Social neuroscience

The social neuroscience are an interdisciplinary field that has its beginnings in the early 1990s. Here, biological and social research approaches are considered complementary knowledge access, examine the socially established structures beyond the individual. Research areas include neural, humoral, cellular and genetic mechanisms underlying these structures is based. It is assumed that a reciprocal influence on different structural levels. A special focus is on the functional approach of brain processes. Investigated processes are here both to intra- individual level, such as social perception and social cognition, as well as inter-individual level, such as social interaction and social influence. The integration of different research approaches requires interdisciplinary expertise and the integration of different data layers.

Methodology

Due to the different parent disciplines to the interdisciplinary field of a variety of different methods (fMRI, TMS, EEG, ECG, EMG, Endocrinology, SCR, lesion studies, animal models ) served. The challenge here lies in the integration of products originating in the social approaches to human data with the biological animal models. The basic idea of this research is to find explanations for previous conditions, to locate involved structures to describe underlying processes and predict their consequences. The multiple determinism of human behavior makes the consideration of different levels of analysis already in theory formation required. Complex functional constructs (eg, prejudice, loyalty, empathy, trust ) must be separated into their subunits to represent meaningful units of analysis.

Doctrine of multilevel analysis

The doctrine of multilevel analysis goes back to Cacioppo and Berntson (1992) and is to be regarded as a fundamental principle of the research field of social neuroscience. It bears the different data and levels of analysis into account and is based on three principles:

The Golden Triangle of Human Sciences euro

Since the different research approaches of social neuroscience allow different conclusions, propose Decety and Cacioppo (2010), the observation of three to each other and to refer Direction sighted as equally important approaches:

Only the combination of different approaches, such as meta-analyzes allows for in-depth insights to come and find a scientific consensus on a topic via tasks or situations away.

The social brain

The adaptation of the brain to social processes explains the complexity of the human brain. The study of the neural structures that underlie the social cognition based, raises the question of whether there are specific social interaction modules or whether social cognition makes use of general cognitive mechanisms.

Research field

There are many areas in which the findings can be incorporated from the social neuroscience. Classical works exist, for example, for the detection of emotional facial expression, as well as impairments in social behavior with preserved intelligence after damage in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Damasio's work clarify the role of emotion in social decision-making. Current research fields deal among other things with the mental health, social relationships with their conservation play a fundamental role. The Psychopathology of social brain and its plasticity are present here in the research focus. The understanding of mental disorders can be extended by the integration of social, psychological and neurological mechanisms into a holistic picture .. Another research line is the empathy research. Empathy is expressed at the neuronal level, that is, upon consideration of the emotion of a person, a similar pattern is found as in the activation of its own through the life of the same emotion. The diversity of research areas illustrates the social potential of social neuroscience.