The Science Behind the Performative Male

By Andrew Nguyen

I won Columbia University’s performative male contest. 

​*Cue the Clairo*

The performative male is an archetype curated to portray a certain aesthetic and personality, specifically one that exhibits a depth through an awareness of culture, women’s suffrage, fashion, and emotional awareness. To truly understand this creature, one must take a biopsychosocial approach; for although he may be shallow, the science is not. ​

The social brain was evolutionarily developed to help humans collaborate and survive. Physiologically, this manifests in a variety of brain regions and structures that govern reward, motivation, and social behavior. The ventral striatum is a region in the center of the brain, releasing dopamine and reinforcing actions that feel pleasurable (Humphries and Prescott 2010). Dopamine is the “feel good” neurotransmitter that allows for feelings of pleasure and motivation. Performing and getting a spike of dopamine creates a positive feedback loop, reinforcing the behavior (Burhan and Moradzadeh 2020). Nestled within is the nucleus accumbens, a small but important region in the brain responsible for reward anticipation (Klawonn and Malenka 2018).

So, how do these regions motivate the performative male? This archetype is centered around aesthetics recognition and social feedback. The nucleus accumbens activates in anticipation of praise when our tote-bag-slinging, matcha-loving performer dons his hand-knit sweater and Japanese denim jeans.

Whether it’s a double take at his outfit, liking his latest post on social media, or yes, even winning a performative male contest, each moment sparks a release of dopamine in his nucleus accumbens. However, it doesn’t always take an audience to feel rewarded. The temporoparietal junction (TPJ), an area near the side and back of the brain, simulates what we think others believe or feel about us. This process is called Theory of Mind, and it could be a source of confidence for our walking Labubu (Saxe and Kanwisher 2003). Anticipating praise activates this region, letting imagined approval feel real. The confidence he gains from being performative isn’t just in his head. It’s a neurochemical prediction of social praise.

How exactly does a niche aesthetic proliferate our societies? It’s the same reason why inside jokes are so satisfying. When we make a reference that someone else understands, our brains “synchronize”. fMRI studies have shown that when people share an idea or form a connection, their TPJ and posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) activate in a similar pattern, meaning that people can connect on a physiological level when they find something in common (Nguyen et al. 2018). Evolutionarily, this connection was helpful to identify members of one’s own tribe. Today, it manifests itself into trends, popular culture, and memes. 

When one person makes a pop culture reference, their friends learn it, repeat it, and spread it to others. Every repetition rewards the brain with a sense of belonging and recognition. Trends don’t spread because we’re told to follow them; they spread because people want to belong. Every inside joke is a desire for acceptance. It’s a way of saying “I understand.” 

The concept of a performative male spreads in another, more subtle way. In the brain, mirror neurons activate both when we perform an action and when someone else does it (Bonini et al. 2022). Watching someone else can trigger similar brain patterns, making imitation feel natural. Even if we don’t share the same reward response, our brains still mirror their actions. Before long, imitation becomes participation. 

The performative male is certainly a caricature, but he’s also a reflection of the social neuroscience underlying this trend. The same survival mechanisms that are meant to keep us together are now connecting us through style, humor, and a shared culture. I might be biased, but maybe the performance isn’t fake and disingenuous. Maybe it’s just the language of belonging. He might not be shallow. He might just be a brain looking for someone else to look back and say “I get it.”

References

Bonini, Luca, et al. “Mirror Neurons 30 Years Later: Implications and Applications.” Trends in Cognitive Sciences, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Sept. 2022, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35803832/.

Burhan, Rasan, and Jalal Moradzadeh. “International Online Medical Council (IOMC).” International Online Medical Council, International Online Medical Council (IOMC), 27 Nov. 2020, www.iomcworld.org/open-access/neurotransmitter-dopamine-da-and-its-role-in-the-development-of-social-media-addiction-59222.html.

Humphries, Mark D., and Tony J. Prescott. “The Ventral Basal Ganglia, a Selection Mechanism at the Crossroads of Space, Strategy, and Reward.” ScienceDirect, Progress in Neurobiology, Apr. 2010, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030100820900183X?via%3Dihub.

Klawonn, Anna M, and Robert C Malenka. “Nucleus Accumbens Modulation in Reward and Aversion.” Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2018, pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6650377/.

N;, Saxe R;Kanwisher. “People Thinking about Thinking People. the Role of the Temporo-Parietal Junction in ‘Theory of Mind.’” NeuroImage, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Aug. 2003, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12948738/.

Nguyen, Mai, et al. “Shared Understanding of Narratives Is Correlated with Shared Neural Responses.” NeuroImage, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Jan. 2019, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30217543/.