Some of the best and worst experiences of life involve the making and breaking of social bonds. In order to better understand the profound experiences associated with social connection and rejection, we have looked to the brain to investigate the basic neural systems that might underlie these complex socioemotional experiences. In this talk, I will explore whether ‘social pain,’ the feelings resulting from social rejection or loss, rely on neural regions that support physical pain processing. I will also examine one form of ‘social pleasure,’ namely the safety that we feel with close others. Here, I will investigate whether social support figures act as “prepared safety stimuli” or powerful inhibitors of the fear response. Together, the studies presented begin to shed light on the neural systems that work to promote social connection and ultimately survival.