Socio-affective behavior refers to the set of behavioral responses elicited by the emotional state of a conspecific during social interaction. This capacity is essential for adaptive functions critical to mammalian survival, including territorial defense, aggression, parental care, and hierarchical organization. Despite growing research, the neurobiological basis of these behaviors remain poorly understood. Within this context, the ventral tegmental area (VTA) of the midbrain emerges as a relevant region, given its well-established role in encoding the valence of emotionally salient stimuli. In this work, we employed a chemogenetic approach to investigate the contribution of VTA dopaminergic neurons to multiple aspects of socio-affective behavior, including the discrimination of emotional states with different valences expressed by conspecifics, social preference, and social recognition. Elucidating the neurobiological basis of socio-affective behavior is crucial not only for understanding normal social interactions but also for uncovering the mechanisms underlying their disruption in neuropsychiatric disorders such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia.