That Neuroscience Guy - Neuroscience Bites - Talking to Strangers

Episode Date: March 25, 2024

In today's Neuroscience Bite, we discuss how our brain shapes behaviour when we're talking to strangers compared to people we know. 

Hi, my name is Olav Krogolson and I'm a neuroscientist at the University of Victoria. And in my spare time, I'm that neuroscience guy. Welcome to another neuroscience bite. This one's an interesting one. This is one that's actually driven by me. From time to time, I'm not ashamed to admit it, I talk to a counselor, bounce off some things that are going in my life and try to piece it all together. But when I was talking to my counselor not long ago, I was thinking to myself, why do we find it easier to talk to strangers sometimes? Like, why can you open up to a

counselor and maybe it's not something you would share with your friends. And I was thinking about this, and I did a little bit of reading and digging, and the answer is quite simple. It's all about our emotional system in the brain. And yes, I'm going to say the word amygdala. When you tell someone you know something, in a sense, they're going to judge you. And when they judge you, they might say something, it might just be a look on their face. But your emotional system is tied to that friendship. It's tied deeply to that friendship. So because of that, your emotional system responds and you find it more difficult. It's that thing that's like, oh, do I really want to say this? I'm not sure if I should. So on and so forth. This is also why, of course, if you're

old enough to have had a few drinks from time to time, it's far easier to say things when you've had a few drinks because that judgment worry, it just goes away. Your emotional system is actually driving you to say things at that point in time. However, when you talk to a stranger like a counselor, you don't have the same emotional response. And there's actually research on this. You frame this as, this is someone that I don't know. So when I say something that could potentially be embarrassing to me or that I'm a bit ashamed of or whatever you're sharing, your emotional system literally responds differently, which is why it's easier

to talk to a counselor or someone you don't know as much. Of course, I'm not a counseling psych person, but there's some obvious things like the fact that a counselor is supposed to be impartial and unbiased, whereas your friends are probably partial and biased. But one of the reasons you feel easier talking to strangers sometimes as opposed to your friends is because of the way your emotional system and the amygdala bias your responses. All right, that's another neuroscience bite.

I hope you found it interesting. Remember, check out the website, thatneuroscienceguy.com. Of course, please send us ideas at our Gmail address or on X or threads. And finally, thank you for listening to the podcast and please subscribe. My name is Olof Kregolsen and I'm that neuroscience guy. I'll see you soon.