Perspectives from neuroscience are increasingly applied to subjects that, historically, have come under the remit of the arts and humanities. Although new cross-disciplinary engagements are emerging, a closer connection with social and political theory has been conspicuously absent. Brain research may offer perspectives against which competing social and political theories can be tested; such theories, in turn, might offer formulations of social phenomena that can be used to improve neuroscience theory that seeks to describe them. What might that look like in practice?

Working in collaboration with Marco Verweij, Professor of Political Science at Jacobs University Bremen, this project aimed to reveal the potential for new ways of thinking across neuroscience and the social & political sciences. In our work, we argued that some of the most influential social theories of the last four decades – rational choice theory, behavioural economics, and post-structuralism – contain assumptions that are inconsistent with key findings from affective and social neuroscience (using Antonio Damasio’s wide-reaching Somatic Marker Hypothesis to ground that argument). Building on these observations, we made a case that theories of constrained relativism (encompassing the plural rationality theory pioneered by Mary Douglas, and the relational models theory developed by Alan Fiske) show much greater compatibility. We further suggested how plural rationality theory can contextualize the somatic marker hypothesis to identify original, experimentally testable hypotheses. Our paper has received 23,000 views since publication (as of May 2019)

Publications and Conferences

Verweij M, Senior T. J., Domínguez JF, Turner R. (2015). Emotion, rationality, and decision-making: how to link affective and social neuroscience with social theory. Frontiers in Neuroscience (9): article 332

Verweij M, Senior T. J. (2013). The Human Brain and the Social Bond, 2013. 4th annual Mary Douglas seminar – UCL department of Anthropology.

Teaching

Verweij M, Senior T. J. (2011, 2012, 2014). The Neuroscience of Arts and Politics. Undergraduate University Studies Course at Jacobs University, Bremen

Senior T. J. (2011). Teacher of the Year for The Neuroscience of Arts and Politics