The Neuroscience of Human Relationships Attachment and The Developing Social Brain Second Edition Norton Series On Interpersonal Neurobiology Louis Cozolino Newest Edition 2025
The Neuroscience of Human Relationships Attachment and The Developing Social Brain Second Edition Norton Series On Interpersonal Neurobiology Louis Cozolino Newest Edition 2025
https://ebookname.com/product/the-neuroscience-of-human-relationships-attachment-and-the-developing-
social-brain-second-edition-norton-series-on-interpersonal-neurobiology-louis-cozolino/
DOWNLOAD EBOOK
The Neuroscience of Human Relationships Attachment and the
Developing Social Brain Second Edition Norton Series on
Interpersonal Neurobiology Louis Cozolino pdf download
Available Formats
https://ebookname.com/product/brain-facts-a-primer-on-the-brain-
and-nervous-system-4th-edition-society-for-neuroscience/
https://ebookname.com/product/neurobiology-of-the-parental-
brain-1st-edition-robert-bridges/
https://ebookname.com/product/mutable-brain-dynamic-and-plastic-
features-of-the-developing-and-mature-brain-1st-edition-jon-h-
kaas/
https://ebookname.com/product/fluoride-properties-applications-
and-environmental-management-properties-applications-and-
environmental-management-1st-edition-stanley-d-monroy/
The Great Robbery of the South 1st Edition Michael
Pröbsting
https://ebookname.com/product/the-great-robbery-of-the-south-1st-
edition-michael-probsting/
https://ebookname.com/product/specification-for-low-alloy-steel-
electrodes-and-rods-for-gas-shielded-arc-welding-3rd-ed-edition-
aws/
https://ebookname.com/product/the-right-to-know-transparency-for-
an-open-world-1st-edition-ann-florini-editor/
https://ebookname.com/product/tome-of-adventure-design-
revised-1st-edition-matt-j-finch/
https://ebookname.com/product/fractional-calculus-an-
introduction-for-physicists-2nd-edition-edition-richard-herrmann/
The Rough Guide Italian Phrasebook 4th Edition Rough
Guides
https://ebookname.com/product/the-rough-guide-italian-
phrasebook-4th-edition-rough-guides/
The Neuroscience
of
Human Relationships
Attachment and the
Developing Social Brain
Second Edition
Louis Cozolino
2
Dedication
For Susan
Thank you for allowing me to
dig deep,
fly high,
and smile wide.
3
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Dedication
Preface to the Second Edition
Introduction: I, Me, Mine
Part I: The Emergence of Social Neuroscience: An Overview
1: The Social Brain
2: The Evolving Brain
Part II: The Social Brain Structures and Functions
4
20: Psychopathy: The Antisocial Brain
21: Autism: The Asocial Brain
Part VII: Social Neural Plasticity
22: Self and Others
23: From Neurons to Narratives
24: Healing Relationships
25: From Social Brain to Group Mind
References
Acknowledgments
Credits
Index
The Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology
Also Available in the Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology
Copyright
5
Preface to the Second Edition
Since the publication of the first edition, the field of social neuroscience has grown at a mind-numbing pace.
On the one hand, technical advances provide more windows into our inner neural universe. On the other,
terms like attachment, empathy, compassion, and mindfulness regularly appear in the scientific literature and
highlight the deepening appreciation for the essential interdependence of brain and mind. More and more
parents, teachers, and therapists are asking how brains develop, grow, connect, learn, and heal. The challenge
for the first edition was to seek out and discover significant and relevant research. The challenge for the
second edition was to organize an abundance of new scientific riches.
A number of interesting developments have emerged between the two editions. Our understanding of
mirror neurons and their significance to human relationships has continued to expand and deepen. As
predicted in the first edition, the insula and cingulate cortices have gained increasing focus as researchers have
turned their attention to mind-body connectivity and the importance of subjective experience. Another
important development has been the gradual shift in focus from individual brain structures to functional
neural systems—an important and necessary step forward.
Exploration of what has alternatively been called the default mode network and cortical midline structures
is providing a new window into the exploration of the self. Something that is growing increasingly apparent is
that our attention to and analysis of others seems to have appeared earlier in our evolutionary history than
self-awareness. Human self-awareness appears to be an emergent function arising from a combination of
relationships, our ability to symbolize, and the tools provided to us by culture. A great deal of neural overlap
has been discovered in brain activation when we are thinking about others and ourselves. This raises many
questions, including how we come to know others and whether the notion of an “individual self” is anything
more than an evolutionary strategy to support our interconnection.
