Social species are so characterized because they form organizations that extend beyond the individual; such structures evolved hand in hand with psychological, neural, hormonal, cellular, and genetic mechanisms. The goal of social neuroscience is to identify these biological mechanisms and to specify the influences between social and neural structures and processes. Such an endeavor is challenging because it necessitates the integration of theory and data across levels of analysis. Social neuroscience has nevertheless grown dramatically as an interdisciplinary science and has expanded to include the relationship among social factors, genes, and gene expression.
Keywords: history; social cognition; social neuroscience.
© The Author(s) 2013.