Developmental Social Neuroscience

Abstract

In the last two decades, multiple‐levels of analysis approaches to the study of developmental psychopathology have become widespread. Central to this perspective is the importance of integrating genetic, neurobiological, hormonal, behavioral, and psychophysiological measures into the investigation of normal and abnormal development. Scholars across multiple academic domains, particularly in cognitive, affective, and social development, have begun to chart out brain circuits and mechanisms underpinning the development of social competence and social cognition. The field of developmental social neuroscience exemplifies this integration, combining knowledge of the social brain with an understanding of the context in which it is developing. This new field provides theoretical and conceptual clarity to views of psychopathology. In this chapter, we provide a comprehensive definition of social neuroscience, a discussion of the primary issues with interpretation and integration of information from multiple levels, and several examples of areas where this approach has been particularly beneficial for our insight about normative and abnormal development.

Empathy and Prosocial Behavior in Adolescent Offenders: The Mediating Role of Rational Decisions

“…Similarly, it is important to address factors that affect empathy development and prosocial development, including early social and moral evaluations, personality traits, moral and social upbringing, cultural beliefs and practices, family environment, and exposure to aggression (Silke et al, 2018). Similarly, it is important to analyze gender differences in factors affecting empathy among adolescent offenders (Decety & Steinbeis, 2020).…”

“…The development of empathy is influenced by, among others, early social and moral evaluations, personality traits, moral and social upbringing, cultural beliefs and practices, family environment, and exposure to aggression (Silke et al, 2018). Women’s higher empathy performance is related to biological, cognitive, emotional, educational, cultural, and social factors (Decety & Steinbeis, 2020; Moya Albiol et al, 2010).…”

“…Available evidence suggests that prosocial behavior is inherent to the human condition and, in the evolutionary process, has contributed to species survival and social construction (Declerck & Boone, 2016). Prosocial behavior encompasses motivations, behaviors, and mechanisms such as sociomoral evaluation, preferences, affection, strategies to offer solace and comfort, helping, and cooperation that together represent important adaptive processes for social cohesion and cooperation (Decety & Steinbeis, 2020). Prosocial behavior is related to rational decision-making, and the decision to cooperate or not will depend on factors such as trust, motivation, resource availability, and incentives (Declerck et al, 2013).…”

“…It has been observed that prosocial behavior seeks to favor social cohesion and improve the conditions of belonging groups, so there are different forms of expression in prosocial behavior that articulate with the conditions of the context (Hawley, 2015). Laboratory and cultural studies with children from diverse regions of the world show that there are common prosocial behaviors among people; for example, when assessing considerations of what is fair, it has been observed that humans naturally favor fair distributions and not equitable ones (Decety & Steinbeis, 2020; Huppert et al, 2019; Starmans et al, 2017).…”

Bringing together multimodal and multilevel approaches to study the emergence of social bonds between children and improve social AI

“…They also accept or reject peers in part based on their ability to use the conversational behaviors that play a role in rapport (Black and Logan, 1995). At the same time, middle childhood is a time of structural and functional social brain development (Decety and Cowell, 2016;Rice et al, 2016). And yet, outside of pathologies, the topic of children's social competence and actual social interaction with peers is quite new in both the behavioral sciences and neuroscience (Ladd, 2005).…”