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Are Human Beings Really Social Creatures?

January 17, 2017

Whatever research you come across, it is the consensus view that human beings are social creatures. From an early age, right through to adulthood, our dependency on our friends and community is evident.

Even in the workplace, we crave and cultivate social interaction through various team building activities and social gatherings.

In fact, interaction with others is such a significant part of human life that the physically isolated act of computing has become social-centric, with a number of social media networks sitting at the centre of modern culture and psyches.


Are we really as social as we think though? And if so, how did we get that way?

Well, according to various sources, evolution plays a big part.

As ancient primates, we roamed the planet solo, in pairs, or - at the most - in small clusters. Small groups that were originally created for survival turned into families, and families eventually turned into communities, which expanded into societies.


Partly, this banding together occurred out of necessity, to protect the human race from predators and to share the skills and wealth accumulated by individuals. This is just an anthropological glimpse at how humans were destined to be social though; our biology also seems to have played its part.

With a larger and better-developed brain than other primates, we were practically built to be social. Our evolved brains mean we can reason, speak, problem-solve, learn and interact socially.

It is this ability to learn, communicate and evolve that has contributed to our survival as a dominant species and allowed us to prosper as a civilization. Sociality is just as important to modern human life though, as psychologist Adam Waytz explains:

"sociality is a dominant force that shapes thought, behaviour, physiology, and neural activity" (source).


What does that mean in the workplace? It means you need to foster relations and nurture communication, within teams and departments.

It is true that for the most part, work requires a degree of solitude. Collaboration may be required for certain tasks, like meetings and brainstorms, but for the majority of companies, everyday tasks require individuals to work alone in order to stay focused and productive.


That said, when you work in a social environment like an office, you need to ensure teams communicate, collaborate and generally work well together. It is detrimental to encourage too much social interaction throughout the day, so you need to designate time for team building activities and events like those offered by Team Challenge Company.

We have years of experience in the corporate events industry, and we have a wealth of knowledge when it comes to teams and associated topics. We will help you to identify the strengths and weaknesses of both teams and individuals, whilst providing a productive session where everyone learns something new or develops an existing skill.

So help your team embrace all that being a social creature involves and get in touch to book your team event today. We look forward to hearing from you.

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