Social Cognition

Question 1

Social Cognition

Answer 1

Understanding the minds of others.

Does the other have a mind?

Social agent or inanimate object?

Question 2

Social agent

Answer 2

• people or animals
• Causal reactions can be immediate or delayed
• Influence from afar is common
  
  • Ex) Ask for a cup of coffee. Someone will bring you a cup of coffee

See W4E1 5

Question 3

Inanimate Object

Answer 3

• Require external to move
• Only external force can change its direction
• Causal reactions tend to be immediate
• Influence almost always requires contact

See W4E1 5

Question 4

Can young infants differentiate between a social agent or an inanimate object?

Answer 4

• Young infants have different expectations about how social agents and inanimate objects behave
• 5 to 7 month-olds understand that social agents can act on something without having direct contact, but inanimate objects cannot.

Question 5

Who can create order?

Answer 5

In a study conducted by Newman et al. (2010)

• 12 month-old infants watched a ball or an agent create order and disorder.
• The study aimed to see what was more surprising to children.
• Notice: the agent had googly eyes (which is actually a sign to infants that it is an agent) W4E1 10
• Infants were then assigned to a ball or an agent where they would see the agent or object create order or disorder (see image)
• Results: For babies looking at the agent, they would be more impressed when the agent created disorder but not by much.
  On the other hand, babies that watched the ball were more surprised when it created order and paid attention to it much more

Question 6

Theory of Mind (TOM)

Answer 6

Ability to reason about the mental states of others.

Others have desires, goals, beliefs, knowledge.

TOM is required to make inferences about what other people are doing and why they are doing it.

Question 7

Representational TOM

Answer 7

Understanding that the way we interact with the world is guided by our mental states and not by how the world actually is.

TOM is critical for social interaction.

• To communicate effectively, you have to know what other people know or belief.
• To help another person effectively you have to know what they were trying to achieve

Understanding that other’s actions are based on their beliefs about the world, not the actual state of the world, opens up the possibility of manipulating these mental states.

Question 8

Give an example that follows the diagram in (b)

Answer 8

Belief: I know my chocolate is on the kitchen counter.

Desire: I want my chocolate

Intention: get my chocolate

Action: Stand up and go to the kitchen counter

Outcome: I have my chocolate

Question 9

Two Key Developments

Answer 9

1. Awareness of the other’s perceptions, goals, desires
2. Understanding of false belief

Question 10

Do infants Understand that others have Goals/Intentions?

Answer 10

Two studies by Woodward and by Sommerville:

Woodward made an experiment with 5 and 9 month-olds whereas Sommerville wanted to see if younger babies understood that agents had goals if they were given a bit or practice.

Question 11

Understanding others’ goals.

Study by Woodward 1998

Answer 11

In this study 5 and 9 month-olds were randomly assigned to the Hand Condition or to the Rod Condition.

Babies assigned to the hand condition would see a hand reached for a bear until habituation. Then, the bear and the ball would exchange places. The hand woulr either reach for the bear in another location or reach for the same location as before.

This same method was used with a rod instead of a had for the second group.

This was called the Woodward task.

Results:

• Hands: dishabituation for a different object, same location
• Rod: dishabituation for the same object, different location.

5 month-olds can understand that the agent (hand) was reaching fir a goal,

Question 12

Understanding others’ goals:

Study by Sommerville et al (2005)

Answer 12

• 3 month-olds completed 2 tasks:
  
  • Action
    
    • Wore sticky mittens and played with balls
  • Watch
    
    • Completed the Woodward task but only with the hand condition
  • half did action and other half watched
• Results:W4E2 20
  
  • Infants who acted first were better at representing the actor’s goal than were infants who watched first.
  • Infants who did watch task first did not touch the toys more than did infants who did the action task first.

Question 13

Understanding others’ goals: Conclusion

Answer 13

5 and 9 month-olds recognize that single behaviours are directed towards a goal

3 month-olds recognize this too if they are given practice.

Question 14

Proximal Goal

Answer 14

Immediate goal to fulfil and ultimate goal.

Question 15

Means-End Problem Solving

Answer 15

• Act on one object to obtain another
• Do infants recognise the ultimate goal of an actor’s behaviour?

Question 16

Means-end Problem

Study by Sommerville and Woodward (2005)

Answer 16

• 12 month0olds watched an actor getting a toy by acting on another object (pull towel to get toy) (see video 30:28 - 32:00)
• Test:
  
  • changed the position of the toy to the second towel
  • the babies then would see different videos where the actor would reach for:
    
    • same goal, different position
    • same location, different goal
  • Another test was, what happens if the toy is not on the towel:
    
    • babies would see a video where the actor would pull:
      
      • different towel, same toy
      • same towel, different toy
• Results:
  
  • Toy on towel:
    
    • infants were more surprised when the goal changed
  • Toy-off towel:
    
    • new goal and new means were almost the same
  • W4E2 29

Question 17

Could younger infants understand Means-end with practice?

Answer 17

Study by Woodward and Sommerville (2005)

• 9 month-olds
• Tasks:
  
  • Action: play with toy by pulling on towel
  • Watch: see toy on towel video
• Results:
  
  • No difference in looking time between new means and new goals trials.
  • No difference in looking times between infants who did the action task first and infants who did the watch task first.
• Conclusion: 9 month-olds not sensitive to ultimate goal

Question 18

What was noticed about the task problems when they were testing if younger infants could understand the means-end problem?

Answer 18

There were individual differences:

• Some babies showed planful behaviour/action
• Some babies showed unplanned behaviour
• Infants varied in the number of planful strategies they use.

Results:

• W4E2 36, 37
• By 12 months of age, infants have a good understanding of the fact that agents act with goals
  
  • Direct Action
  • Hierarchical goals

Question 19

Planful behaviour

Answer 19

Baby understands that reaching with the cloath give them the toy.

Question 20

Can infants figure out what somebody wants?

Answer 20

Study by Tommasello and Haberl (2003)

• 12 and 18 month-olds
• Children play with two female experimenters (E1 and E2)
• They are randomly assigned to either experimental or control.
• Experimental:
  
  • E1 leaves and E2 gets a new toy and plays with the kid
  • E1 returns and E2 places all toys on the table
  • E1 says “Wow! Look at that! Give it to me, please!”
• Control:
  
  • E1 gives back to toys, baby and E2 but does not leave the room and E2 gets a new toy and plays with the kid
  • E1 returns and E2 places all toys on the table
  • E1 says “Wow! Look at that! Give it to me, please!”
• Results:
  
  • See W4E2 43,44
    
    • notice: in 44 it is not cleare if the recenssy effect has something to do with the results

Question 21

In a experiment by Tomasello and Haberl (2003), the results show that the babies give the last toy to the experimenter, do this have anything to do with the resency effect?

Answer 21

Study by Tomasello and Haberl,

same procedure as in Study 1, but E1 leaves and returns for the presentation of Object 2 and 3.

When babies are tested, under the experimental group, the majority gives the first object to E1 whereas in study 1, they gave object 3.

On the other hand, control group in study 2 gave more often the seocnd object althought there is no big difference between the 3.

Conclusion:

• By 12-months-of-age, children know what’s new for another person (even when it’s not new for them)
• Know that people get excited about new things

Question 22

Week 4 Ep 3 todo