Science of Social Bonding in Family, Friendship & Romantic Love | Huberman Lab Podcast #51

Dec 20, 2021 • This episode I discuss the science of social bonding- the process by which we form attachments. I explain the neural and hormonal basis for "social homeostasis" (our drive for a given amount of socializing) which reveals why we get lonely, why we seek out connection with others and how power dynamics (hierarchies) shape those connections. I also discuss the neurochemical basis of introversion and extroversion, of trust and how shared experiences that promote similar physiological states in two or more individuals, leads to more rapid bonding. I also discuss how food and oxytocin play key roles in social bonding. This episode covers quality peer-reviewed science and practical tools for anyone seeking to find, build or end relationships.

Family Detective: Nick Clegg
Nicholas Peter William Clegg was born in Chalfont St Giles in 1967. Photograph: The Telegraph
THE TELEGRAPH: An investigation into our hidden histories. This week: Nick Clegg. Nick Barratt reports

Nick Clegg won a closely fought contest this week to be the new leader of the Liberal Democrats, beating Chris Huhne to be the party's third leader in two years. Clegg's career in politics is relatively short-lived: he was elected Euro-MP for East Midlands in 1999 and then became MP for Sheffield Hallam in 2005. Prior to front-line politics, he worked for the European Commission from 1994, latterly with former EU Commissioner Leon Brittan, and was previously a Financial Times reporter. His candidacy is not uncontroversial given his part in the downfall of both Campbell and his predecessor, Charles Kennedy.

Who is he related to?

Nicholas Peter William Clegg was born in Chalfont St Giles in 1967 and is only one-quarter English. His mother, Eulalie Hermance van den Wall Bake, is Dutch but was born in Indonesia in 1936. When the Japanese army invaded in 1942, she was sent to a concentration camp with her parents, Hemmy and Louise, and two sisters. They were separated and spent the next three years in terrible conditions. On liberation, the family returned to Holland, but in 1956 Hermance travelled to England, where she met and later married Nick's father, also called Nick. Nick senior is half-English. >>> Nick Barratt | Saturday, December 22, 2007

P*** O**, Big Brother! I’ll Look After My Own Health, Thank You Very Much!
THE TELEGRAPH: Well-meaning 'snoops' are being recruited by the Government to nag their colleagues, family and neighbours into living healthier lives.

Photo thanks to the Neue Zürcher Zeitung
Public health "mentors" will be enlisted by the NHS to offer 'on the spot' advice in their local neighbourhood when they see people smoking, eating or drinking too much.

The Government hopes that the volunteers will help to get across its messages on healthy living in a new and influential way but the plans have been criticised as evidence of the creeping 'nanny state'.

Speaking at the Royal Society of Arts yesterday , Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, said mentors could be "amazingly successful" and that he hoped that they could revolutionise the nation's health.

The mentors, who as volunteers are not paid, are expected to work to influence the people around them, offering advice to workmates, family and friends about how they should change their unhealthy habits.

Eating a third fried breakfast of the week in the office canteen, having a drink 'for the road' at your local pub or chain-smoking another cigarette while waiting for the bus could all see the mentors spring into action to offer the Government's advice.

A spokesman for the Department of Health said that it was hoped that mentors would spread the word among "people they come in contact with on a daily basis, including their friends and neighbours, and also be able to point them to NHS services, such as smoking cessation services". 'Snoops' to Nag Their Friends to Live Healthier Lives >>> By Kate Devlin, Medical Correspondent | Thursday, March 19, 2009

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>

Somebody, at Last, Speaks Some Sense on the (British) Family!
DAILY MAIL: Family breakdown is a "cancer" behind almost every evil affecting the country, a senior judge will declare today.

Mr Justice Coleridge blames youth crime, child abuse, drug addiction and binge-drinking on the "meltdown" of relations between parents and children.

He warns that the collapse of the family unit is a threat to the nation as bad as terrorism, crime, drugs or global warming.

The speech to family lawyers contains a fierce attack on the "neglect" of successive governments.

The 58-year-old judge, who is married with three grown-up children, will say family breakdown is an epidemic affecting all levels of society from the Royal Family down.

It is "on a scale, depth and breadth which few of us could have imagined even "a decade ago. It is a never-ending carnival of human misery. A ceaseless river of human distress.

"I am not saying every broken family produces dysfunctional children but I am saying that almost every dysfunctional child is the product of a broken family."

The judge, who is in charge of family courts across South-West England, will say he has a duty to speak out.

He will call on the Government to put the family at the top of its agenda, alongside the economy and the war on terror - and make it "rather more important than taking oaths of allegianc" [sic].

His speech will say: "Families are the cells which make up the body of society. If the cells are unhealthy and undernourished, or at worse cancerous and growing haphazard and out of control, in the end the body succumbs.

"In some of the more heavily populated urban areas, family life is quite frankly in meltdown or completely unrecognisable . . . it is on an epidemic scale. In some areas of the country family life in the old sense no longer exists." Family Life Is in 'Meltdown': Judge Launches Devastating Attack on Our Fractured Society >>> By Steve Doughty

Mark Alexander