The emergence of social cognitive neuroscience.
Social cognitive neuroscience is an emerging interdisciplinary field of research that seeks to understand phenomena in terms of interactions between 3 levels of analysis: the social level, which is concerned with the motivational and social factors that influence behavior and experience; the cognitive level, which is concerned with the information-processing mechanisms that give rise to social-level phenomena; and the neural level, which is concerned with the brain mechanisms that instantiate cognitive-level processes. The social cognitive neuroscience approach entails conducting studies and constructing theories that make reference to all 3 levels and contrasts with traditional social psychological and cognitive neuroscientific research that primarily makes reference to 2 levels. The authors present an introduction to and analysis of the field by reviewing current research and providing guidelines and suggested directions for future work.
Ochsner
K N
KN
Department of Psychology, Stanford University, CA, USA. ochsner@psych.stanford.edu
Lieberman
M D
MD
D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D009488:Neurosciences / Q000639:trends*; D011593:Psychology, Social / Q000639:trends*; D012106:Research; D012919:Social Behavior; D013038:Specialization / Q000639:trends; D014481:United States