Social Cognition

Question	Answer
social cognition	how people process, store, and apply information about other people and social situations; unique to humans
cultural ratcheting	cultural knowledge is cumulative; ability to learn everything from past and improve those models/ideas for the future
social illusion	perceive events/ideas in social construct though none exists; i.e. tendency to see social agency in nonsocial objects (Heider Simmel video of shapes chasing each other)
social brain evolution	Robin Dunbar noted that the expansion of certain brain regions was unique to humans and likely had some effect on social group formation; strong relationship between area of neocortex (frontal cortex) and capacity to live in large groups
Dunbar's Number	150; average social group size that corresponds with human brain size; i.e. number of social interactions our brains can handle
social exclusion	shows activity in the brain area involved with pain sensation (anterior cingulate cortex)
Nalani Ambady's thin slices	Information gleaned from an instant impression can be as powerful as information gleaned by getting to know a situation or person over a longer period of time.
Ambady's experiment	Glimpse of soundless video clips were rated by student judges; impression they form are highly correlated with end of the semester ratings by students who have actually taken the class
Failure of theory of mind	evidenced by Sally-Anne task; children did not understand that other people can hold false/different beliefs
autism	deficit in social communication, interaction; do not do well in Sally-Anne task but do well in the false photograph task
false photograph task	The "false-photograph" task is another task that serves as a measure of theory of mind development. In this task, children must reason about what is represented in a photograph that differs from the current state of affairs. Within the false-photograph task, either a location or identity change exists. In the location-change task, the examiner puts an object in one location (e.g., chocolate in an open green cupboard), whereupon the child takes a Polaroid photograph of the scene. While the photograph is developing, the examiner moves the object to a different location (e.g., a blue cupboard), allowing the child to view the examiner's action. The examiner asks the child two control questions: "When we first took the picture, where was the object?" and "Where is the object now?". The subject is also asked a "false-photograph" question: "Where is the object in the picture?" The child passes the task if he/she correctly identifies the location of the object in the picture and the actual location of the object at the time of the question.
Williams syndrome	deletion of 26 genes of chromosome 7; severe cognitive defects but social capabilities still intact
curse of knowledge	hard to get around knowledge in our heads and realize what others do or don't know Ex. charades
attachment theory	a strong emotional and physical attachment to at least one primary caregiver is critical to personal development; John Bowlby first coined the term as a result of his studies involving the developmental psychology of children from various backgrounds.
Harlow's monkeys	Harlow semi-isolated baby monkeys from parents and other monkeys; monkeys would attach themselves to soft furry things and only go to cold mother when absolutely hungry; early life social deprivation has major impact of cognitive development of individuals
Mary Ainsworth	babies have different forms of attachment (different from Bowlby) as demonstrated by Strange Situation;
Strange Situation experiment	(1) Mother, baby and experimenter (lasts less than one minute). (2) Mother and baby alone. (3) Stranger joins mother and infant.(4) Mother leaves baby and stranger alone.(5) Mother returns and stranger leaves. (6) Mother leaves; infant left completely alone. (7) Stranger returns. (8) Mother returns and stranger leaves.
attachment styles	Ainsworth found the following attachment styles: secure- distress when caregiver leaves, happy when come back; have closer and more harmonious relationships with peers, better grades avoidant - ignore caregiver, little emotion when caregiver departs anxious/ambivalent - distress before separation, difficult to comfort even when mother returns fearful/disorganized - contradictory behaviors, misdirected jerky movements
John Bowlby	children come into the world biologically pre-programmed to form attachments with others, because this will help them to survive; attachment figure serves as secure base for individual to explore the environment;
social cognition as mind melding	- Get others to experience what I experience (emotions, teaching, deception is difficult) - Get self to experience what others experience (when seeing others in pain, activates ACC; others' fear activates amygdala; emotional imitation in infancy)
Chameleon effect	• people spontaneously mimic the behaviors of others • mimicry facilitates smooth interactions and increases liking between people • people with high empathy scores spontaneously mimic more than low-empathy folks
Fundamental attribution error	for others, action is attributed to a mental state, but for self, action is attributed to situation; tendency to ascribe agency to action though it may not be warranted

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	Created by Sneha Mittal over 7 years ago