Social Neuroscience

Definition

Social neuroscience is an interdisciplinary field of science that deals with the biological mechanisms underlying social processes and behavior, considered by many to be one of the major problems for the neurosciences to address in the 21st century. Social neuroscience also involves using biological concepts and methods to develop and refine theories of complex human behavior in the social and behavioral sciences.

Background and History

During the 20th century in the biological sciences, the architects of development and behavior were conceived as anatomical entities (e.g., genes) sculpted by the forces of evolution and located within living cells far from the reaches of the social world. The brain was treated as a rational information-processing machine. Social factors, such as early family environment or social isolation later in life, ...

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