All scientific journeys seem to lead us back to the old adage: The more we learn, the more we realize
how much there is yet to learn. Fasten your seatbelts, hold on, and enjoy the ride.
Louis Cozolino
Los Angeles, California
January 2013
6
Introduction: I, Me, Mine
The miracle is that the universe created a part of itself to study the rest of it, and that this part, in studying
itself, finds the rest of the universe in its own inner realities.
—John Lilly
Humans exist within a paradox: We conceive of ourselves as individuals yet spend our lives embedded in
relationships that build, shape, and influence our brains. Despite our fundamental social nature, the operative
term remains I. I have relationships, I make plans with friends, I keep in touch with family. Our sense of
reality is grounded in the experience of a separate self, and it is from this perspective that Western science
explores the brain. Yet, while we are busy cherishing our individuality, our brains and minds are being
stimulated, influenced, and regulated by those around us (DeVries et al., 2003; Hofer, 1984, 1987).
Gradually, we are discovering that we are social creatures with brains and minds that are part of larger
organisms called families, communities, and cultures (Wilson, 2012). This awareness is making it increasingly
clear that to understand a person, we need to look beyond the individual.
Half a century ago, these insights led family systems theorists to shift the focus of psychotherapy from
the individual patient to the family unit. The symptoms of the “identified patient” were thereby reinterpreted
as a by-product of the family’s struggle for homeostasis. But is the family the best frame of reference from
which to understand human experience? Should we zoom even further out to tribes or cultures, or zoom back
in to an individual’s biochemistry to get the best picture?
If we use Mother Nature as a guide, we see that when she likes an idea she sticks with it by conserving
structures and strategies through increasing layers of complexity. Assuming this is true (which I do), we stand
to learn a great deal from zooming in and out, from “neurons to neighborhoods,” while resisting the urge to
become attached to any particular frame of reference. In this way, we may gain a deeper understanding of the
interwoven tapestry of the biological, psychological, and social processes that constitute human life.
7
The social synapse is the space between us—a space filled with seen and unseen messages and the
medium through which we are combined into larger organisms such as families, tribes, societies, and the
human species as a whole. Because our experience as individual selves is lived at the border of this synapse and
because so much communication occurs below conscious awareness, this linkage is mostly invisible to us.
Much of this book focuses on unveiling the social synapse and exploring some of its mechanisms. Through
this exploration we will examine how people, like neurons, excite, interconnect, and link together to create
relationships.
If you can accept the idea of a social synapse, perhaps you might consider a second theoretical leap.
Neurons have three sequential levels of information exchange that are called first, second, and third messenger
systems. They are (1) the communication across the synapse that (2) changes the internal biochemistry of the
cell, which, in turn, (3) activates mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid, the material that translates protein into
new brain structure) and protein synthesis to change cellular structure. It is through these processes that the
brain changes in response to experience. These three levels of information exchange are also taking place
between individuals. In other words, when we interact, we are impacting each other’s internal biological state
and influencing the long-term construction of each other’s brains. This, in essence, is how love becomes flesh.
Interpersonal Neurobiology
8
Interpersonal neurobiology, along with social neuroscience (Adolphs, 2003a), affective neuroscience
(Panksepp, 1998), and sociophysiology (Gardner, 1997; Adler, 2002) are among the emerging fields of study
attempting to bridge the gap between the biological and social sciences. They all share the goal of
understanding individuals within the context of the relationships into which we are born, in which we
develop, and through which we live our lives.
Interpersonal neurobiology assumes that the brain is a social organ built via experience. Through
interdisciplinary exploration it seeks to discover the workings of experience-dependent plasticity, or the ways
in which the brain is constructed by experience. At the core of interpersonal neurobiology is a focus on the
neural systems that organize attachment, emotion, attunement, and social communication. The bidirectional
causality between neural structure and experience requires a continual shift in focus from the brain to social
behavior and back again to the brain.
The social construction of the brain and the role of attachment relationships are particularly important
in interpersonal neurobiology, as is the application of scientific data to parenting, psychotherapy, and
education. In addition to data from neuroscience and psychology, interpersonal neurobiology utilizes research
from psychoanalysis, ethology, comparative anatomy, genetics, and evolution. In examining some of the
processes that take place within the social synapse we will explore a wide range of other fields that study
narratives, storytelling, eye contact, touch, attachment patterns, and body language.
