Recent advances in social neuroscience show that many social phenomena can be traced back to neural processes. Major limitations and contributions of social neuroscience for a better understanding of social phenomena are considered. Social neuroscience is currently guided primarily by psychological notions and theories, thus making it inappropriate for solving sociological problems. Brain research for sociology can be increasingly useful within a branch we call neurosociology. Incorporation of data from cognitive and neuroscience may clarify the low-level structure of social phenomena and contribute to our understanding of social mechanisms. The notion of social status/role is taken as a possible subject of neurosociological research. A number of low-level brain structures and processes are shown to be relevant for the sociological notion of status/role. Examples include findings concerning the possible role of mirror neurons and oxytocin in social cognition and behavior. The idea of modularity is considered as a source of particular neurosociological hypothesis. It is also argued that the study of the neural system may contribute to a better understanding of social categorization, stratification and other macrosociological questions.
AdolphsR (2009) The social brain: Neural basis of social knowledge. Annual Review of Psychology60: 693–716.
2.
AdolphsR (2010) Conceptual challenges and directions for social neuroscience. Neuron65(6): 752–767.
3.
AlexanderJ (1982) Positivism, Presuppositions, and Current Controversies: Theoretical logic in sociology. Berkeley/Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, vol. 1.
4.
AlvesFSSchmitzNFigeeMAbelingN. (2011) Dopaminergic modulation of the human reward system: A placebo-controlled dopamine depletion fMRI study. Journal of Psychopharmacology25(4): 538–549.
5.
AshbyFGSpieringBJ (2004) The neurobiology of category learning. Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience Reviews3(2): 101–113.
6.
BarrettHCKurzbanR (2006) Modularity in cognition: Framing the debate. Psychological Review113(3): 628–647.
7.
BellDC (2001) Evolution of parental caregiving. Personality and Social Psychology Review5(3): 216–229.
8.
BooneCDeclerckCKiyonariT (2010) Inducing cooperative behavior among proselfs versus prosocials: The moderating role of incentives and trust. Journal of Conflict Resolution54(5): 799–824.
9.
BourdieuP (1984a) Quelques propriétés des champs. In: BourdieuP, Questions de Sociologie. Paris: Editions de Minuit, 113–120.
10.
BourdieuP (1984b) Espace social et genèse des ‘classes’. Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales52/53: 3–14.
11.
BourdieuP (1989) Social space and symbolic power. Sociological Theory7(1): 14–25.
12.
BroschTCoppinGSchererKRSchwartzS. (2011) Generating value(s): Psychological value hierarchies reflect context-dependent sensitivity of the reward system. Social Neuroscience6(2): 198–208.
13.
BrownSBRERidderinkhofKR (2009) Aging and the neuroeconomics of decision making: A review. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience9(4): 365–379.
14.
CamererCLoewensteinGPrelecD (2005) Neuroeconomics: How neuroscience can inform economics. Journal of Economic Literature34(1): 9–64.
15.
CampbellA (2010) Oxytocin and human social behavior. Personality and Social Psychology Review14(3): 281–295.
16.
ChandrasekharanSOsbeckL (2010) Rethinking situatedness: Environment structure in the time of the common code. Theory & Psychology20(2): 171–207.
17.
ClémentFBernardSKaufmannL (2011) Social cognition is not reducible to theory of mind when children use deontic rules to predict the behaviour of others. British Journal of Developmental Psychology29(4): 910–928.
18.
ConeinB (2007) Group patterns, joint action and social cognition: The Simmelian hypothesis. Intellectica2/3(46/47): 207–219.
19.
CoolsR (2008) Role of dopamine in the motivational and cognitive control of behavior. Neuroscientist14(4): 381–395.
20.
CooperWHWitheyMJ (2009) The strong situation hypothesis. Personality and Social Psychology Review13: 62–72.
21.
CoricelliGNagelR (2009) Neural correlates of depth of strategic reasoning in medial prefrontal cortex. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences106(23): 9163–9168.
22.
CsibraG (2007) Action mirroring and action understanding: An alternative account. In: HaggardPRosettiYKawatoM (eds) Sensorimotor Foundations of Higher Cognition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 435–459. (‘Attention and Performance’, 22)
23.
DamasioA (1995) Toward a neurobiology of emotion and feeling: Operational concepts and hypotheses. Neuroscientist1(1): 19–25.
24.
DecetyJ (2010) To what extent is the experience of empathy mediated by shared neural circuits?Emotion Review2(3): 204–207.
25.
DecetyJLammC (2007) The role of the right temporoparietal junction in social interaction: How low-level computational processes contribute to meta-cognition. Neuroscientist13(6): 580–593.
26.
DerksBInzlichtMKangS (2008) The neuroscience of stigma and stereotype threat. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations11(2): 163–181.
27.
DickterChLBartholowBD (2007) Racial ingroup and outgroup attention biases revealed by event-related brain potentials. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience2: 189–198.
28.
DovidioJFPearsonAROrrP (2008) Social psychology and neuroscience: Strange bedfellows or a healthy marriage?Group Processes & Intergroup Relations11(2): 247–263.
