Exploring the biology of socialization.

Overview

How will the social sciences take advantage of the revolution that has taken place in biology during the past two decades? Over the last fifteen years, neuroimaging has allowed the study of human cognition and emotion within psychology to achieve close alliances with biology through the development of cognitive and affective neuroscience. There is little doubt that a similar alliance between psychology and biology will occur in the domain of human brain development. In principle, understanding how the human brain is organized by experience (epigenetic rules) and how societies instruct their young could produce a link between natural and social science. The late David C. McClelland sought methods to base the social sciences on psychological ideas. McClelland sought to connect the values of achievement and power as coded from children's readers and popular ballads to societal economic growth and conflict. These efforts lacked knowledge of brain mechanisms of memory and attention and an understanding of the role of experience in organizing brain circuitry. Understanding of cognitive and brain systems related to knowledge and action may allow a new approach to forging connections between individual minds and social behavior.