ABSTRACT
The Routledge International Handbook of Social Neuroendocrinology is an authoritative reference work providing a balanced overview of current scholarship spanning the full breadth of the rapidly developing field of social neuroendocrinology. Considering the relationships between hormones, the brain, and social behavior, this collection brings together groundbreaking research in the field for the first time.
Featuring 39 chapters written by leading researchers, the handbook offers impressive breadth of coverage. It begins with an overview of the history of social neuroendocrinology before discussing its methodological foundations and challenges. Other topics covered include state-of-the-art research on dominance and aggression; social affiliation; reproduction and pair bonding (e.g., sexual behavior, sexual orientation, romantic relationships); pregnancy and parenting; stress and emotion; cognition and decision making; social development; and mental and physical health. The handbook adopts a lifespan approach to the study of social neuroendocrinology throughout, covering the role that hormones play during gestation, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. It also illustrates the evolutionary forces that have shaped hormone-behavior associations across species, including research on humans, non-human primates, birds, and rodents.
The handbook will serve as an authoritative reference work for researchers, students, and others intrigued by this topic, while also inspiring new lines of research on interactions among hormones, brain, and behavior in social contexts.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
section 1|59 pages
Historical and methodological issues
chapter 2|15 pages
Hormone measurement in social neuroendocrinology
section 2|82 pages
Dominance and aggression
section 3|89 pages
Social affiliation
chapter 11|12 pages
The neuroendocrinological basis of human affiliation
chapter 12|19 pages
Oxytocin and human sociality
section 4|118 pages
Pair bonding, reproduction, and parenting
chapter 16|17 pages
Hormones and close relationship processes
chapter 17|20 pages
The many faces of human caregiving
section 5|121 pages
Cognition and emotion
chapter 21|20 pages
Estrogens and androgens in the prefrontal cortex
chapter 22|12 pages
Sex hormones and economic decision making in the lab
section 6|156 pages
Developmental aspects
chapter 33|25 pages
Developmental trajectories of HPA–HPG dual-axes coupling
section 7|114 pages
Mental and physical health