Beautiful Souls: The Courage and Conscience of Ordinary People in Extraordinary Times Highlight

The brain is not an inert organ, Jeste adds, which is why assessing its qualities is not quite like measuring a person’s height or weight. “One of the biggest advances in brain research is the demonstration of neuroplasticity, which means that the brain can change, not just functionally but structurally,” he says. “When we say someone is hardwired, we often give too much credit to our genes, but actually the expression of genes is more under our control than we think. The brain is not like steel, it’s like plastic, and it is affected by the environment. I don’t think you can just look at the gray matter and say, ‘Oh, he has twice as much empathy and therefore he will act differently.’ It ignores the influence of upbringing, environment, culture.”