With support from the National Science Foundation, a major social neuroscience conference will be held November 21-22, 2008 at the science museum of the Caixa Foundation, Barcelona, Spain.
The overarching goal of the conference will be to examine our most fundamental human impulses--the motives to affiliate, cooperate and empathize as opposed to ostracize, compete and aggress--from the perspective of social neuroscience. Social neuroscience is an interdisciplinary field that incorporates behavioral and biological theories and techniques from many sister disciplines to understand the mechanisms underlying human social behavior. Across three core symposia, participants will examine cooperation and conflict at the level of biological systems, including studies of genetic markers and brain circuits, the level of individual behavior, including biological and behavioral models of cooperation and conflict, and the level of the group, including studies of intergroup conflict and terrorism. The symposium will bring together international leaders and young investigators in neuroscience, psychology, anthropology, economics, sociology and policy. This conference is anticipated to increase communication and subsequent collaboration between complementary research groups.
