Neuro+science and neuro+business

Venue

Room 9, Department of Sociology and Social Research – via Verdi 26, Trento

Speaker

Dr. Sebastiano Massaro – Warwick Business School

Abstract 

The sustained resonance of neuroimaging techniques, promising an unparalleled window into the engine of our choices, emotions, ethical, and social behavior, has prompted growing attempts of scholars in various social and applied disciplines for new insights from the neurocognitive and behavioral sciences. However, these sectorial – often self-referential – scholarly waves are recurrently being matched by a flourishing of unsubstantiated debates, eagerness to pioneer “neurodisciplines,” questionable and amateurish outputs, with consequent waste of resources, as well as contributing to infuse a public misperception on the scientific boundaries of the neural, behavioral, and cognitive sciences. Taking as narrative contemporary cases in the business scholarship, this talk aims to both recognize opportunities from business research to contribute to the neurosciences and, importantly, alert the scientific community on the risky diffusion of academic pseudosciences.