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.

The Routledge International Handbook of Neuroaesthetics is an authoritative reference work that provides the reader with a wide-ranging introduction to this exciting new scientific discipline. The book brings together leading international academics to offer a well-balanced overview of this burgeoning field while addressing two questions central to the field: how the brain computes aesthetic appreciation for sensory objects and how art is created and experienced. The editors, Martin Skov and Marcos Nadal, have compiled a neuroscientific, physiological, and psychological overview of the systems underlying the evaluation of sensory objects and aesthetic appreciation. Covering a variety of art forms mediated by vision, audition, movement, and language, the handbook puts forward a critical review of the current research to explain how and why perceptual and emotional processes are essential for art production. The work also unravels the interaction of art with expectations, experience and knowledge and the modulation of artistic appreciation through social and contextual settings, eventually bringing to light the potential of art to influence mental states, health, and well-being. The concepts are presented through research on the neural processes enabling artistic creativity, artistic expertise, and the evolution of symbolic cognition. This handbook is a compelling read for anyone interested in making a first venture into this exciting new area of study and is best suited for students and researchers in the fields of neuroaesthetics, perceptual learning, and cognitive psychology.

The scientific study of human mating has mushroomed over the past three decades, and this growth in turn has generated a proliferation of evolving literature revealing fresh discoveries about mate attraction, mate choice, mate retention, marital satisfaction, jealousy, infidelity, intimate partner violence, breakups, internet dating, cyberstalking, and sexual coercion. In The Oxford Handbook of Human Mating, editor David M. Buss showcases contributions from the best and the brightest scientists in the field, providing up-to-date summaries of theories and empirical evidence of the science of human mating strategies. Much of the research in the field is guided by sexual selection theory. Over 150 years after Darwin's proposal of sexual selection theory, it has become the most important overarching theoretical framework for the scientific study of the mating strategies of all sexually reproducing species, including humans. A mountain of research centered around Darwin's classic book has documented the many complexities of human mate competition and mate choice; how these processes differ between the sexes; and how they differ as a function of sex ratio, mate value, social contexts, ovulation cycles, personality characteristics, and cultural norms and mating rituals. Thus, the science is now ripe for a collection of work by eminent scholars in the field. David M. Buss is a leading researcher and pioneer in the study of human mating strategies, and he applies his expertise to the curation of this volume, which includes major sections covering theories of human mating; mate selection and mate attraction; mate competition; sexual conflict in mating; human pair bonding; the endocrinology of mating; and mating in the modern world.

This textbook covers topics in sport and exercise psychology for students of psychology and sport science, as well as for sport practitioners who want to understand topics in sport psychology in more detail and depth. The book is divided into two main parts: Theory and Application. The first part covers the theoretical facets of sport and exercise psychology, and the close link between theory and practice, divided into the sub-disciplines of psychology (cognition, motivation, emotion, personality and development, and social processes). The second part focuses on the applications of sport and exercise psychology in the context of performance and health. With contributions from scholars across the globe, the book offers an international and timely perspective on the key fundaments of sport psychology. Taken together, these chapters provide a challenging yet accessible overview of the larger field of sport and exercise psychology. This book is suitable for readers at different levels of competence, supported with didactic elements (learning objectives and learning control questions) to find the right learning level.

Humans have engaged in artistic and aesthetic activities since the appearance of our species. Our ancestors have decorated their bodies, tools, and utensils for over 100,000 years. The expression of meaning using color, line, sound, rhythm, or movement, among other means, constitutes a fundamental aspect of our species' biological and cultural heritage. Art and aesthetics, therefore, contribute to our species identity and distinguish it from its living and extinct relatives. Science is faced with the challenge of explaining the natural foundations of such a unique trait, and the way cultural processes nurture it into magnificent expressions, historically and ethnically unique. How do the human mind and brain bring about these sorts of behaviors? What psychological and neural processes underlie the appreciation of painting, music, and dance? How does training modulate these processes? Are humans the only species capable of aesthetic appreciation, or are other species endowed with the rudiments of this capacity? Empirical examinations of such questions have a long and rich history in the discipline of psychology, the genesis of which can be traced back to the publication of Gustav Theodor Fechner's Vorschule der Aesthetik in 1876, making it the second oldest branch in experimental psychology. The Oxford Handbook of Empirical Aesthetics brings together leading experts in psychology, neuroimaging, art history, and philosophy to answer these questions. It provides the most comprehensive coverage of the domain of empirical aesthetics to date. With sections on visual art, dance, music, and many other art forms and aesthetic phenomena, the breadth of this volume's scope reflects the richness and variety of topics and methods currently used today by scientists to understand the way our mind and brain endow us with the faculty to produce and appreciate art and aesthetics.

Now in a revised and expanded fourth edition, this definitive reference and text has more than 50% new material, reflecting a decade of theoretical and empirical advances. Prominent researchers describe major theories and review cutting-edge findings. The volume explores how personality emerges from and interacts with biological, developmental, cognitive, affective, and social processes, and the implications for well-being and health. Innovative research programs and methods are presented throughout. The concluding section showcases emerging issues and new directions in the field. New to This Edition *Expanded coverage of personality development, with chapters on the overall life course, middle childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood. *Three new chapters on affective processes, plus chapters on neurobiology, achievement motivation, cognitive approaches, narcissism, and other new topics. *Section on cutting-edge issues: personality interventions, personality manifestations in everyday life, geographical variation in personality, self-knowledge, and the links between personality and economics. *Added breadth and accessibility--42 more concise chapters, compared to 32 in the prior edition.

The Handbook of Sex Differences is a four-volume reference work written to assess sex differences, with a primary focus on the human species. Based on the authors’ highly influential 2008 book Sex Differences, these volumes highlight important new research findings from the last decade and a half alongside earlier findings. In this, the work’s fourth and last volume, two related questions are addressed: Are there universal sex differences (i.e., sex differences found in all societies)? And if the answer is yes, what are they and how can each one be theoretically explained? To answer the first of these two questions, this volume condenses much of the research findings amassed in the book’s first three volumes into summary tables. Then, to help identify likely universal sex differences, three versions of social role theory and two versions of evolutionary theory are examined relative to each possible universal sex difference. Consideration is even given to religious scriptures as a sixth type of explanation. In the concluding analyses, 308 likely universal sex differences are identified. No single theory was able to explain all these differences. Nevertheless, the two evolutionary theories were better in this regard than any of the three social role theories, including the recently proposed biosocial version of social role theory. The Handbook of Sex Differences is of importance for any researcher, student, or professional who requires a comprehensive resource on sex differences.