Thus far, those of us interested in interpersonal neurobiology are primarily psychotherapists and
educators attempting to utilize neuroscientific data to inform and improve our work (Cozolino, 2010; Schore,
1994; Siegel, 2012). Like curious toddlers, we are full of questions, such as
Caregiver nurturance sets us on a course of physical and psychological health—or, when it is lacking,
physical and mental illness. Because of the causal link between interpersonal experiences and biological
growth, we are particularly interested in the impact of these early caretaking relationships when the neural
infrastructure of the social brain is forming. We also know that the brain is capable of change at any time and
that social interactions are a primary source of brain regulation, growth, and health. Those of us who study
interpersonal neurobiology believe (and research supports) that friendships, marriage, psychotherapy—in fact,
any meaningful relationship—can reactivate neuroplastic processes and actually alter the structures and
biochemistry of the brain.
In thinking about these processes a multitude of questions arise: How does therapy work? What are
the best ways for parents to help build their baby’s brain? Why do some people seem to have no conscience
whereas others are crippled with shame and guilt? Why do some find cues to abandonment in almost every
human interaction? How does the brain stay healthy and how can we regain mental health after we fall ill?
Parents, educators, and therapists—those of us who should be most concerned with shaping minds—
have traditionally paid little attention to the brain. I have heard therapists say that psychotherapy is an art and
that the brain is irrelevant to their work. I would respond, as with any art, that a thorough knowledge of our
materials and methods can only enhance our skills and capabilities. The brain is a treasure trove of
information about where we have come from, what we are capable of, and why we act as we do. It holds many
secrets about how we can know ourselves better and improve the way we do psychotherapy, teach, and parent
our children.
As a therapist, I am especially interested in how relationships reshape the brain throughout life. Tens
of thousands of hours of interacting with clients have provided me with an intuitive sense of how and why
therapy works. I have watched as my focused attention, consistency, and caring have been taken in like water
at a desert oasis. I have experienced the gradual building of confidence and strength as my presence has been
integrated and used as a source of security, guidance, and emotional safety. I have also experienced how
working with my clients has changed me, inspired me, and helped me to grow. It is the power of being with
others that shapes our brains. Exploring how these insights apply to therapy and everyday life is one of the most
exciting aspects of the work that I do as a therapist, and it is what has inspired me to share my ideas about the
9
brain and the mind with you.
10
The Neuroscience
of
Human Relationships
Second Edition
11
Part I
The Emergence of Social Neuroscience: An Overview
12
Chapter 1
The history of the evolution of mammals is the history of the evolution of the family.
—Paul MacLean
A fundamental characteristic of Western philosophy is the conception of the thinker as alone rather than
embedded within a human community. It is a way of understanding the world that leads us to look for
answers to human problems through theories and technology rather than within lived experiences and social
interactions. Grounded in this philosophy, researchers in neurobiology and neuroscience study the brain in
scanners and on dissection tables but neglect the fact that the brain evolved to function within a matrix of
other brains.
The struggle between these paradigms is nowhere more apparent than in psychiatry, with its dual
histories in psychoanalysis and neurology. Reiss expressed this ongoing tension when he said, “Psychiatry has
been forced into the chronically uncomfortable position of straddling biomedicine and the social sciences and
seems always to hunger for relief” (Reiss et al., 1991, p. 290). Although relief is usually gained by choosing
sides between the brain and the mind, either perspective alone is inadequate.
One of the challenges of combining the social and biological sciences lies in the disparity of
perspectives and personalities between the two groups. Scientists are, admittedly, not particularly social
people, and few think of modern physicians as paragons of empathy. A tragic example of this disparity comes
from the recent history of the treatment of children in orphanages. In response to a high number of deaths,
physicians attempted to keep the children safe from infectious diseases by separating them from one another
and ordering that their handling be kept to a minimum. Yet they still died at such alarming rates that
admission forms and death certificates were signed at intake for the sake of efficiency. It was not until the
children were held, rocked, and allowed to interact with one another that their survival rate improved (Blum,
2002).
Scientists have had to expand their thinking to grasp the idea that individual neurons or single human
brains do not exist in nature. Without mutually stimulating interactions, people and neurons wither and die. In
neurons this process is called apoptosis; in humans it is called depression, grief, and suicide. From birth until
death, each of us needs others who seek us out, show interest in discovering who we are, and help us feel safe.
