Social Neuroscience and Social Behavior

Social neuroscience is the study of biological systems in the body that incorporates a psychological element to explain the social and emotional aspects of human behavior. Psychology and social neuroscience were always thought to be mutually exclusive, as the popular belief was that neuroscience was biological and psychology was subjective, solely based on interpersonal, interfamilial and intersocietal influences on the individual. 

Biopsychology focuses on the neural pathways and mechanisms for understanding behavioral psychology, and behavioral neuroscience utilizes experimental subjects, including humans and other animals, to study and develop a comparative analysis while either manipulating or observing the nervous system function.

It was not until psychologists John Cacioppo and Gary Berntson published an article in American Psychologist that an individual’s psychology was grouped in with cognitive neuroscience, which focuses on how the brain processes social interactions.

The resulting amalgamation can be considered a synthesis of the two sciences: biological mechanisms may trigger a social behavior or behavioral structures that have an effect on brain and body functions. The Society for Social Neuroscience has been implemented to give scientists and medical professionals the ability to merge these diverse disciplines, examine data from each other’s research and discuss the growing evidence of the support platform for the interdisciplinary aspects of social behavior and neuroscience.

Using the famous analogy of a railroad worker whose work injury turned him from a mild-mannered man to an angry and impulsive individual; the neuroscience of the destruction of ventromedial aspects of the anterior portions of the frontal cortex demonstrates the changes in social behavior.  

Likewise, the psychology of social impact can prove false the notion that heritage dictates social behavior; as in the case of a child born to a drug addict. The child can be successfully weaned off the drugs and not repeat the mother’s behavior upon reaching adulthood.

Together, these new perspectives underscore the complementary nature of social and biological approaches to understanding how the cognitive functions of the brain play a role in social behavior and response. In as much as the two sciences were unrelated and narrowly focused, now they mesh to pursue potential beneficial modifications to understanding human interaction through an interchange of data, ideas and research.

This post is brought to you by Argosy University. Drawing upon our more than 30-year history of granting degrees in professional psychology, Argosy University has developed a curriculum that focuses on interpersonal skills and practical experience alongside academic learning. Because getting a degree is one thing. Succeeding, quite another.