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Neural mechanisms tracking popularity in real-world social networks

  1. Kevin N. Ochsnera,1
  1. aDepartment of Psychology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027;
  2. bDepartment of Sociology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027

  1. Contributed by Peter S. Bearman, October 16, 2015 (sent for review August 31, 2015; reviewed by Emily B. Falk, Matthew D. Lieberman, and Alexander Todorov)

Significance

In virtually all human groups, differences in popularity induce social status and shape interactions. How do we recognize that certain individuals are popular—highly liked by the group—even when this collective preference differs from our own? Our results suggest that group members’ popularity is tracked by activity in neural valuation systems, which in turn engage social cognition systems that facilitate understanding others’ mental states. Popular participants’ valuation systems demonstrated enhanced sensitivity to differences among other group members’ popularity. These neural data offer insights into how status guides social behavior and reinforces social network structures, and why the affective valuation and social cognition systems are critical for navigating these networks and achieving high status within them.

Abstract

Differences in popularity are a key aspect of status in virtually all human groups and shape social interactions within them. Little is known, however, about how we track and neurally represent others’ popularity. We addressed this question in two real-world social networks using sociometric methods to quantify popularity. Each group member (perceiver) viewed faces of every other group member (target) while whole-brain functional MRI data were collected. Independent functional localizer tasks were used to identify brain systems supporting affective valuation (ventromedial prefrontal cortex, ventral striatum, amygdala) and social cognition (dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, precuneus, temporoparietal junction), respectively. During the face-viewing task, activity in both types of neural systems tracked targets’ sociometric popularity, even when controlling for potential confounds. The target popularity–social cognition system relationship was mediated by valuation system activity, suggesting that observing popular individuals elicits value signals that facilitate understanding their mental states. The target popularity–valuation system relationship was strongest for popular perceivers, suggesting enhanced sensitivity to differences among other group members’ popularity. Popular group members also demonstrated greater interpersonal sensitivity by more accurately predicting how their own personalities were perceived by other individuals in the social network. These data offer insights into the mechanisms by which status guides social behavior.

Footnotes

  • ↵1To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: nz2104{at}columbia.edu, psb17{at}columbia.edu, or ko2132{at}columbia.edu.

  • Author contributions: N.Z., P.S.B., and K.N.O. designed research; N.Z. performed research; N.Z., P.S.B., J.W., and K.N.O. analyzed data; and N.Z., P.S.B., J.W., and K.N.O. wrote the paper.

  • Reviewers: E.B.F., University of Pennsylvania; M.D.L., University of California, Los Angeles; and A.T., Princeton University.

  • The authors declare no conflict of interest.

  • This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1511477112/-/DCSupplemental.

Freely available online through the PNAS open access option.

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