Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 4, 2026
11:13
The Social Dimension of Stress: Experimental Manipulations of Social Support and Social Identity in the Trier Social Stress Test
Published on: November 19, 2015
14.5K
Social brain, social dysfunction and social withdrawal.
Stefano Porcelli1, Nic Van Der Wee2, Steven van der Werff2
1Department of Biomedical and NeuroMotor Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy.
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
|September 24, 2018
Summary
Social deficits are early signs of brain disorders like Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, and major depressive disorder. These conditions impact the social brain similarly, suggesting social withdrawal as a transdiagnostic domain for new treatments.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Social Cognition
Background:
- The human social brain is complex, with poorly understood neurobiological underpinnings of social behavior.
- Social deficits are early indicators in neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia (SCZ), Alzheimer's disease (AD), and major depressive disorder (MDD).
- These disorders lead to progressive social dysfunction and withdrawal.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review current knowledge on the neurobiological substrates of social functioning.
- To explore the links between neurobiology, social dysfunction, and social withdrawal in major psychiatric disorders.
- To propose social dysfunction as a transdiagnostic domain.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of existing research on the social brain and psychiatric disorders.
- Analysis of neurobiological mechanisms connecting system-level brain function to social behavior.
- Comparative examination of social deficits across AD, SCZ, and MDD.
Main Results:
- AD, SCZ, and MDD exhibit similar patterns of social brain impairment.
- Social dysfunction and withdrawal are common manifestations across these distinct disorders.
- Neurobiological links between system-level brain function and social behavior remain to be fully elucidated.
Conclusions:
- Social dysfunction and withdrawal may represent a unified, transdiagnostic domain in psychiatry.
- This domain has shared biological roots across major neuropsychiatric disorders.
- Identifying this transdiagnostic domain offers potential for novel, targeted therapeutic interventions.
Keywords:
Alzheimer’s diseaseMajor depression disorderNeurobiologySchizophreniaSocial brainSocial cognitionSocial dysfunctionSocial functioningSocial impairmentsSocial withdrawalMore Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
00:52Social Proof
32.4K
Social proof is a form of persuasion based on comparison and conformity. People compare their behavior and actions to what others are doing and will change to conform to do what their peers do.
32.4K
02:10Social Scripts
10.3K
People tend to know what behavior is expected of them in specific, familiar settings. A script is a person’s knowledge about the sequence of events expected in a specific setting (Schank & Abelson, 1977). Essentially, scripts are a particular kind of schema, one containing default values for the features within an event. In the restaurant example, the script's features include the props (e.g., tables, menu, food, and money), the roles to be played (e.g., customer and waiter),...
10.3K
01:41Social Traps
26.9K
Social traps are negative situations where people get caught in a direction or relationship that later proves to be unpleasant, with no easy way to back out of or avoid. The concept was orignally introduced by John Platt who applied psychology to Garrett Hardin's "Tragedy of the Commons", where in New England herd owners could let their cattle graze in the common ground. This situation seems like a good idea, but an individual could have an advantage. If they owned...
26.9K
01:04Social Facilitation
36.6K
Not all intergroup interactions lead to negative outcomes. Sometimes, being in a group situation can improve performance. Social facilitation occurs when an individual performs better when an audience is watching than when the individual performs the behavior alone. This typically occurs when people are performing a task for which they are skilled.
36.6K
01:37Social Loafing
39.7K
Another way in which a group presence can affect performance is social loafing—the exertion of less effort by a person working together with a group. Social loafing occurs when our individual performance cannot be evaluated separately from the group. Thus, group performance declines on easy tasks (Karau & Williams, 1993). Essentially individual group members loaf and let other group members pick up the slack. Because each individual’s efforts cannot be evaluated,...
39.7K
02:06Social Exchange Theory
40.8K
We have discussed why we form relationships, what attracts us to others, and different types of love. But what determines whether we are satisfied with and stay in a relationship? One theory that provides an explanation is social exchange theory. According to social exchange theory, we act as naïve economists in keeping a tally of the ratio of costs and benefits of forming and maintaining a relationship with others (Rusbult & Van Lange, 2003).
40.8K