Our Biosocial Brains

Michele Lewis, inspired by African-Centered psychologists and psychiatrist Frantz Fanon, argues for a more humanistic cultural neuroscience to further understandings of the influence of isolation, injustice, power, and bias on brains and behavior.

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In Our Biosocial Brains, Michele Lewis underscores culture, brain, behavior, and social problems to advocate for a more inclusive cultural neuroscience. Traditional neuroscientists to-date have not prioritized studying the impact of power, bias, and injustice on neural processing and the brain’s perception of marginalized humans. The author explains current events, historical events, and scientific studies, in Our Biosocial Brains. Readers will be drawn to the relevancy of brain science to examples of injustices and social bias. Lewis also argues that incorporating non-western African-Centered Psychology is vital to diversifying research questions and diversifying interpretations of existing brain science because African-Centered Psychology is not rooted in racist, classist, and exclusionary hegemonic methods. The author argues for attention to marginalized populations, regarding the impact of violence, disrespect, othering, slurs, environmental injustice, health, and general disregard on humans’ brains and behavior. Using hundreds of peer-reviewed studies and original research, the author presents scientific studies that are integrated with sociocultural explanations to foster wider understanding of how our sociocultural world shapes our brains, and how our brains’ responses influence how humans perceive and treat one another.