What stresses you out more than anything? Perhaps it’s speaking in front of others. For many, this is so stressful it even has a name: glossophobia. The explanation for why it’s uncomfortable to have everyone’s eyes on you is probably that, for almost all of our evolution, it’s been extremely important not to be excluded from the group. To prepare for what might happen if you are evaluated and socially shamed ― and thus alienated from the group ― your brain fires up the stress system and your heart begins to beat harder. Our natural sensitivity to being evaluated by other people is another example of our brain not being adapted to the modern world. If we give a bad presentation at work, we are unlikely to lose our job and thus risk starving to death. But in the world we long ago evolved for, exclusion from the group could be a matter of life and death. ____________ was not merely a matter of safety but also of survival. You simply couldn’t make it on your own.
* starve: 굶주리다