Main description:

SocialBonding,aProductofEvolution: anIntroductiontotheVolume Mechanisms underlying reproductive and maternal functions or coping represent the initialstructuringforcebehindmanysocialbehaviors.Theyareaccompaniedbysel- tivehormonalenvironmentsaimedatfacilitatingor stabilizingthem.Sexandadrenal steroids are major players in the regulation of reproductive functions and coping challenges, but other hormones also participate in a variety of social behaviors (in particular,oxytocinandvasopressin,twophylogeneticallyveryoldmoietiesoriginally associated with maternal care and water balance) and are receiving increasing att- tion. Their role is highlighted in the present volume, which gathers contributions to theColloqueMedicineetRecherche"HormonesandSocialBehavior"organizedbythe FondationIPSENinDecember 2007. Whatisthekeytounderstandingtherationaleofhormonalsubstratesofbehavior? Evolution, of course. Higher manifestations of social behavior have evolved from - productivebehavior,characterizedbyErnstMayras"theleadingedgeofevolutionary change." As formulated by one contributor to thisvolume, however, "the evolutionary increase in neocortex seen in primates has induced a signi?cant emancipation of - havior from hormonal determinants, and in parallel, an increasing role for intelligent socialstrategies"(Keverne 2008).
In so-called "lower" mammalian animals, many social behaviors are closely - pendent upon the olfactory system, a component of autonomous regulation of such importancethatitexpressesalargeproportionofallreceptorgenespresentinthebrain. Whenonelooksat"higher"mammalssuchasprimates,olfactorycontrolbecomesless stringent. Olfactory structures exhibit the same number of receptor genes, but a large number are transformed into non-coding "pseudogenes." In parallel, hormones i- tially targeted on physiological functions become increasingly associated with more diversi?edcognitivefunctions.

Contents:

Modules, Minds and Morality.- Brain Mechanisms Theoretically Underlying Extremes of Social Behaviors: The Best and the Worst.- Serotonergic Modulation of Sex and Aggression.- The Effect of Neuropeptides on Human Trust and Altruism: A Neuroeconomic Perspective.- Molecular Neurobiology of the Social Brain.- Impact of Brain Evolution on Hormones and Social Behaviour.- Brain Oxytocin Mediates Beneficial Consequences of Close Social Interactions: From Maternal Love and Sex.- Hormones, Brain Plasticity and Reproductive Functions.- Neuroendocrine Mechanisms Underlying the Intergenerational Transmission of Maternal Behavior and Infant Abuse in Rhesus Macaques.- Brain Corticosteroid Receptor Function in Response to Psychosocial Stressors.- Aspects of Behavior in Pedophillic Sex Offenders Treated with Leuprolide Acetate.- The Brain, Androgens, and Pedophilia.- Role of Alcohol and Sex Hormones on Human Aggressive Behavior.- Social Neuroscience: Complexities to Be Unravelled.