When wins and losses shape the mood of entire cities, what’s happening in the brains of football fans?

In this episode, we discuss the neuroscience and psychology of:

• Football fandom, and bonding with others over shared love of a team

• The chemicals that make wins feel so joyous, and losses so painful

• How our empathy systems transport us into the shoes of the players

We explore the evolutionary significance of sports, from honing our motor skills as hunter-gatherers to finding connection and purpose through the global tournaments of today, and share our own stories growing up as football fans.

And, we speak to Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett, neuroscientist, psychologist, and author, about the physiological effects of watching sports with others — synchronized breathing, matching heart rates, and mirrored movements.

Plus! Our son Alexander Noor Sherzai, a newly accepted graduate student at UCLA in the field of computational medicine/AI and a lifelong fanatical Pittsburgh Steelers fan, joins us for a conversation about the cultural and psychological intersection of football fandom: being a fan from a young age, engaging in online discourse, and concerns around the growing epidemic of sports betting.