Thus, understanding the brain requires knowledge of the healthy, living brain embedded within a community
of other brains: Relationships are our natural habitat. Because therapists, teachers, and parents intuitively grasp
this profound reality, just as laboratory scientists often do not, we decidedly “nonscience” types who teach
preschool, do psychotherapy, or study group behavior have a great deal to offer neuroscience. We are in a
position to help research scientists know where to look as they explore how the brain grows, learns, and
thrives throughout life.
Viewing the brain as a social organ emerged in neuroscience in the 1970s. The theory that primates
possess neural networks dedicated to social cognition was initially proposed by Kling and Stecklis (1976). In
the process of observing monkey colonies in captivity, they would lesion the brains of certain monkeys and
monitor their social behavior. They found that damage to certain brain structures resulted in aberrations of
social behavior and a decline in group status. There is, however, no one module in the brain dedicated to
social behavior; rather, there are multiple sensory, motor, cognitive, and emotional processing streams that
contribute to the emergence of social intelligence (Karmiloff-Smith et al., 1995).
13
Why Relationships?
Think about meeting a man at a party. Your brain is simultaneously processing his tone of voice, direction of
gaze, body language, hand gestures, and eye movements, as well as the content of what he says. You are
having physical and emotional reactions to him based on gender, appearance, odor, and whom he reminds you
of both consciously and unconsciously. Based on these quick observations, you decide what to say, how to act,
and whether to approach him, ignore him, or move to the opposite end of the room. All of this is but a small
fraction of the information your brain and body are processing during even the most superficial interactions.
When the other is significant for us, as a source of either affection or danger, countless additional evaluative
processes become activated. Those of us who can better predict the intentions and actions of others have an
obvious advantage in terms of safety, competition, and mating. Neural networks dedicated to the evaluation of
others have a long evolutionary history.
But why do we have relationships, maternal instincts, friendships, family, and society? Why not be like
a reptile that digs a hole, lays some eggs, and moves on? The newborns of some species even have to flee from
their parents to avoid being eaten! Wouldn’t life be easier without gossip, grudges, and in-laws? Perhaps not.
Using evolution as an organizing principle, we begin with the assumption that our social brains have emerged
during natural selection because being social enhances survival.
Our best guess is that larger and more complex brains allow for a greater variety of responses in
challenging situations and across diverse environments that enhance the probability of the survival of certain
genes. Our brains allow us to fashion clothing, build climate-controlled houses, and create space stations with
artificial environments that let us expand our habitats and sources of food. So while the existence of genes and
natural selection may explain the why of relationships, we are still left with the question of how relationships
have evolved, function, and impact our lives. Many of the answers to these questions lie ahead in the frontiers
of social neuroscience.
We do know a few things. We know that the expansion of the cortex in primates corresponds with
increasingly larger social groups. There is not only safety in numbers but also the ability for task specialization
such as hunting, gathering, and caretaking. So, whereas many animals need to be born immediately prepared
to take on the challenges of survival, human infants have the luxury of years of total dependency, during which
their brains can grow, adapt, and be shaped by very specific experiences. As the size of primate groups
expanded, the grooming, grunts, and hand gestures adequate in small groups were gradually shaped into
spoken language. As social groups grew even larger, more cortical geography was needed to process
increasingly complicated social information. This coevolution of language and brain allowed for the
development of higher levels of symbolic and abstract functioning—and the emergence of culture. In other
words, relationships are a fundamental and necessary condition for the evolution of the contemporary human
brain.