29.
DumontGJHSweepFCGJvan der SteenRHermsenR. (2009) Increased oxytocin concentrations and prosocial feelings in humans after ecstasy (3,4- methylenedioxymethamphetamine) administration. Social Neuroscience4(4): 359–366.
30.
FellowsLK (2004) The cognitive neuroscience of human decision making: A review and conceptual framework. Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience Reviews3(3): 159–172.
31.
FranksDD (2010) Neurosociology: The nexus between neuroscience and social psychology. New York, NY: Springer.
32.
FreemanL (ed.) (2008) Social Networks Analysis. London: Sage. (4 vols)
33.
FujiiNHiharaSNagasakaYIrikiA (2009) Social state representation in prefrontal cortex. Social Neuroscience4(1): 73–84.
34.
FukushimaHHirakiK (2006) Perceiving an opponent’s loss: Gender-related differences in the medial-frontal negativity. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience1: 149–157.
35.
FumagalliMGiannicolaGRosaMMarcegliaS. (2011) Conflict-dependent dynamic of subthalamic nucleus oscillations during moral decisions. Social Neuroscience6(3): 243–256.
36.
GalleseVFadigaLFogassiLRizzolattiG (1996) Action recognition in the premotor cortex. Brain119: 593–609.
37.
GianarosPJHorensteinJACohenSMatthewsKA. (2007) Perigenual anterior cingulate morphology covaries with perceived social standing. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience2: 161–173.
38.
GlimcherPWDorrisMCBayerHM (2005) Physiological utility theory and the neuroeconomics of choice. Games & Economic Behavior52(2): 213–256.
39.
HarréR (2002) Social reality and the myth of social structure. European Journal of Social Theory5(1): 111–123.
40.
HeYJohnsonMKDovidioJFMcCarthyG (2009) The relation between race-related implicit associations and scalp-recorded neural activity evoked by faces from different races. Social Neuroscience4(5): 426–442.
41.
HedströmPSwedbergR (1998) Social mechanisms: An introductory essay. In: HedströmPSwedbergR (eds) Social Mechanisms: An analytical approach to social theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1–31.
42.
HibbingJRSmithKB (2007) The biology of political behavior: An introduction. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science614: 6–14.
43.
HirschfeldLA (2001) On a folk theory of society: Children, evolution, and mental representations of social groups. Personality and Social Psychology Review5(2): 107–117.
44.
HuettelSA (2010) Ten challenges for decision neuroscience. Frontiers in Neuroscience4, article 171, published online 21 September 2010. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2010.0017110.3389/fnins.2010.00171. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2948450/
45.
HuntGMoloneyMEvansK (2010) Youth, Drugs, and Nightlife. New York, NY: Routledge.
46.
ItoTABartholowBD (2009) The neural correlates of race. Trends in Cognitive Sciences13(12): 524–531.
47.
IzumaKSaitoDNSadatoN (2010) The roles of the medial prefrontal cortex and striatum in reputation processing. Social Neuroscience5(2): 133–147.
48.
JacobPJeannerodM (2005) The motor theory of social cognition: A critique. Trends in Cognitive Sciences9(1): 21–25.
49.
JenkinsR (2000) Categorization: Identity, social process and epistemology. Current Sociology48(3): 7–25.
50.
JohansenPØKrebsTS (2009) How could MDMA (ecstasy) help anxiety disorders? A neurobiological rationale. Journal of Psychopharmacology23(4): 389–391.
51.
KableJWGlimcherPW (2009) The neurobiology of decision: Consensus and controversy. Neuron63(6): 733–745.
52.
KaufmannLAClémentF (2007) How culture comes to mind: From social affordances to cultural analogies. Intellectica2–3(46–47): 221–250.
53.
KeysersCGazzolaV (2006) Towards a unifying neural theory of social cognition. Progress in Brain Research156: 379–401.
54.
KinzlerKDShuttsKCorrellJ (2010) Priorities in social categories. European Journal of Social Psychology40: 581-592.
55.
KnochDPascual-LeoneAMeyerKTreyerV. (2006) Diminishing reciprocal fairness by disrupting the right prefrontal cortex. Science314: 829–832.
56.
KnutsonKMWoodJNSpampinatoMVGrafmanJ (2006) Politics on the brain: An fMRI investigation. Social Neuroscience1(1): 25–40.
57.
KurzbanRAktipisCA (2007) Modularity and the social mind: Are psychologists too self-ish?Personality and Social Psychology Review11(2): 131–149.
58.
KurzbanRToobyJCosmidesL (2001) Can race be erased? Coalitional computation and social categorization. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences98(26): 15387–15392.
59.
KühnSMüllerBCNvan BaarenRBWietzkerA. (2010) Why do I like you when you behave like me? Neural mechanisms mediating positive consequences of observing someone being imitated. Social Neuroscience5(4): 384–392.
60.
LiebermanMD (2007) Social cognitive neuroscience: A review of core processes. Annual Review of Psychology58: 259–289.
