The “Social Neuroscience” research unit is focused on the scientific study of different social issues from a biopsychosocial perspective, considering the humanistic approach to understand human behaviour. The work being carried out is mainly focused on the study of cooperation and empathy, violence and social stress.

Neurocriminology aims to apply the methodology and techniques of neuroscience in order to understand, predict, treat and even prevent violence and criminality. Neurocriminological knowledge could be used in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of violence, as well as in the estimation of the probability of recidivism. While this is not free of ethical-legal issues, neuroscience is becoming an important influence on the understanding and study of violent and criminal behaviour. In this context, positive neurocriminology focuses on positive processes such as empathy, altruism, positive emotions and prosocial behaviour, among others. This knowledge derived from the research lines implemented could be used in the development of crime prevention and intervention programmes.

Cooperation is a typically human behaviour focused on social relationships, which can be defined as an adaptive strategy consisting of acting jointly with one another, increasing the probability of achieving a common purpose. Such cooperative behaviour is the result of cognitive and emotional processes related to constructs such as altruism and empathy.

Therefore, the most relevant application of this research is the use of the results obtained in the promotion of prosocial behaviour and the prevention and treatment of antisocial behaviour. However, there is still little research, under controlled laboratory conditions, that has analysed the psychobiological changes that occur when cooperating. One particular situation where cooperation, altruism and empathy occur is surrogacy, in which many women freely choose to participate in order to help others who are unable to be pregnant with their child. They expose their bodies and endanger their health to help others achieve their dream of parenthood. There are few comparable examples, perhaps a similar situation is when a living person donates an organ to someone they do not know. One of the most satisfying parts of the process for these women is the sight of the parents' faces as they hold their own baby in their arms at the moment of birth. Studying how these people’s brains work, the neurobiological mechanisms and the psychological aspects that lead them to be able to do something so wonderful for other people can help us to a large extent to be a more caring society, with greater moral development and, in short, more empathetic and less violent.

All of the above gives this research line a special neuroscientific relevance, since its main objective is to analyse the changes in activation, emotionality and stress induced by cooperation, as well as by other modulating factors such as gender and the result obtained in it. The results we are obtaining could be extrapolated to educational, work, political and any other social context in which interpersonal relationships are established.

Knowledge of the psychobiological mechanisms of cooperation would provide us with relevant information to advance in the development of a more cooperative and empathetic social model. In recent years, mindfulness has established itself as a very useful intervention strategy in the healthcare setting, as it has a beneficial influence on the health of different populations. In addition, some research has indicated that mindfulness-based interventions positively influence empathy in university students and healthcare professionals. These results are promising for the introduction of mindfulness in the training of psychologists. However, the studies conducted so far have only included self-report measures to assess empathy, which does not allow us to affirm that these interventions are really useful, since the increase in the subjective perception of the participants does not ensure an improvement in their empathic ability. In this regard, further research that includes situational assessment of empathy is needed, including performance measures and biological markers such as oxytocin, a hormone that has been linked to empathy and bonding. People with alcohol and/or drug dependence problems present neuropsychological and psychophysiological deficits that lead to alterations in emotional, cognitive and behavioural regulation. As a result, they tend to behave impulsively, without considering future consequences, whether negative or positive, and fail to use the information available in the environment to foresee the consequences of their actions and inhibit their behaviour. These impulsive behaviours in men convicted of violence against women in intimate partner violence (so-called batterers) have been directly related to violent behaviour, with this association being modulated, in a high percentage of cases, by the consumption of alcohol and/or other substances of abuse. However, other types of abusers often use a premeditated or proactive type of violence that has been consistently linked to psychopathy and is often also associated with alcohol and/or other drug use. These studies provide additional information on gender-based violence by allowing us to concretely describe its neurocriminological profile and to delimit the role of alcohol and/or drug use in the propensity to violence. It also makes it possible to analyse the effectiveness of the treatments on the neuropsychological and psychophysiological variables analysed. The results of this work are being applied nationally and even internationally, and could be extended to a multitude of people in similar situations. The fact that it includes physiological parameters together with psychological indicators makes it very valuable. The increase in life expectancy, together with advances in current health systems, are some of the most relevant factors in explaining the phenomenon of dependency in our country. This fact, together with the social change resulting from the progressive incorporation of women into the workplace, is detrimental to the traditional family-based care system, where the family caregiver was solely responsible for the care of the sick person. However, the informal caregiver continues to represent the main care resource for dependent people, in most cases embodied in women. Prolonged caregiving is a chronic stressor that has serious consequences for the caregiver’s health, directly affecting their quality of life. Our studies are aimed at the analysis of specific variables of particular conditions, with the aim of creating explanatory models of the caregiving situation. The search for happiness is universal and as ancient as humanity, which has pursued it incessantly since its origins. This desire to be happy is so important that some countries have now begun to measure their development in terms of Happiness Index per capita. Moreover, in recent decades the science of Psychology has gone from studying only mental disorders and their treatment to deciphering how to achieve an optimal functioning of the mind that allows us to live happily. This latter science is called Positive Psychology. Research is currently being carried out into the origins of happiness and the pleasant feelings that accompany it: contentment, hope, optimism and joy. Thanks to the great advance in knowledge about the brain, we know that happiness is not a state that is reached by chance, but is the result of the activity of brain circuits designed by evolution to produce this state of well-being.

Happiness is therefore a product of the brain, which can be studied scientifically like any other function of the human mind. Knowledge on what activates these circuits allows us to act, voluntarily, to our benefit. We know that the brain is constantly changing throughout life, which is called neuroplasticity, no matter how old we are or what experiences we have had. Thus, by managing our thoughts and actions, we can bring about those brain changes that make us feel happy. This knowledge, based on the latest research in Neuroscience and Psychology on the neuroplasticity of the brain, enable us to restructure our brain in order to control our emotions and enjoy greater well-being and happiness. Scientific research shows that happiness is very beneficial, since it enhances the resources and tools that allow us to cope with the ups and downs that occur naturally throughout life. It also improves intellectual capacity and motivation, enhances creativity and increases interest in the world, cooperation and empathy, and is also very beneficial for health.

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• Other research and experimental development on natural sciences and engineering
• Research and experimental development on social sciences and humanities