Computational Models in Social Neuroscience

A growing trend in social neuroscience is the use of computational models to describe the psychological and neural processes underlying social cognition and behavior. Borrowing frameworks from expected utility theory, reinforcement learning, and game theory, this technique of formalizing psychological concepts has provided insights into how complex psychological computations such as social learning and mentalizing are processed in the brain. In this article, we highlight these findings and provide suggestions, while advocating greater use of computational methods in social neuroscience research.