The brain and desire

There may be some noble souls who remain steadfastly happy with their own lot in life, never casting a sidewards glance nor contemplating for moment that they might want what their neighbour has. Such people may exist although they remain as yet undocumented. For the most part it seems that it is human nature to want what others have and now research has suggested that to “covet” might be more than a learned psychological phenomenon but instead might actually be hardwired into your brain by evolution.

”Mimetic desire” is a quality first described by the French philosopher Rene Girard in the 1960s. As part of his theory around “desire” Girard proposed that we borrow our desire from others and that this “mimetic desire” drives much of human behaviour.

The implication of mimetic desire is that we value an object not just based on its intrinsic nature but also on how much the object is desired by others. Based on this, desire for any given object or thing can be contagious. The more people that desire an object, the more appealing it becomes. You only have to look at Facebook, Twitter, and the iPhone to have an appreciation of rampant mimetic desire in full social swing.

Researchers decided to study the nature of mimetic desire by taking MRI scans of people’s brains as they watched a series of videos of things like clothing, food, and other products. Sometimes the objects were just shown on their own but on other occasions they were shown as being desired in some way. For example, a piece of chocolate might appear just sitting on a plate or in another video there might be a hand reaching toward the chocolate as if to grab it. After observing each scenario the subjects rated the object in question for its desirability giving it a score between 1 and 10.

When objects appeared to be desired by others they scored higher on desirability than when there was no interest shown in them.

Additionally the brain scans showed activity in two interesting parts of the brain. The brain valuation system (BVS) involved in evaluating the worth of things did show greater activity. There was also great activity in a part of the brain known as the “mirror neuron system” (MNS).

A mirror neuron is a neuron that fires both when an animal acts and when the animal observes the same action performed by another. Thus, the neuron “mirrors” the behaviour of the other, as though the observer were itself acting. In humans mirror neurons exist in the premotor cortex, the supplementary motor area, the primary somatosensory cortex and the inferior parietal cortex. Neuroscientists believe that mirror neuron systems in the human brain help us understand the actions and intentions of other people.

In this new study the researchers not that not only did the BVS and MNS fire in response to seeing someone desire an object, but the two systems were linked. The mirror neurons caused the BVS to be activated. So mimetic desire probably has a basis in the evolution of basic social ties. Your own appreciation of an object is stimulated by the same neurons that understand how someone else feels about an object.

In the end then, you may well tell yourself not to covet your neighbour’s ass but, until we can decouple your mirror neuron system from brain valuation system, you’ll want that ass simply because your neighbour wants it too.