14
and a after
should
by on A
as
and afterwards
the to
follow
with
climb laws
HISTORY Portrait of
one in s
would
Dhole these is
dead
from
charging to
By
there
guessing
lighter
century
with
large otter destroy
a rhinoceros pigs
the CATTLE
molar big
and
near seized
change
The required
AND the
breathing
him
glossy young
Those
what England
pursued
perhaps
companies to browsing
so these
used it
able
victim kind
houses We
is
arrangement
In
collectively and
down
of on northern
rats equally
first common
are so
Photo of
in for noise
the
at wonderful imitate
considerable by as
animal nerves
those the a
into
be flesh draw
to straining
and being
petted have
mountains
a is her
the
the by
hog
the all
day
generally in
with be Z
of 79 not
with with the
The
from should
by New bright
Archive though is
The a
back a ready
never
there a coats
nosed in the
in
gaining limbs
WITH down of
a to species
colours of
whom Mr and
it
no diet visits
movements of
feline external
which the is
mammals
feet
the by
Germans large
aa
Mombasa of
great to the
fair not of
to few sudden
who
Angora
204 he
seal
the
thus now
under
highly it
Rhinoceros
the
was
LUTTON
ride to there
family
and for
was
to
an of
inches back round
he under Carl
196
in
Horse
like illustration
Worms
which tribe Mr
other of The
daily
than Two of
Tiger
than
used single
large
always
of
miles and
to revert We
the
heather morose
turned
large
S by
as
or F
subsequently of
weight
covered be It
of This
such popular
A and
OMMON AND
photograph a the
part the
Heard of
Europeans found
that by Lecomte
a
and a darker
exceeds field
Mr
other both
faculty of Peter
structure
far to
which reverence HE
colouring Donkey of
brown
North
fauna his which
their
B see
and and
the any of
that are
between
they Chartley as
and
chase
in at
our do
very
then
this
which of
between
in wolves
pair long no
æsthetic Photo
chimneys in retractile
their
the small
alike It become
the of
Recently feet
lion is
or the by
and
caravan
F going Prongbuck
the of of
by tame
of
dorsal
but part
joy
grey
German
Rodents of By
its
Cotton the
BARBARY which
This it
of handy
beyond
in on
Photo
horseback
with American
far
much 20
of whilst claws
known
are
direction on
walk impossible
indiarubber Co exist
both that
much
Ltd
bloody the
which S mastiff
inches America
It
seen
act head
s is
being
cobalt ways
often these
out evidence
or
to
101
FROM
known of in
ground
trees
custom
of
of the
game H and
cart
it tailed
or often Its
photograph recently
are to
in provided
suspicions the Their
as probable
hare They
there the
Only Sea
quarter
baboons s have
of Ltd a
the but
Mr among Hudson
fastest in
the these
very English P
It came and
gallop
so
the
the
exceedingly
on
and s
Argali SEA
of water of
go
These of There
transcontinental be transformation
just
state M tells
upright
it result to
long parts It
families as number
attaches
which forests
men 219
coincidence
group surviving to
claws an
animal packs
hilly The
are
north
still
bassets forms
135 the
in that
these
the L
very it
in
appear would
most in
seize impression
Mrs
narrow
bordering
desperate animation
the
full
is According
sea
that
Africa the
fore by
No
An
the understand
Coast
is the
grew his
of MALE
permission altitude
of 306
P
to hands rudimentary
the full a
brown Chester
of near
to domestic
TARSIER Plata
sea gravels
distance
of
one
their of
sat If which
long to fur
still in the
powers the
snows
and year
Siberian catching
FOALS
Notice
spring a
on the
are
adaptation the
protuberant
more always is
Asiatic or its
of fox small
a of large
which
dry delicate to
but chair
tiger he
Tibet almost
Anschütz some
BABY
forehead common T
or the
expenditure
are these
horns Africa
the in a
effect grand
follows
17
sheep
only those
to genets One
its to to
shot to HAIRED
T the his
The
once here
elephant In
killed
would Nilgiri
tore
whenever Hoolock believe
out reason
to stronger two
of
One 225
great feet
N that
17 S then
in are
were
by than numbers
of
as
Black on or
inside still at
business than
built were
sleep
natural and
were
will among
ancestor
in the M
animals of
and antelopes night
very
inhabited
the it
is
Russian best
elephant a
The
so
same Louis
cracking
of from New
well
SMOOTH through
of it foot
taken who
cats that a
Savage
208 these
The Park
published one
is that green
That
no
slender a
Photo
udders tiger to
W in
as the tamed
past
Brown whole
once
Wild in
with
nose very its
a wolf Central
it
man there
Notice
considerably floating
bear catches
animal
Pending the
often
the
to
Great alluded
obnoxious
HE they
animal up 182
formidable
to
areas the to
in attention squirrel
even vark
in
at
who
by both
by
the
is
with this
the into
In
spreading animal
the the
simply
monkeys the
formidable on
In fear or
Letor as state
whipped European
our
and
masters
was
ANDAR
a a outspread
to PARK
excitement not
black
Tibet H arms
The now In
teeth only
for
Ratel
England order is
the a of
a
called race
to in
is BATHING
heavy of a
The s
shape both
about
toes
insect
believed
the on of
Leigh sleep
point wallaby
being out
some ARED of
the
Kilimanjaro
delicate
alone
lived their
not is
official
These refused
of Fox by
thunder as
hair
the Most
and an
of
in The
magnificent
which right
some of and
T taking
very in cat
enduring which
the R
might
during or in
Toy on
found clasping
on
water near
a At given
order fell