The influence of social relationships on health has been well documented for many years, yet identifying the physiological mechanisms responsible for these effects has proved more challenging. This review assesses the potential role of the serotonin system in affecting sensitivity to the health-related effects of the social environment. Building on recent studies of genetic variation in the ser...

The ability to perceive others' actions and goals from human motion (i.e., biological motion perception) is a critical component of social perception and may be linked to the development of real-world social relationships. Adult research demonstrates two key nodes of the brain's biological motion perception system-amygdala and posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS)-are linked to variability ...

With businesses seeking to seize the momentum of social media and social networking, technology-enabled social commerce has emerged to combine the power of online social networking with shopping. This study examines an emerging area in E-commerce, i.e., social commerce. Extending the online consumer behavior typology, this study categorizes online consumer behaviors into three types: transactio...

Recent evidence points to a possible overlap in the neural systems underlying the distressing experience that accompanies physical pain and social rejection (Eisenberger et al., 2003). The present study tested two hypotheses that stem from this suggested overlap, namely: (1) that baseline sensitivity to physical pain will predict sensitivity to social rejection and (2) that experiences that hei...

A group's collective intelligence reflects its capacity to perform well across a variety of cognitive tasks and it transcends the individual intelligence of its members. Previous research shows that group members' social sensitivity is a potential antecedent of collective intelligence, yet it is still unclear whether individual or group-level indices are responsible for the positive association...

Interpersonal sensitivity (emotional and social) is the ability to accurately assess others' abilities, states, and traits from nonverbal cues. The authors predicted that individuals' interpersonal sensitivity would be related to accurate judgments of friends' interpersonal sensitivity. Fifty participants were recruited, each bringing a friend to participate in performance-based, self-report, a...

Interpersonal sensitivity (emotional and social) is the ability to accurately assess others’ abilities, states, and traits from nonverbal cues. The authors predicted that individuals’ interpersonal sensitivity would be related to accurate judgments of friends’ interpersonal sensitivity. Fifty participants were recruited, each bringing a friend to participate in performance-based, self-report, a...