Shared Values are Rewarding – for People and Companies
The science says it all
Stanford Neuroscientist Jamil Zaki has studied the cognitive and neural bases of social behavior, and in particular how people understand each other’s emotions, why they conform to each other, and why they choose to help each other.
His research has demonstrated that people respond positively when they share values with the rest of their social group. In one experiment, people who were told that their opinions were the same as the rest of their assigned group experienced a reward response in their brains.
But those who disagreed with the group showed negative activity in the region of the brain linked to reward — and later, they made an effort to be more like the group and to establish a social connection.
