Values, Empathy, and Fairness Across Social Barriers

What makes suicide bombers capable of sacrificing themselves for a belief? Why do members of one race believe they are superior to another? How do subliminal messages affect the outcome of political polling? Using the tools of neuroscience and social science, researchers have learned a great deal about the brain's role in human behavior and interactions. This volume is the proceedings of the first Barcelona Social Brain Conference, which was organized by the New York Academy of Sciences, the Fundació Catalana per a la Recerca i la Innovació, the Càtedra UAB "el cervell social," and the European Science Foundation. Through a neuroscientific lens, the invited chapters examine the human qualities of empathy, sacred values, and cooperation, and focus on the ways in which what they learn can be used to understand human conflicts. NOTE: Annals volumes are available for sale as individual books or as a journal. For information on institutional journal subscriptions, please visit www.blackwellpublishing.com/nyas. ACADEMY MEMBERS: Please contact the New York Academy of Sciences directly to place your order (www.nyas.org). Members of the New York Academy of Science receive full-text access to the Annals online and discounts on print volumes. Please visit http://www.nyas.org/MemberCenter/Join.aspx for more information about becoming a member.