Psychology, 8
Random Assignment, 38
Social Cognition, 24
Social Learning, 23
Social Psychology, 5
Sociology, 7
Theory, 34
Treatment Group, 37
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Think Further!
What is particularly social about social psychology?
How can social psychology help us understand human nature?
Take a social behavior that interests you and think through how the three levels of explanation might help explain it.
Which of the guiding principles of social psychology do you think is the most important, and why?
How might you see if your friends fall victim to the hindsight bias regarding an upcoming election or sporting event?
What separates social psychology from lay thinking about social behavior (in other words, how is science different from ordinary experience)?
Suggested Readings
Aron, A., & Aron, E. N. (1989). The heart of social psychology: A backstage view of a passionate science (2nd ed.). Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
Fujita, K., & Carnevale, J. J. (2012). Transcending temptation through abstraction: The role of construal level in self-control. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21, 248–252.
Jones, E. E. (1985). Major developments in social psychology during the past five decades. In G. Lindzey & E. Aronson (Ed.), Handbook of social psychology (3rd ed., Vol. 1, pp. 47–107). New York, NY: Random House.
Lewin, K. (1946). Behavior and development as a function of the total situation. In L. Carmichael (Ed.), Manual of child psychology. (pp. 791–844). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Son.
Roese, N. J., & Vohs, K. D. (2012). Hindsight bias. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7, 411–426.
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Chapter 2 The Social Brain
Various views of the famous wound made by an iron rod in the skull of Phineas Gage as well as the rod itself.
Everett Collection/Newscom.
Learning Objectives
2.1 Discuss dualism and the mind/body problem and explain how they relate to the concept of embodied cognition.
2.2 Compare the components of the tripartite structure of the brain, define the neocortex ratio, and evaluate the ecological and social theories of brain evolution.
2.3 Describe the functions of: neuron, dendrite, soma, axon, synaptic gap.
2.4 List and describe the roles of the five key neurotransmitters.
2.5 Describe the functions of the brain lobes and the prefrontal cortex, limbic system, insula, thalamus, hypothalamus, chromosomes, DNA, genes, and alleles, and explain how gene variation occurs.
2.6 Define social neuroscience and discuss its major methods: GSR, EMG, EEG, MEG, fMRI.
The Case Of Phineas Gage
The case of American Phineas Gage is one of the most famous in the history of psychology. In 1848, the 25-year-old construction worker was the victim of a most unfortunate accident that occurred during construction of a railroad in Vermont. On this fateful day, Gage dropped a 13 pound, three-foot iron tamping rod into a hole lined with blasting powder before the necessary preparation for a controlled blast was finished. The rod inadvertently triggered a spark that caused an explosion that launched the rod into Gage’s left cheek, through the frontal lobe, and out of the top of his head (Macmillan, 2008). Given the state of medical knowledge and care at that time, it is amazing that Gage not only survived this brain trauma but lived another 11 years with many of his psychological capacities intact. Contemporary observers noted that the incident transformed him from a competent, well-liked, rational man into an irresponsible, difficult, and impatient one (Macmillan, 2008). Since shortly after the accident, the precise location of the brain injury as well as his post-injury mental health have been controversial and oft debated (Macmillan & Lena, 2010). Over the last two decades a number of researchers, using modern brain imaging techniques, have attempted to specify which brain regions were damaged when the rod passed through Gage’s head (H. Damasio, Grabowski, Frank, Galaburda, & Damasio, 2005; Macmillan & Lena, 2010; van Horn et al., 2012). The exact nature of the trauma is not important for our purposes, but the case provides a nice backdrop for our discussion of the neurobiological substrate of social behavior.
The purpose of this chapter is to provide a brief introduction to the social brain and social neuroscience. I am well aware that some psychology students (and faculty!) shy away from learning about the brain. However, social neuroscientific research is an emerging trend in the study of social behavior, and consequently students should be exposed to its core concepts. In this chapter I provide an overview of the topics, brain structures and physiology, and the methodologies most commonly used by social neuroscientists. Many of the later chapters include social neuroscientific research, and comprehension of those segments will be greatly strengthened by a careful reading of the current chapter.
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Think Ahead!
1 Why is studying the brain important to social psychology?
2 What is the relationship between mind and body?
3 How
