Social theory and neuroscience
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1590/S0103-20702014000200005Abstract
The key question for attempts at applying neuroscience results to social topics is matching: what is the relation between ordinary social and social science concepts and their physical realizations in brain processes? Answering this question depends on what is available on each side to match. The concepts of social science produced under the influence of the standard social science model, however, are worse sources of matching concepts than the social science and especially sociology of the late nineteenth century, before disciplinarization. In this period sociologists and social theorists were concerned with issues raised by Darwin and animal studies of cooperation. The standard social science model, in contrast, used a presupposition-like notion of culture which has poor brain matches. The theoretical ideas of this earlier generation, including Franklin Giddings on consciousness of kind, C. H. Cooley on the looking glass self, Max Weber on empathy, and the pervasive concern with imitation, as well as the concern with the child's socialization, all prove to be better matches to current neuroscience.Downloads
References
Amodio, D. & Mendoza, S. A. (2010), “Implicit intergroup bias: cognitive, affective, and motivational underpinnings”. In: B. Gawronski and B. K. Payne (orgs.).
Handbook of implicit social cognition: measurement, theory, and applications. Nova York, Guilford Press.
Cooley, C. H. (1902), Human nature and the social order. Nova York, Scribner’s.
Dapretto, M. & Pfieffer, J. (2009), “Mirror, mirror in my mind: empathy, interpersonal competence, and the mirror neuron system”. In: Decety, J. & Ickes, W. (orgs.). The social neuroscience of empathy. Cambridge, mit Press.
Darwin, C. (1874), The descent of man and selection in relation to sex. Nova York, Hurst and Co.
Decety, J. & Lamm, C. (2006), “Human empathy through the lens of social neuroscience”. Scientific World Journal, 6: 1146-1163.
Decety, J. & Lamm, C. (2009), “Empathy versus personal distress: recent evidence from social neuroscience”. In: Decety, J. & Ickes, W. (orgs.). The social neuroscience of empathy. Cambridge, mit Press.
Dinstein, I. (2008), “Human cortex: reflections on mirror neurons”. Current Biology, 18 (20): 956-959.
Downey, G. (2008), “Scaffolding imitation in capoeira: physical education and enculturation in an Afro Brazilian art”. American Anthropologist, 110 (2): 204-213.
Espinas, A. V. ([1877] 1924) Des sociétés animales: étude de psychologie comparé. Nova York, Stechert.
Gibson, J. J. (1977), “The theory of affordances”. In: Shaw, R. & Bransford, J. (orgs.). Perceiving, acting, and knowing. Hillsdale, nj, Erlbaum.
Giddings, F. H. (1922), Studies in the theory of human society. Nova York, Macmillan.
Gopnik, A. & Repacholi, B. (1997), “Early understanding of desires: evidence from 14 and 18-month-olds”. Developmental Psychology, 33 (1): 12-21.
Gopnik A. & Slaughter, V. (1991), “Young children’s understanding of changes in their mental states”. Child Development, 62: 98-110.
Hickok, G. (2009), “Eight problems for the mirror neuron theory of action understanding in monkeys and humans”. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 21 (7):1229-1243.
Iacoboni, M. (2008), Mirroring people: the new science of how we connect with others. Nova York, Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Kropotkin, P. (1902), Mutual aid: a factor of evolution. Londres, W. Heinemann.
O’Neill, D. K. & Chong, S. C. F. (2001), “Preschool children’s difficulty understanding the types of information obtained through the five senses”. Child Development, 72: 803-815.
Rizzolatti, G. (2006), Mirrors in the brain: how our minds share actions, emotions, and experience. Nova York, Oxford University Press.
Simmel, Georg. (1910), “How is society possible?”. American Journal of Sociology, 16 (3): 372-391.
Simpson, T.; Stich, S; Carruthers, P. & Laurence, S. (2007), “Introduction: culture and innate mind”. In: Stich, S; Carruthers, P. & Laurence, S. (orgs.). The innate mind. Vol. 2: Culture and cognition. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Tomasello, M. & Carpenter, M. (2005), “Intention reading and imitative learning”. In: Hurley, S. & Chater, N. (orgs.). Perspectives on imitation: from neuroscience to social science. Cambridge, mit Press, vol. 1.
Tomasello, M. (2009), Why we cooperate. Cambridge, mit Press Tooby, John & Cosmides, Leda. (1992), “The psychological foundations of culture”. In: Barkow, J.; Cosmides, L. & Tooby, J. (orgs.). The adapted mind. Cambridge, Oxford University Press.
Turner, Stephen (2010), Explaining the normative. Cambridge, Polity Press.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2015 Tempo Social
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
