In lines 9-27, the author develops her ideas with information from the fields of neuroscience and psychology. How does she connect the information back to the idea that friendships are essential to our sense of who we are?

The author by providing an informative about the stream of conscious and unconscious construction states that friends are an important sense of validation.

Explanation:

'With friends like these ... ' is an informative literary text where the author describes how friends are an essential part when it comes to enjoyment of life. In lines 9 to 27 ie from the third paragraph the author explains the construction of our brain in a conscious and unconscious way. The author says we as a human being often guess about the situations when we cannot see the reality directly. And when our ideas takes the shape of reality, that's when we feel that our ideas are validate, we feel secure and happy, but when those same ideas are proved wrong, we feel unsettled and distressed.

The author then connects this information with the idea that friendships are essential to our sense of who we are. They are an important sense of validation. When a friend validates our idea that something is as we see it, when we feel reassured, relaxed, and safer.