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Social Cognition (social + cognition)
Selected AbstractsII. THE EMERGENCE OF SOCIAL COGNITION: A LONGITUDINAL STUDYMONOGRAPHS OF THE SOCIETY FOR RESEARCH IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 1 2005Article first published online: 1 SEP 200 First page of article [source] What Do Mirror Neurons Contribute to Human Social Cognition?MIND & LANGUAGE, Issue 2 2008PIERRE JACOB This view relies on two assumptions: the activity of MNs in an observer's brain matches (simulates or resonates with) that of MNs in an agent's brain and this resonance process retrodictively generates a representation of the agent's intention from a perception of her movement. In this paper, I criticize both assumptions and I argue instead that the activity of MNs in an observer's brain is enhanced by a prior representation of the agent's intention and that their task is to predictively compute the best motor command suitable to satisfy the agent's intention. [source] Interpersonal Expectations as the Building Blocks of Social Cognition: An Interdependence Theory PerspectivePERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS, Issue 1 2002John G. Holmes In this paper I use interdependence theory as an analytic framework for depicting the logically interconnected network of expectations that determines social interaction. The framework focuses on expectations about a partner's goals (B) relevant to particular interdependence situations (S), and suggests that expectations about these two elements define the social situation that activates a person's own goals (A). Together, these elements determine interaction behavior (I). This SABI framework is complementary to Mischel and Shoda's (1995) CAPS theory of personality in its logic. It depicts a person's interpersonal dispositions as having profiles or signatures dependent on both the expected features of situations and the expected dispositions of partners. A taxonomic theory for classifying both situations and the functionally relevant goals of interaction partners is outlined. Research on attachment theory and trust is used to illustrate the model. Finally, I suggest that people's expectations about partners' prosocial motivations,their perceived responsiveness toward the self,play an imperial role in social cognition, and, further, that complex SABI models can be seen as detailing a set of security operations that serve as a program for social action. SABI models detail the set of mechanisms that constitute the basic survival kit of interpersonal relations. [source] Do Infants Need Social Cognition to Act Socially?CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 3 2007An Alternative Look at Infant Pointing Tomasello, Carpenter, and Liszkowski (2007) present a comprehensive review of the infant pointing literature. They conclude that infant pointing demonstrates communicative intent from its onset, at about 1 year of age. In this commentary, it is noted that for infants to understand communicative intent, they must have a concept of self and others as intentional agents. Evidence is reviewed to argue that this is not possible until 18,24 months of age. A leaner explanation of how infants might initially succeed in pointing tasks without understanding communicative intent is considered. [source] Social cognition and the brain: A meta-analysisHUMAN BRAIN MAPPING, Issue 3 2009Frank Van Overwalle Abstract This meta-analysis explores the location and function of brain areas involved in social cognition, or the capacity to understand people's behavioral intentions, social beliefs, and personality traits. On the basis of over 200 fMRI studies, it tests alternative theoretical proposals that attempt to explain how several brain areas process information relevant for social cognition. The results suggest that inferring temporary states such as goals, intentions, and desires of other people,even when they are false and unjust from our own perspective,strongly engages the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ). Inferring more enduring dispositions of others and the self, or interpersonal norms and scripts, engages the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), although temporal states can also activate the mPFC. Other candidate tasks reflecting general-purpose brain processes that may potentially subserve social cognition are briefly reviewed, such as sequence learning, causality detection, emotion processing, and executive functioning (action monitoring, attention, dual task monitoring, episodic memory retrieval), but none of them overlaps uniquely with the regions activated during social cognition. Hence, it appears that social cognition particularly engages the TPJ and mPFC regions. The available evidence is consistent with the role of a TPJ-related mirror system for inferring temporary goals and intentions at a relatively perceptual level of representation, and the mPFC as a module that integrates social information across time and allows reflection and representation of traits and norms, and presumably also of intentionality, at a more abstract cognitive level. Hum Brain Mapp, 2009. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Social cognition and moral cognition in bullying: what's wrong?AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR, Issue 6 2006Gianluca Gini Abstract Two different models have been proposed that describe the bully alternatively as a child lacking in social skills [Crick and Dodge, 1994], or as a cold manipulative individual, who leads gangs to achieve personal goals [Sutton et al., 1999a]. The present study examined the performance of 204 8,11-year-olds in a set of stories that assessed understanding of cognitions and emotions, in relation to their Participant Role in bullying. Moreover, children's understanding of moral emotions and proneness to moral disengagement was assessed. Victims showed some difficulties in the social cognition task, whereas bullies did not. Aggressive children, instead, were found to be more ready to show moral disengagement mechanisms, whereas defenders showed higher levels of moral sensibility. Results are discussed in relation to the two models, and the need for further research into empathy and moral cognition of children involved in bullying episodes is highlighted. Aggr. Behav. 32:528,539, 2006. