The Young and the Neuro

Justin Pierson
Post #4

This article was found in the New York Times and takes a look at the Social and Affective Neuroscience Society's conference. The article looks to explain why many of the leading figures attending the conference are so young. Most of the research being explored at the conference was done and discussed by professors and intellectuals in their twenties and early thirties. The focus of the conference was the study of how a person's biology influences behavior and how one's socioeconomic status changes their biology. One of the experiments discussed was where people from various social standing, and cultures react to pictures of faces displaying different emotions, happy faces, sad faces, etc. The study showed that people from low social status exhibit greater brain activity when showed the menacing faces than those from high social standing. The article concludes that young intellectuals are showing more interest in "social cognitive neuroscience" because there is greater interest in explaining social interactions and how one's biology as well as their social positions influence those interactions.

This article illustrates how the sciences are looking to bring the inside out and internalize society's influence on the individual and their interactions. The article looks to explain how one's biology influences their behavior, bringing the inside out, and how one's social standing effects brain activity, bringing the outside in. This also shows how not only the 'psy' disciplines are interested in explaining how social interaction can be influenced by one's brain chemistry as well as one's social standing. This also implies that deviance may be explained by brain chemistry as well as one's social standing. This article may be found throug this link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/13/opinion/13brooks.html?_r=2&sq=young%20and%20neuro&st=cse&adxnnl=1&scp=1&adxnnlx=1255536009-naBS3nfFT7t0Fd2ZQ+pMaQ