It is the power of being with others that shapes our brains. (p. xix)
Neuroscience and evolutionary theory are becoming increasingly important frameworks to view human development, including moral development. Louis Cozolino’s insightful and well-researched text focuses on the social brain’s structures, systems, and functions, which play a critical role in many crucial processes of morality including attachment, empathy, social engagement, emotional regulation, and one’s sense of self. Cozolino’s second edition reflects the rapid growth of research in social neuroscience, with the doubling of the size of the reference list (from 86 to 177 pages) illustrating the magnitude of the field’s scientific advances. Specifically, Cozolino’s new edition includes a more complex understanding of mirror neurons and their relation to empathy, as well as a change in emphasis from single brain structures to a more nuanced appreciation of the interrelations among neural systems. Scholars and/or students will appreciate how this accessible work provides a readable but scientific description of the social brain, so relevant to many emerging neurobiological theories of moral development. Teachers and helping professionals will also value Cozolino’s applied emphasis on learning in the classroom, developing high quality attachments, and fostering healthy relationships.
As a gifted synthesizer of knowledge, Cozolino integrates research from attachment theory, developmental psychology, and neuroscience, with insights from his clinical practice, to illustrate the power of caring, supportive relationships to shape and change the brain. A central purpose of Cozolino’s is to illustrate the parallel between the neural synapse and his concept of the social synapse, ‘the space between us’ (p. xv). Brains are built, transformed, and regulated through social interaction as ‘people, like neurons, excite, interconnect, and link together to create relationships’ (p. xv). Positive, nurturing relationships facilitate children’s development of empathy and social connection, while abusive, neglectful, and/or negative interactions, such as bullying, can alter the brain in ways that are maladaptive in the long-term. After Cozolino provides a straightforward description of the social synapse and the social brain’s structures and functions, he applies the concepts of social neuroscience to social processes such as attachment and empathy. In addition, he incorporates a clear-cut explanation of disorders of the social brain, including autism spectrum disorder and psychopathy, as well as a description of how the social brain can become impaired through chronically stressful interactions such as bullying and interpersonal trauma. Cozolino ends with a discussion of neural plasticity and the amazingly hopeful capacity for relationships, including teacher-student relationships, to rewire the brain.
Although Cozolino is a psychotherapist who utilizes clinical case examples to illustrate his major points, he emphasizes that therapy is just one way to change the brain, as educators and other caring adults also have the capacity to support and challenge students, positively shaping and modifying their brains. Cozolino’s emphasis on the importance of nurturing relationships that encourage students to conquer their anxieties and fully engage in their social and academic worlds is reminiscent of the challenge and support that is integral to the success of so many developmental interventions.
Caring and supportive relationships are the cornerstone of moral education and moral growth. Cozolino’s work implies that nurturing school communities, so crucial to the success of moral and character education, can actually change the brain. The reader is left feeling optimistic about the capacity for relationships to positively change the brain throughout the lifespan. For example, Cozolino illustrates how a positive classroom climate can positively influence children’s brains for the better by facilitating cooperation, assisting children in staying focused, and helping children avoid conflict. In contrast, a negative classroom climate, including bullying, can negatively impact the brain in ways similar to abuse and neglect.
Given Cozolino’s emphasis on the value of positive social engagement, a key implication for moral education from his work is the importance of sensitively adapting moral education for specific children under varying circumstances. Many children come from strong, positive families and develop secure attachments. However, other children have experienced unhealthy and/or chronically stressful environments. Such circumstances have the potential to negatively impact a child’s brain and his or her capacity to develop a secure attachment, complicating the process of establishing caring and supportive relationships with teachers and/or other children in the classroom. In addition, as described, other children have disorders of the social brain that can influence their social relationships and capacity for empathy. Cozolino offers hope for children who may not expect safety within the classroom or who might struggle to establish positive connections, as he explains how nurturing relationships with teachers and schools can make a crucial difference by helping them to rewire their brains.
A second key implication of Cozolino’s work for moral education is the importance of balancing support and challenge when teaching or working with children and adolescents. While children who have already had nurturing experiences might enter the classroom expecting compassion and safety, children who have endured rejection and abandonment might anticipate additional fear, anxiety, and shame. Cozolino illustrates how children’s brains can be rewired as teachers respond with compassion and warmth to children’s unconscious expectations of rejection and/or negativity at school. To help children learn not to fear, Cozolino emphasizes the importance of establishing a sense of trust and safety. In an example that is especially relevant to Journal of Moral Education readers of how positive social context can influence children’s ability to learn, Cozolino cites research indicating that hostile faces decrease people’s ability to learn, suggesting that warm and accepting faces might facilitate learning. Once teachers have established a sense of trust and safety, they can challenge students to develop the social engagement, empathic, and emotional regulation skills that are necessary for moral and academic growth.
Cozolino’s text provides interested scholars with an intriguing introduction to social neuroscience and the social brain, which can assist readers in understanding moral psychology’s current debates about the neurobiology of morality. The second edition incorporates the immense scientific advances that have occurred in social neuroscience, including a more nuanced explanation of mirror neurons, a key component of empathy. Given the importance of caring and supportive relationships for moral growth, Cozolino’s work has powerful relevance for moral educators. Teachers and helping professionals will be reminded of the power and strength of the human spirit as Cozolino encourages one to remain hopeful and optimistic as nurturing relationships have the capacity to rewire the social brain throughout life.
Psychology Department, University of Saint Joseph, West Hartford, CT, USA
Email: [email protected]
© 2014, Amie Senland
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03057240.2014.971483