Part of the Emerging Science of Culture seminar series, 2011:
The study of culture and biology has long stood stratified within the social and natural sciences, a gap that physicist C.P. Snow (1959) famously called “the two cultures.” To examine the bidirectional influence of culture and genes on brain and behavior, cultural neuroscience is an emerging, interdisciplinary science examining how cultural values, practices, and beliefs shape brain function and how the human brain gives rise to cultural capacities and their transmission across micro- and macro-timescales. In this talk, Chiao presents the aims and methods of cultural neuroscience, highlights recent empirical findings in the field, and discusses the potential implications of this field for bridging the social and natural sciences. She also discusses its broad relation to public policy (e.g., interethnic ideology, environmental policy, philanthropy) and population health concerns.