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## Meet the editors

Rosalba Morese, born in Italy, holds a bachelor's degree in psychology at the University of Parma and a Ph.D. in neuroscience at the University of Turin. She aims to develop new techniques and approaches in cognitive science and social neuroscience. She is an expert in experimental neuroscience, neuroeconomics, psychophysiology, and cognitive and social neuroscience. She performs neuroimaging studies in social contexts in order

to investigate neural correlates involved during social interactions, such as, social exclusion, social support, empathy, communicative intention, social decision-making, in-group and out-group settings, etc. She currently works at Università della Svizzera italiana, Lugano, Switzerland. For more information: http://usi.to/xuj

Vincenzo Auriemma, born in Italy, holds a bachelor's degree in sociology at the University of Salerno and a Ph.D. in sociology at the same university. He developed new techniques for empathy analysis in the relationship between sociology and social neuroscience. He is an expert in the history of sociological thought, neurosociology, institutions of sociology, and general sociology. He carries out transdisciplinary studies based on the relationship

of sociology with other sciences in the investigation of empathy on both individuals and groups, in order to investigate whether it is a culturally constructed or genetically given aspect. He currently works as a postdoc research fellow at the Department of Political and Social Studies of the University of Salerno. He is the scientific director of the National Passa la Palla Network, which deals with combating bullying and cyberbullying, and is a member of both the Italian Association of Sociology (AIS) and the Sociology of the Person (SPe). He is part of a research group that focuses on the analysis of dropout in psychotherapy as a methodology of transdisciplinary research between the University of Cassino and the University of Salerno and a member of a research group that studies the well-being of patients and healthcare personnel at San Giovanni di Dio e Ruggi d'Aragona University Hospital, an affiliate of the University of Salerno.

Sara Palermo has an MSc in clinical psychology and a Ph.D. in experimental neuroscience. She is specialty chief editor of Frontiers in Psychology, Neuropsychology, and scientific director of the Italian National Institute of Philanthropy, Filantropolis. She is a member of the Italian Society of Neuropsychology, Italian Association of Psychogeriatrics, Italian Society of Neurology for Dementia, and Society for Interdisciplinary Placebo Studies.

Importantly, she is a member of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP AHA), for which she is involved in Action Group A3: Action for Prevention of Functional Decline and Frailty. Dr. Palermo works as a researcher at the Fondazione IRCCS, Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta (FINCB), Milan, Italy.

Contents

*and Sara Palermo*

*by Anabela Pinto*

*and Morese Rosalba*

**Preface XI**

**Chapter 1 1**

**Chapter 2 9**

**Chapter 3 35**

**Chapter 4 45**

**Chapter 5 55**

Introductory Chapter: *(trans)* Disciplinarity - A New Alliance

*by Vincenzo Auriemma, Chiara Fante, Rosalba Morese* 

An Evolutionary Approach to the Adaptive Value of Belief

Social Inclusion and Exclusion: How Evolution Changes

Social Supports Available to Persons with Disabilities in Nigeria

*by Valery V. Gafarov, Elena A. Gromova, Vladimir N. Maksimov,* 

*by Chiara Fante, Sara Palermo, Vincenzo Auriemma* 

between Sociology and Neuroscience

Our Relational and Social Brain

*by Chinyere Onalu and Nneka Nwafor*

Biological Determinants of Hostility

*Igor V. Gagulin and Almira V. Gafarova*

## Contents


Preface

 This book aims to open a debate full of theoretical and experimental contributions among the different disciplines in social research, psychology, neuroscience, and sociology and to give an innovative vision to the present research and future

Evolutionary psychology based on Charles Darwin's research aims to understand how human behavior, thoughts, and feelings are the result of internal psychological mechanisms produced by natural selection. Although this approach is applicable to any being with a nervous system, evolutionary psychology focuses its research

Just as human physiology and evolutionary physiology have worked to identify physical adaptations of the body that represent human physiological nature, the aim of evolutionary psychology is to identify evolved emotional, cognitive, and social

The fundamental research areas of evolutionary psychology can be divided into two broad categories: the basic cognitive processes, and the way they evolved within the species, and the adaptive social behaviors that derive from the theory of evolution itself: survival, mating, parenting, family and kinship, interactions with

Similar to the mechanisms of natural selection for physical characteristics, the mind follows biological laws, and psychological abilities, such as the theory of mind and the ability to represent the intentions, thoughts, beliefs, and emotions of others, have had to adapt and must be functional according to the social life of individuals and groups. In addition, sociology takes the same aspects into consideration, emphasizing the interaction, symbolic and otherwise, of individuals. The latter investigates the neural mechanisms underlying the same social behaviors that are

*Evolutionary Psychology Meets Social Neuroscience* explains at individual and group level the fundamental behaviors of social life, such as altruism, cooperation,

*"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that* 

*Charles Darwin*

Faculty of Biomedical Sciences,

Faculty of Communication, Culture and Society,

**Rosalba Morese**

Lugano, Switzerland

adaptations that represent human psychological nature.

perspective on the topic.

mainly on human behavior.

nonparents, and cultural evolution.

of interest to evolutionary psychology.

competition, social exclusion, and social support.

*survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change."*
