Vanessa Van EdwardsScience of People, Science Of People · Behavioral Researcher, Founder, Author, Harvard Instructor

The Hierarchy Of Knowing Someone!

2 Apr 2026 · 1 min

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In this brief presentation, Vanessa Van Edwards cites the study “How the Brain Processes Social Information” and explains that the human brain processes social cues in a fixed sequential hierarchy. First, it registers basic, evolution‑driven categories—gender, kinship, and social status—because they are critical for reproduction and survival. Next, it gathers observable traits, followed by basic occupational and demographic data. The third layer consists of motivations, values, and personal history, and the final, most nuanced layer includes identity and fears. Vanessa argues that because the brain checks these layers one by one, we should make the essential social information (the early layers) readily available in professional settings—clients, colleagues, meetings—so interactions can move quickly through the checklist and reach deeper connection more efficiently.

Chapters

As humans, we need to work sequentially. The study is called "How the Brain Processes Social Information," and what this study found is that the brain has a really hard time processing advanced social interaction. It likes to know the basics first. There are special brain mechanisms that have evolved to process the most important social information first, and the order is typically like this: gender, kin, and social status are first, and that's because they are essential for reproduction and survival. So the typical hierarchy of facts when you're talking to someone, someone very first wants to know traits. Then comes the basic occupation and demographic information. Next thing, which is motivations, values, and history. The very last one, if we're lucky in social interactions, is identity and fears. We typically go check, know it, check, know it, check, know it, and then we can move on deeper. So what I want us to do is to make that essential social information really easily accessible so people can move that checklist quickly with us, especially when we're talking to clients or colleagues or we're in meetings.