Cohousing-L Mailing List: Community and Cooperation

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On the thought that efforts to increase community in our lives comes from
somewhere in us, there was an article in the New York Times science section
Tuesday reporting on brain research and cooperation.

It seems that (in women at least), cooperating with another person produces
the same pleasure responses as being in love and eating chocolate. The same
areas of the brain that respond to dopamine light up when subjects are
cooperating. The conclusion was that as humans we are hardwired (if one can
call a brain hard) to cooperate.

The study opposed cooperating with competing or retreating (both of which
offered higher short term rewards).


Sharon
-- 
Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org


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