CALL FOR PAPERS for Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
Research Topic: “What determines social behavior? Investigating the
role of emotions, self-centered motives, and social norms.”
by Corrado Corradi-Dell'Acqua, Leonie Koban, Susanne Leiberg, Patrik
Vuilleumier, and Ernst Fehr.
abstract deadline: 1 October 2012
article submission deadline: 1 March 2013
Please find below the full description of the Topic (also available
at http://www.frontiersin.org/human_neuroscience/researchtopics/what_determines_social_behavio/986).
“Human behavior and decision making is subject to social and
motivational influences such as emotions, norms and self/other
regarding preferences. The identification of the neural and
psychological mechanisms underlying these factors is a central issue
in psychology, behavioral economics and social neuroscience, with
important clinical, social, and even political implications.
However, despite a continuously growing interest from the scientific
community, the processes underlying these factors, as well as their
ontogenetic and phylogenetic development, have so far remained
elusive. In this special issue we call for articles that will
provide challenging insights and stimulate a fruitful controversy on
the question of “what determines social behavior.”
Indeed, over the last decades, research has shown that introducing a
social context to otherwise abstract tasks has diverse effects on
social behavior. On the one hand, it may induce individuals to act
irrationally, for instance to refuse money, but on the other hand it
improves individuals’ reasoning, in that formerly difficult abstract
problems can be easily solved. These lines of research led to
distinct (although not necessarily mutually exclusive) models for
socially-driven behavioral changes. For instance, a popular
theoretical framework interprets human behavior as a result of a
conflict between cognition and emotion, with the cognitive system
promoting self-interested choices, and the emotional system
(triggered by the social context) operating against them. Other
theories favor social norms and deontic heuristics in biasing human
reasoning and encouraging choices that are sometimes in conflict
with one’s interest. Few studies attempted to disentangle between
these (as well as other) models. As a consequence, although
insightful results arise from specific domains/tasks, a
comprehensive theoretical framework is still missing.
Furthermore, studies employing neuroimaging techniques have begun to
shed some light on the neural substrates involved in social
behavior, implicating consistently (although not exclusively)
portions of the limbic system, the insular and the prefrontal
cortex. In this context, a challenge for present research lies not
only in further mapping the brain structures implicated in social
behavior, or in describing in detail the functional interaction
between these structures, but in showing how the implicated networks
relate to different theoretical models.
This is a special issue hosted by members of the Swiss National
Center of Competence in Research “Affective Sciences – Emotions in
Individual Behaviour and Social Processes”. We aim at collecting
contributions from the international community which extend the
current knowledge about the psychological and neural structures
underlying social behavior and decision making. In particular, we
encourage submissions from investigators arising from different
domains (psychology, behavioral economics, affective sciences, etc.)
implementing different techniques (behavior, electrophysiology,
neuroimaging, brain stimulations) on different populations
(neurotypical adults, children, brain damaged or psychiatric
patients, etc.). Animal studies are also welcome if the data
reported are of comparative value. Finally, we also invite
submission of meta-analytical articles, mini-reviews and perspective
papers which offer provocative and insightful interpretations of the
recent literature in the field.”
With very best regards
Corrado Corradi-Dell'Acqua, on behalf of all hosting editors
Guest Associate Editor, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
www.frontiersin.org
--
"a vital ingredient of success is not knowing
that what you're attempting can't be done."
(Terry Pratchett)
=====================================================
Corrado Corradi-Dell'Acqua, PhD
Swiss Centre for Affective Sciences
University of Genčve
7, rue del Battoirs
1205 Genéve, Switzerland
telephone (+41) 22 379 9821
fax (+41) 22 379 9219
cell (+41) 788 798 505
http://www.affective-sciences.org/user/ccorradi
