cognitia sociala

Question 1

What is social cognition?

Answer 1

How people make sense of themselves, others and the social world.

Question 2

What does social cognition include?

Answer 2

• Person perception
• Self concept and self esteem
• Understanding mental states
• ToM
• Understanding intentions

Question 3

Why does social cognition matter?

Answer 3

Enables individuals to take advantage of being part of a social group
includes parent-infant bonds vital for survival

Understanding social signals that enable us to learn about the world
facial expressions (fear) warn us of danger
eye-gaze direction indicates where dangerous things can be found
social referencing (infants refer to carer’s facial expressions to see if to approach a novel object

Question 4

What is the self?

Answer 4

The self is a concept of: oneself, other people we interact with, relationships

Children develop quite early
Sense of self enables perspective taking

Question 5

How does the self emerge?

Answer 5

Through social interactions infants begin to construct a sense of self.
The self develops over time.

Question 6

How do infants understand the physical self?

Answer 6

• Understanding that they are separate from others
• Understanding that others view them
• Understanding that they can initiate actions from others

Question 7

How do we know infants develop a sense of self when they don’t speak?

What was done in the Rouge test (1970)?

Test visual self-recognition: infant reaction to self in the mirror

Answer 7

Smudge rouge on infants face
Do they reach for the spot in the mirror or on their own face?
They have self-awareness if they reach their own face

Question 8

Following the Rouge test, when does self awareness develop?

Answer 8

Between 15 to 24 months

Question 9

How do 2+ year olds learn self awareness?

Answer 9

• learn words that reflect self-awareness (name)
• understand property relations (that’s mine)
• differentiation of me from everything else
• self-knowledge shown to relate to attachment style

Question 10

What has the sticker task shown?

Answer 10

Sticker on forehead
They were videos and after brief delay they are shown the video.
Those who reach up to obtain the sticker after delay are said to understand the link between the ‘past self’ and the ‘present self’

Question 11

Which group age passes the sticker test?

Answer 11

2 yo don’t reach for sticker
20% of 3yo reach for sticker
70% of 4yo reach for sticker

Question 12

What does the Sticker test suggest?

in relation to the Rouge test

Answer 12

Mirror self-recognition emerges at 2 years BUT it does not mean they have cognitive representation of continuous self.

Results from Sticker Test suggest 2 yo may not understand past self.

Question 13

What is a limitation of the Sticker test?

Answer 13

Experiment was conducted in 1996 so it those infants are not used to encountering videos of themselves.

Question 14

How do preschool kids enhance their self-awareness?

Answer 14

• learn about external and internal properties of self
• make descriptions based on social comparisons (I run faster than you)
• aware of internal processes (aware others have different feelings)

Question 15

How does self-concept further develop in school years?

Answer 15

• use psychological characteristics to describe self and others
• use social concepts (race)
• engage in complex social comparisons and understand and demonstrate self-presentation

Question 16

What has Barenboim found about the 3 categories that we use to talk about people?

Answer 16

6-11 yo children
asked to talk about 3 people they knew well

3 categories of answers:
1. Behavioural comparisons (I ran faster than you)
2. Psychological constructs (He is stubborn)
3. Psychological comparisons (She is more sensitive than others)

Question 17

How do these 3 categories change over time?

Answer 17

As children progress through skl there is decrease in behavioural comparisons and increase in psychological constructs.

Question 18

What is concrete-to-abstract shift?

Ruble (1979)

Answer 18

A central feature of social-cognitive development.

4 yo ppts watched actor select an item
Younger focused on the external properties of chosen item (chocolate is nice)
Older focused on internal psychological state of actor (he likes chocolate)

Question 19

How is concrete-to-abstract shift evident in children’s conceptions of friendship?

Answer 19

• Younger children <7-8 yo: describe friendship using concrete factors (common activities)
• Middle childhood 8-12yo: increase emphasis on reciprocity
• Adolescence: psychological characteristics dominant

Question 20

What is understanding others’ mental processes?

Answer 20

Understanding that each person has their own perspective and feelings, thougths and intensions.

Question 21

What is ToM?

Answer 21

The ability to make inferences about others’s mental states and to predict behaviour accordingly

Question 22

How do we measure ToM?

Answer 22

Through false-belief tasks
They assess if child understands that someone else. may not know the truth when the child knows the truth.
To pass, child must understand that other people have minds of their own.
e.g. Sally Anne Task

Question 23

What are the issues with Sally Anne task?

Answer 23

There might be difficulty with test question.
3-4 yo
In the original task 35% pass the task.
HOWEVER
When they are asked where would Sally look for the ball first, 70% pass.

Question 24

What is another issue with the Sally Anne task?

Answer 24

Maybe children do not understand the question.
It was shown that children who have poor comprehension have a low success rate in the task.

Question 25

How does ToM develop?

Answer 25

• 2-3yo: ppl have mental states that influence beh (emotions)
• 4-5yo: the mind can represent things accurately or inaccurately (ppl can have false beliefs)
• 5+yo: the mind as an active constructor of knowledge (the same event can be interpreted in many different ways )

Question 26

What experiment has shown how ToM develops?

Answer 26

Experimenter disguised his cat in a dog or a rabbit
Under 3yo thought cat had changed into a dog/rabbit
4-5yo were confused
6+ yo: understood cat was disgguised

Question 27

How is ToM impaired in autism?

Answer 27

12 yo
20% autistic children passed false belief task
86% of those with down syndrome passed
85% typically developing preschoolers passed

Question 28

What do those with autism also have difficulties with?

Answer 28

Difficulties with other socio-cognitive areas:
- distinguish mental states from physical states
- understand the mental fucntion sof the brain
- pretend play
- eye gaze

Question 29

What about social cognition and behaviour?

Answer 29

• Oppositional Defiant Disorder (DDD): hostility, defiance, obedience
• Conduct Disorder (CD): repetitive, persistent beh that violates basic rights of others (stealing, aggression)
• Children with ODD are at risk for developing CD

Question 30

What is socio-emotional competence?

Answer 30

SEC: aware of other people’s feelings, noticing affect of behaviour on others, pickingn up on body language

Question 31

What is the moderating role of SEC in CD development?

Answer 31

People with High SEC - better able to self regulate their ODD beh and less likely to escalate to CD
Limited SEC- less self-regulation, more escalation of behaviour

Good sample size: 6218

Question 32

What does this conclude about ODD and CD?

Answer 32

ODD traits in childhood are a risk factor for the development of CD
BUT social cognitive capacity (*perceiving the perspectives and emotions of others) *may buffer the risk
Improving socioemotional competence may be useful intervention aimed at reducing conduct problems