Social Neuroscience: Integrating Biological and Psychological Explanations of Social Behavior »

Eddie Harmon-Jones, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Texas A&M University. Dr. Harmon-Jones’s current research focuses on emotions and motivations, their implications for social processes and behaviors, and their underlying neural circuits. His research has been supported by the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Fetzer Institute. In 1999 he coedited Cognitive Dissonance: Progress on a Pivotal Theory in Social Psychology. In 2002 he received the Distinguished Award for an Early Career Contribution to Psychophysiology from the Society for Psychophysiological Research. In 2003 Dr. Harmon-Jones coedited a special issue devoted to social neuroscience for the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. He has also served as an associate editor of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and is on the editorial boards of four other journals.
 
Piotr Winkielman, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Winkielman’s current research focuses on the relation between emotion, cognition, body, and consciousness using psychological and psychophysiological approaches. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation and the National Alliance for Autism Research. He has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, and is currently Associate Editor of Emotion. In 2005 Dr. Winkielman coedited Emotion and Consciousness.

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 influences social behavior, and vice versa. 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.

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Reviewer:Christopher J. Graver, PhD(Madigan Army Medical Center)
Description:Discovering the biological correlates of social behavior and the interaction between social and biological factors has long been of interest, but the effort is gaining momentum with the recent advances in neuroscience. This book describes current knowledge about the relationships between biological forces and social interplay.
Purpose:This book is intended to "capture the excitement" of social neuroscience. There are three main goals, which include reviewing the current literature, presenting the theoretical and methodological richness of the field, and conveying a primer for social neuroscience.
Audience:The targeted audience includes social neuroscience researchers and students, and those of the associated and related disciplines involved in this burgeoning field. The editors are accomplished researchers and the contributing authors are drawn from an international cohort.
Features:The information is presented from a variety of perspectives that readers will find useful. Chapters contain information about lesion studies, fMRI, EEG, ERP, and cardiovascular studies. For readers needing a quick review of neuroanatomy, this is provided early on as it relates to social constructs. A detailed chapter discusses stress responses in a variety of conditions and how this is modulated by social behavior. This is followed by research findings in other social areas, such as motivation, empathy, and social intelligence. The sections are well organized and the references are up to date. Table and figures throughout help summarize the data. Unfamiliar concepts are elaborated (e.g., how heart rate is measured) for novices, but the book makes it effortless for more advanced researchers to gloss over these sections. Furthermore, in an attempt to make the book accessible to readers of all levels, notes at the end of some chapters explain terminology and suggest additional readings without bogging down the chapters in detail that is unnecessary for most readers.
Assessment:As an introduction to social neuroscience, this book delivers. In a few afternoons, novice readers can familiarize themselves with the field and seasoned researchers can update their knowledge in areas that may not be their primary focus. The breadth of theories and methodologies means that this book provides an instructive forum that will appeal to a wide audience and may stimulate conceptual expansions in future research.

Introduction
A Brief Overview of Social Neuroscience   Eddie Harmon-Jones   Piotr Winkielman     3
Emotion Processes
The Importance of Emotion-Social Cognition Interactions for Social Functioning: Insights from Orbitofrontal Cortex   Jennifer S. Beer     15
Neurobiology of Emotion Recognition: Current Evidence for Shared Substrates   Andrea S. Heberlein   Ralph Adolphs     31
Ten Years of Research with the Trier Social Stress Test-Revisited   Brigitte M. Kudielka   Dirk H. Hellhammer   Clemens Kirschbaum     56
I Know How You Feel: Social and Emotional Information Processing in the Brain   Catherine J. Norris   John T. Cacioppo     84
How Thinking Controls Feeling: A Social Cognitive Neuroscience Approach   Kevin N. Ochsner     106
Motivation Processes
Asymmetrical Frontal Cortical Activity, Affective Valence, and Motivational Direction   Eddie Harmon-Jones     137
Reward: Neural Circuitry for Social Valuation   Brian Knutson   G. Elliott Wimmer     157
A Biobehavioral Model of Implicit Power Motivation Arousal, Reward, and Frustration   Oliver C. Schultheiss     176
Vigilant and Avoidant Responses to Angry Facial Expressions: Dominance and Submission Motives   Jack van Honk   Dennis J. L. G. Schutter     197
Attitudes and Social Cognition
Attitudes and Evaluation: Toward a Component Process Framework   William A. Cunningham   Marcia K. Johnson     227
A Social Cognitive Neuroscience Model of Human Empathy   Jean Decety     246
How Dynamics of Thinking Create Affective and Cognitive Feelings: Psychology and Neuroscience of the Connection between Fluency, Liking, and Memory   Tedra Fazendeiro   Troy Chenier   Piotr Winkielman     271
The X- and C-Systems: The Neural Basis of Automatic and Controlled Social Cognition   Matthew D. Lieberman     290
An Evolutionary Perspective on Domain Specificity in Social Intelligence   Valerie E. Stone     316
Person Perception, Stereotyping, and Prejudice
Mechanisms for the Regulation of Intergroup Responses: Insights from a Social Neuroscience Approach   David M. Amodio   Patricia G. Devine   Eddie Harmon-Jones     353
Social Cognitive Neuroscience of Person Perception: A Selective Review Focused on the Event-Related Brain Potential   Bruce D. Bartholow   Cheryl L. Dickter     376
Social Neuroscience and Social Perception: New Perspectives on Categorization, Prejudice, and Stereotyping   Tiffany A. Ito   Eve Willadsen-Jensen   Joshua Correll      401
Interpersonal Relationships
Neuropeptides and the Protective Effects of Social Bonds   C. Sue Carter     425
The Quiet Revolution of Existential Neuroscience   Marco Iacoboni     439
Affiliative Responses to Stress: A Social Neuroscience Model   Shelley E. Taylor   Gian C. Gonzaga     454
The Social Neuroscience of Relationships: An Examination of Health-Relevant Pathways   Bert N. Uchino   Julianne Holt-Lunstad   Darcy Uno   Rebecca Campo   Maija Reblin     474
Index     493