Adaptation and Well-Being

Dr Schulkin is currently a Research Professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics and in the Neuroscience Department at Georgetown University, as well as a Member of the Center for the Brain Basis of Cognition at Georgetown. His research investigates the neuroendocrine basis of behaviour and his current interests include the evolution of information molecules, such as CRH, oxytocin, behavioural adaptation and the brain.

'Jay Schulkin is able to stand back from the mass of detail that sometimes overwhelms the rest of us, and offers us the enjoyment and excitement of a true synthesis. In this book he discusses the fundamental ability that is an absolute requirement for biological success: adaptation. The essence of his argument is that this involves not only physical adaptation to a harsh and competitive world, but social adaptation … Relating this to internal events in the body, particularly those that have evolved to deal with stress and its aftermath, makes this a synthesis that will intrigue and fascinate us all. Those who study social behaviour often seem separated by a chasm of incomprehension from those working on the neural and hormonal aspects of adaptation … Schulkin has attempted to build not one, but several bridges across this chasm. To walk across them is a pleasure.' Joe Herbert, University of Cambridge

• Introduction; 1. Evolutionary perspectives and hominoid expression; 2. Social competence and cortical evolution; 3. A window into the brain; 4. Chemical messengers and the physiology of change and adaptation; 5. Social neuroendocrinology; 6. Cephalic adaptation, devolution and incentives; 7. Neocortex, amygdala and prosocial behaviors; Conclusion: evolution, social allostasis and well-being; References; Index.