Social Neuroscience

"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 nbsp; "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