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Social Neuroscience

Integrating Biological and Psychological Explanations of Social Behavior

• Edited by Eddie Harmon-Jones, Piotr Winkielman

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• Binding: Hardback (also available in Paperback)
• Pages: 512
• Published by: Guilford Press
• Publication Date: 2nd March 2007
• ISBN: 978-1-59385-404-1

About the Book

This compelling volume provides a broad and accessible overview of the emerging field of social neuroscience. Showcasing an array of cutting-edge research programs, leading investigators present new approaches to the study of how the brain and body influence social behavior, and vice versa. Each authoritative chapter clearly describes the methods used: lesion studies, neuroimaging techniques, hormonal methods, event-related brain potential methods, and others. The contributors discuss the theoretical advantages of taking a social neuroscience perspective and analyze what their findings reveal about core social psychological phenomena. Essential topics include emotion, motivation, attitudes, person perception, stereotyping and prejudice, and interpersonal relationships.

Reviews

'James Watson once said, 'there are only molecules; everything else is sociology.' His tongue-in-cheek arrogance reminds us of the great gulf that once separated the 'two cultures' of humanities and science. In the last decade this gap is successfully being bridged by social neuroscience. This fine edited volume presents a readable, comprehensive overview of this exciting new field.' - V.S. Ramachandran, MD, PhD, Center for Brain and Cognition, University of California, San Diego, USA

'Human beings are intensely social animals, yet intensive study of the biological basis of human social behavior began only quite recently. Brain imaging was the spur to this acceleration of social neuroscience research, but brain imaging alone can never reveal the neural mechanisms underlying human social interactions. Recognizing this shortcoming, Harmon-Jones and Winkielman include a whole range of additional and complementary methodologies in this book, from lesions to hormone analysis. This is an excellent introduction to cutting-edge research in what is undoubtedly going to be the dominant theme in 21st-century neuroscience.' - Chris Frith, FRS, Institute of Neurology, University College London, UK

'More than a half-century ago, social psychology opened a New Look in perception. Social phenomena occurring below awareness became prime subjects of controversial discourse. Social Neuroscience now demonstrates that, in many cases, what we thought were no more than conjectures have become promising lines of discovery. It organizes in a clear, instructive manner most of what we now know about neural processes underlying significant aspects of social behavior.' - Bob Zajonc, PhD, Department of Psychology, Stanford University, USA

'Not long ago, social motivation was a matter of others sharing some of their food, warmth, and some sex. Now, with the affect revolution, social motivation has become a cauldron of basic emotional systems and cognitive abilities and desires. This volume summarizes a host of exciting developments in this rapidly emerging field. It brings us up to date with exciting research programs that are illuminating the multidimensional social-affective nature of our existence. We finally have a secure intellectual base from which to launch the next generation of inquiries that will allow us to blend human and animal research into an enlightened and unified understanding of how social brains and social mind make us the kinds of creatures that we are.' - Jaak Panksepp, PhD, Department of Veterinary and Comparative Anatomy, Pharmacology, and Physiology, Washington State University, USA

Table of Contents

Part I: Introduction. Harmon-Jones, Winkielman, A Brief Overview of Social Neuroscience. Part II: Emotion Processes. Beer, The Importance of Emotion–Social Cognition Interactions for Social Functioning: Insights from Orbitofrontal Cortex. Heberlein, Adolphs, Neurobiology of Emotion Recognition: Current Evidence for Shared Substrates. Kudielka, Hellhammer, Kirschbaum, Ten Years of Research with the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST)—Revisited. Norris Cacioppo, I Know How You Feel: Social and Emotional Information Processing in the Brain. Ochsner, How Thinking Controls Feeling: A Social Cognitive Neuroscience Approach. Part III: Motivation Processes. Harmon-Jones, Asymmetrical Frontal Cortical Activity, Affective Valence, and Motivational Direction. Knutson, Wimmer, Reward: Neural Circuitry for Social Valuation. Schultheiss, A Biobehavioral Model of Implicit Power Motivation Arousal, Reward, and Frustration. van Honk, Schutter, Vigilant and Avoidant Responses to Angry Facial Expressions: Dominance and Submission Motives. Part IV: Attitudes and Social Cognition. Cunningham, Johnson, Attitudes and Evaluation: Toward a Component Process Framework. Decety, A Social Cognitive Neuroscience Model of Human Empathy. Fazendeiro, Chenier, Winkielman, Processing Dynamics as a Source of Affective and Cognitive Feelings. Lieberman, The X- and C-Systems: The Neural Basis of Automatic and Controlled Social Cognition. Stone, An Evolutionary Perspective on Domain Specificity in Social Intelligence. Part V: Person Perception, Stereotyping, and Prejudice. Amodio, Devine, Harmon-Jones, Mechanisms for the Regulation of Intergroup Responses: Insights from a Social Neuroscience Approach. Bartholow, Dickter, Social Cognitive Neuroscience of Person Perception: A Selective Review Focused on the Event-Related Brain Potential. Ito, Willadsen-Jensen, Correll, Social Neuroscience and Social Perception: New Perspectives on Categorization, Prejudice, and Stereotyping. Part VI: Interpersonal Relationships. Carter, Neuropeptides and the Protective Effects of Social Bonds. Iacoboni, The Quiet Revolution of Existential Neuroscience. Taylor, Gonzaga, Affiliative Responses to Stress: A Social Neuroscience Model. Uchino, Holt-Lunstad, Uno, Campo, Reblin, The Social Neuroscience of Relationships: An Examination of Health-Relevant Pathways.

About the Author(s)

Edited by Eddie Harmon-Jones, PhD, Department of Psychology, Texas A&M University,USA and Piotr Winkielman, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, USA