chose the cloudberry. ♦
- QUOTE: Intelligence, academic performance, and prestigious schools don’t correlate well with fulfillment, or even with outstanding accomplishment. The traits that do make a difference are poorly understood, and can’t be taught in a classroom, no matter what the tuition: the ability to understand and inspire people; to read situations and discern the underlying patterns; to build trusting relationships; to recognize and correct one’s shortcomings; to imagine alternate futures. In short, these achievers have a sense that they are shallower than they need to be. ...
2003
- Elliot Aronson. (2003). “The social animal." Macmillan.
2000
- Walter Garrison Runciman. (2000). “The social animal." University of Michigan Press.