61.
MarshAABlairKSJonesMMSolimanN. (2009) Dominance and submission: The ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and responses to status cues. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience21(4): 713–724.
62.
MartinezDOrlowskaDNarendranRSlifsteinM. (2010) D2/3 receptor availability in the striatum and social status in human volunteers. Biological Psychiatry67(3): 275–278.
63.
MasonMFMacraeCN (2008) Perspective-taking from a social neuroscience standpoint. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations11(2): 215–232.
64.
McClureSMLaibsonDILoewensteinGCohenJD (2004) Separate neural systems value immediate and delayed monetary rewards. Science306: 503–507.
65.
McClureSMLiJTomlinDCypertKS. (2004) Neural correlates of behavioral preference for culturally familiar drinks. Neuron44: 379–387.
66.
McClureSMYorkMKMontaguePR (2004) The neural substrates of reward processing in humans: The modern role of fMRI. Neuroscientist10(3): 260–268.
67.
McDermottR (2009) Mutual interests: The case for increasing dialogue between political science and neuroscience. Political Research Quarterly62(3): 571–583.
68.
MitchellBFSchmidB (2001) Oxytocin and its receptor in the process of parturition. Journal of the Society for Gynecologic Investigation8(3): 122–133.
69.
MitchellJPAmesDLJenkinsACBanajiMR (2008) Neural correlates of stereotype application. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience21(3): 594–604.
70.
MoorBGvan LeijenhorstLRomboutsSARBCroneEA. (2010) Do you like me? Neural correlates of social evaluation and developmental trajectories. Social Neuroscience5(5): 461–482.
71.
MurataA (2005) An attempt to evaluate mental workload using wavelet transform of EEG. Human Factors47(3): 498–508.
72.
NormanGJCacioppoJTMorrisJSKarelinaK. (2010) Selective influences of oxytocin on the evaluative processing of social stimuli. Journal of Psychopharmacologypublished online 24 May 2010, doi: 10.1177/026988111036745210.1177/0269881110367452. Available at: http://jop.sagepub.com/content/early/2010/05/23/0269881110367452
73.
OsbeckLMMaloneKRNersessianNJ (2007) Dissenters in the sanctuary: Evolving frameworks in ‘mainstream’ cognitive science. Theory and Psychology17(2): 243–264.
74.
ÖztürkP (2009) Levels and types of action selection: The action selection soup. Adaptive Behavior17(6): 537–554.
75.
ParsonsT (1937) The Structure of Social Action. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
76.
ParsonsT (1960) Pattern variables revisited: A response to Robert Dubin. American Sociological Review25(4): 467–483.
77.
PoliсhJ (2007) Updating P300: An integrative theory of P3a and P3b. Clinical Neurophysiology118(10): 2128–2148.
78.
SanderDGrafmanJZallaT (2003) The human amygdala: An evolved system for relevance detection. Reviews in Neuroscience14(4): 303–316.
79.
SegerCA (2008) How do the basal ganglia contribute to categorization? Their role in generalization, response selection, and learning via feedback. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews32(2): 265–278.
80.
SmithEEGrossmanM (2008) Multiple systems of category learning. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews32(2): 249–264.
81.
SperberD (2011) A naturalistic ontology for mechanistic explanations in the social sciences. In: DemeulenaereP (ed.) Analytical Sociology and Social Mechanisms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 64–77.
82.
SperberDHirschfeldLA (2004) The cognitive foundations of cultural stability and diversity. Trends in Cognitive Sciences8(1): 40–46.
83.
StoneVEGerransP (2006) What’s domain-specific about theory of mind?Social Neuroscience1(3–4): 309–319.
84.
TenHoutenW (1997) Neurosociology. Journal of Social and Evolutionary Systems20(1): 7–37.
85.
TingleyD (2006) Neurological imaging as evidence in political science: A review, critique, and guiding assessment. Social Science Information45(1): 5–33.
86.
TurnerS (2007) Social theory as a cognitive neuroscience. European Journal of Social Theory10(3): 357–374.
87.
Van der CruyssenLvan DuynslaegerMCortoosAvan OverwalleF (2009) ERP time course and brain areas of spontaneous and intentional goal inferences. Social Neuroscience4(2): 165–184.
88.
VolzKGKesslerTvon CramonDY (2009) In-group as part of the self: In-group favoritism is mediated by medial prefrontal cortex activation. Social Neuroscience4(3): 244–260.
89.
WoodJN (2003) Social cognition and the prefrontal cortex. Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience Reviews2(2): 97–114.
90.
WrightCINegreiraAGoldALBrittonJC. (2008) Neural correlates of novelty and face-age effects in young and elderly adults. Neuroimage42(2): 956–968.
91.
ZahnRMollJKruegerFHueyED. (2007) Social concepts are represented in the superior anterior temporal cortex. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences104(15): 6430–6435.
92.
ZinkCFTongYChenQBassettDS. (2008) Know your place: Neural processing of social hierarchy in humans. Neuron58(2): 273–283.
