Methods in Social Neuroscience

Straightforward and practical, this is the first book to provide detailed guidance for using neurobiological methods in the study of human social behavior, personality, and affect. Each chapter clearly introduces the method at hand, provides examples of the method's applications, discusses its strengths and limitations, and reviews concrete experimental design considerations. Written by acknowledged experts, chapters cover neuroimaging techniques, genetic measurement, hormonal methods, lesion studies, startle eyeblink responses, facial electromyography, autonomic nervous system responses, and modeling based on neural networks.

Eddie Harmon-Jones, PhD, is Professor of Psychology at Texas A&M University. His research focuses on emotions and motivations, their implications for social processes and behaviors, and their underlying neural circuits. His research has been supported by the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Fetzer Institute. The coeditor of two previous books, he is a recipient of the Award for Distinguished Early Career Contribution to Psychophysiology from the Society for Psychophysiological Research. He has served as an associate editor of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and is on the editorial boards of five other journals.

Jennifer S. Beer, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Psychology and a faculty member in the Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research adopts lesion and functional magnetic resonance imaging methodologies to examine self-regulation of social behavior. Dr. Beer serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Frontiers in Neuroscience, Social Cognition, Emotion, and Social, Cognitive, and Affective Neuroscience. Additionally, she has provided service to the field of social neuroscience as a reviewer for the National Science Foundation (United States), the Economic and Social Research Council (United Kingdom), and the VENI Innovational Research Incentive Scheme (The Netherlands), and as a course instructor for training institutes in the United States and Europe.