Selfie: How the West Became Self-Obsessed

by Will Storr

and gossip, it’s also right there in front of us. And these people can be a powerful source of influence. The psychologist Professor Joseph Henrich writes that the ‘cultural learning’ that comes from those around us ‘reaches directly into our brains and changes the neurological values we place on things and people, and in doing so, it also sets the standards by which we judge ourselves.’ Our brains identify these leaders by being alert to various ‘cues’ that they, and the people around them, display. A basic cue we look for is ‘self-similarity’, for the straightforward reason that we’re more likely to learn salient things by deciding to follow people who are like us in some fundamental way.