Social Norms And Chili Peppers
“Deeply internalised social norms rewire our brains to feel inappropriate pleasure as pain (just like chili peppers, although in that case pain is rewired as pleasure). It’s interesting that norm-breaking often evokes disgust (‘what he did made me sick to my stomach’). Cultural groups whose members internalise prosocial norms will sustain higher degree of within-group cooperation — and will win and spread at the expense of other, less cooperative groups. So will the prosocial norm” (2,800 words)
