Social Cognition & Social Behavior PSYC 524

Behaviors and mental states Behavior is not simply a matter of events from the outside world but the product of outside events being processed through people’s minds. Actions are rooted in internal mental states.

Social Cognitive Development Social cognition An understanding of the social world Cognitive models of social behavior Social origins of cognition How children think about people, and of developmental changes in such thinking

Inferences Want Like Think 4

Theory of Mind Folk psyhcology approach to day-to-day interaction Why we do what we do. Process we make sense out of the world around us. 5

Cognitive Theories of Social Behavior: Theory of Mind (ToM) “ability to represent other people’s mental states such as thoughts, beliefs, and desires” there is a single reality and people may have different representations of that reality A set of explicit and interconnected concepts for representing representational states

ToM Measures Unexpected Contents Task Show Smarties box: “What’s inside this box?” (control question) Following the answer, open the box, show there is a pencil in it. Put the pencil back inside the box, close it. 7

Unexpected Contents Task “X has not seen inside this box. Now I’m going to invite her into the room and show her the box all closed up like this, in the same way I showed you. Then, I’ll ask what’s inside the box. What will X think is in the box?” (Think Question) 8

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Theory of Mind There is a single reality. People may have different representations. Some representations can be false. False representations can be induced deception 11

Cognitive Theories of Social Behavior: ToM People may have different representations of reality False belief: how someone comes to have a mistaken belief about something Deception: requires representing deceived person’s false belief Appearance-reality Pretense

Confusing Appearance and Reality Young children may often confuse appearance and reality

Appearance-reality tasks Flavell’s Sponge-Rock task: showed a sponge which looked like a rock

Appearance-reality tasks Flavell’s Sponge-Rock task: showed a sponge which looked like a rock Once children discover that the rock is really a sponge by touching it, they insist that it not only feels like a sponge but also looks like a sponge. The ability to understand that appearance and reality might be different: causing 2 different mental representations

Growth of the ability to understand a sponge is not a rock, though it looks like one Age (years) Task demands: When measures include familiar and meaningful tasks for young children, they are more likely to show what they know

Theory of Mind (ToM) Theory of Mind Understanding appearence-reality Understanding false belief Understanding deception Age 2: child is able to distinguish between own and other’s desires. E.g., chocolate cake (self) vs. orange cake (story character) Age 4: child has a mature understanding of the mind 17

Theory of Mind (ToM) Carlson & Moses (2001): 4-year-olds tend to outperform 3-year-olds on ToM tasks. There was a significant age difference for each of the ToM tasks (false belief: p < .001, appearance-reality: p < .05.) Theory of Mind Tasks 3-Year-Olds (n=62) 4-Year-Olds (n=45) Overall Average (n= 107) Age Differences (Pearson chi- square) False Belief 10% 49% 26% 20.8*** Appearance-Reality 47% 69% 56% 5.2* Table. Percentage of Children Who Passed Theory-of-Mind Items as a Function of Age.

Theory of Mind Associated with crucial gains Child can negotiate social interactions by taking the perspective of others anticipating others’ intentions understanding their needs. Delays or deficits are related to impairments in the initiation and maintenance of social relations. Research on children with autism

Universality of ToM and Language Avis and Harris (1991): 2-6-years-old Baka children, who lived in the rain forests of southeast Cameroon. Similar to findings reported for Western children, false belief understanding of Baka children displayed a significant development between 3 and 5 years of age. This was the first study carried out with children growing up in a preliterate society with a hunter-gatherer life-style and with no school experience. Thus, it provided a strong support for the universality claim about ToM development. 20

Universality of ToM and Language Vinden (1996): cultures without explicit mentalistic vocabulary Junin Quechua children had an earlier understanding of appearance-reality distinction than of false belief. Performance on different tasks varies: While the understanding of the appearance-reality distinction improved with age, even children over 6 years of age performed poorly in tasks of false belief. In Western children, understanding false belief and appearance-reality distinctions tends to display parallelism in development and both abilities increase significantly from 3 to 5 years of age. suggested that abilities requiring the ability to represent may develop differently across cultures and this may be related to linguistic properties.

Universality of ToM and Language Development of ToM and language English-speaking children use desire words more than cognitive words 5000 emotion words in English 5 words in a tribe of Malaysia Language and ToM are two interconnected abilities

Language and ToM There may be some variations in rates of ToM development and degree of conceptual elaboration across cultures due to language, but children acquire an understanding of representation independent of cultural differences. Language that contains words about mind and mental processes Socialization has a role: Engaging in conversation about mental processes facilitates ToM development

Language Syntactic marking of Turkish: past-tense morphemes: Does it facilitate grasping the relation between perception and belief? Person has had direct experience with the event Person has information about the event as reported by another person Variations in rate of development

Language and ToM Autism : is a "spectrum disorder." The spectrum includes several distinct diagnoses, as well as a whole range of different symptoms. Most cases of autism are diagnosed in children ages 2 to 4. It's during these early years that typical children develop critical social and language skills -- often delayed in children with autism. Child with autism is a late talker, prefers solo play, or tends to play in the same way over and over again. One person with autism may be very verbal, bright and engaged, while another is non-verbal, intellectually challenged and almost entirely self-absorbed.

Self-recognition Classic test: dab some rouge on the nose and expose to mirror Lack awareness of others’ perception of them Less likely to combine smiling and looking Sensory/perceptual difficulties: seem stuck on stg. Executive dysfunction

Pragmatic Development problems with pragmatics They don't understand the small nuances that go on in a conversation, the socially acceptable things to do during a conversation. Referential communication being able to package the info in a way that takes into account the perceptual and informational status of the listener related to children´s developing theory of mind 27

Neurobiological Abnormalities Connections between brain regions that are important for language and social skills grow much more slowly in children with autism. “social brain”: temporal lobe-limbic system, frontal lobes, and cerebellum

Language, ToM, Universality There may be some variations in rates of ToM development and degree of conceptual elaboration across cultures due to language, but children acquire an understanding of representation independent of cultural differences. Language that contains words about mind and mental processes Socialization has a role: Engaging in conversation about mental processes facilitates ToM development

Theory of Mind TED Rebecca Saxe: How we read each other's minds http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOCUH7TxHRI 30

ToM and Social Development Socially competent behavior Problematic behavior (aggression, withdrawal) Jenkins & Astington: peer play involving cooperation. Remained significant controlling for language. Social maturity (communication skills), peer popularity, coordinated play 31

Reciprocal link Villanueva Badenes et al.: ToM and peer popularity Link is stronger for 6 year-olds compared to younger ones Implications