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Social Cognitive Reactions to Considering Participation in Weight-Management InterventionsJOURNAL OF APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 5 2007Shaelyn M. Strachan This study investigated social cognitive reactions and individual-difference factors associated with selecting a traditional diet intervention (TDI) and a nondiet (NDI) intervention. Participants read balanced descriptions of typical TDI and NDI interventions, and subsequently completed a questionnaire assessing selection of intervention, self-efficacy (SE), and outcome expectations (OE) for each approach; body image (BI); and demographics. MANOVA procedures revealed that selection of intervention moderated ratings of SE and OE for each intervention. In addition, MANOVA procedures revealed a 3-way interaction between intervention selection, intervention rating, and weight status. A MANOVA also revealed that selection groups differed on the overweight preoccupation subscale of the BI measure. Social cognitions and aspects of body image may provide useful information about readiness for weight-management approaches. [source] What do you think you're looking at?CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR AND MENTAL HEALTH, Issue 2 2007Investigating social cognition in young offenders Aim,This small study was designed to assess the nature and severity of social-cognitive deficits in antisocial adolescents. Method,Thirty-seven boys aged 15,18 from a Young Offenders Institute and Community College participated. They were asked to complete a test of general intellectual ability and self-rating of social competence as well as tasks from the Skuse Schedules for the Assessment of Social Intelligence. Results,Young offenders were poor at recognizing the facial expression of anger, regardless of intellectual ability. They could not accurately identify the direction of another's eye gaze. Their performance on theory of mind tasks, however, was unimpaired. Conclusion,These preliminary findings imply selective impairment in the cognitive appraisal of threat, which may contribute to social maladjustment. Further such study of social cognition among young offenders is indicated. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Neuroanatomical substrates of social cognition dysfunction in autismDEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES RESEARCH REVIEW, Issue 4 2004Kevin Pelphrey Abstract In this review article, we summarize recent progress toward understanding the neural structures and circuitry underlying dysfunctional social cognition in autism. We review selected studies from the growing literature that has used the functional neuroimaging techniques of cognitive neuroscience to map out the neuroanatomical substrates of social cognition in autism. We also draw upon functional neuroimaging studies with neurologically normal individuals and individuals with brain lesions to highlight the insights these studies offer that may help elucidate the search for the neural basis of social cognition deficits in autism. We organize this review around key brain structures that have been implicated in the social cognition deficits in autism: (1) the amygdala, (2) the superior temporal sulcus region, and (3) the fusiform gyrus. We review some of what is known about the contribution of each structure to social cognition and then review autism studies that implicate that particular structure. We conclude with a discussion of several potential future directions in the cognitive neuroscience of social deficits in autism. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc. MRDD Research Reviews 2004;10:259,271. [source] The development of gaze following and its relation to languageDEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 6 2005Rechele Brooks We examined the ontogeny of gaze following by testing infants at 9, 10 and 11 months of age. Infants (N = 96) watched as an adult turned her head toward a target with either open or closed eyes. The 10- and 11-month-olds followed adult turns significantly more often in the open-eyes than the closed-eyes condition, but the 9-month-olds did not respond differentially. Although 9-month-olds may view others as ,body orienters', older infants begin to register whether others are ,visually connected' to the external world and, hence, understand adult looking in a new way. Results also showed a strong positive correlation between gaze-following behavior at 10,11 months and subsequent language scores at 18 months. Implications for social cognition are discussed in light of the developmental shift in gaze following between 9 and 11 months of age. [source] Does disturbance of self underlie social cognition deficits in schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders?EARLY INTERVENTION IN PSYCHIATRY, Issue 2 2009Barnaby Nelson Abstract Aim: Although the different approaches to psychosis research have made significant advances in their own fields, integration between the approaches is often lacking. This paper attempts to integrate a strand of cognitive research in psychotic disorders (specifically, social cognition research) with phenomenological accounts of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. Method: The paper is a critical investigation of phenomenological models of disturbed selfhood in schizophrenia in relation to cognitive theories of social cognition in psychotic disorders. Results: We argue that disturbance of the basic sense of self, as articulated in the phenomenological literature, may underlie the social cognition difficulties present in psychotic disorders. This argument is based on phenomenological thinking about self-presence (,ipseity') being the primary or most basic ground for the intentionality of consciousness , that is, the directedness of consciousness towards others and the world. A disruption in this basic ground of conscious life has a reverberating effect through other areas of cognitive and social functioning. We propose three routes whereby self-disturbance may compromise social cognition, including dissimilarity, disruption of lived body and disturbed mental coherence. Conclusions: If this model is supported, then social cognition difficulties may be thought of as a secondary index or marker of the more primary disturbance of self in psychotic disorders. Further empirical work examining the relationship between cognitive and phenomenological variables may be of value in identifying risk markers for psychosis onset, thus contributing to early intervention efforts, as well as in clarifying the essential psychopathological features of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. [source] Embodiment as a unifying perspective for psychologyEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 7 2009Thomas W. Schubert Adaptive action is the function of cognition. It is constrained by the properties of evolved brains and bodies. An embodied perspective on social psychology examines how biological constrains give expression to human function in socially situated contexts. Key contributions in social psychology have highlighted the interface between the body and cognition, but theoretical development in social psychology and embodiment research remain largely disconnected. The current special issue reflects on recent developments in embodiment research. Commentaries from complementary perspectives connect them to social psychological theorizing. The contributions focus on the situatedness of social cognition in concrete interactions, and the implementation of cognitive processes in modal instead of amodal representations. The proposed perspectives are highly compatible, suggesting that embodiment can serve as a unifying perspective for psychology. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Illusory and spurious correlations: distinct phenomena or joint outcomes of exemplar-based category learning?EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 3 2006Thorsten Meiser Stereotype formation about novel groups was analyzed with trivariate stimulus distributions that were generated by group membership, valence of behavior, and a context variable. Within this stimulus setting, we manipulated the confounding role of the context variable and the distinctiveness of events in terms of their relative infrequency. The experimental procedure allowed us to analyze illusory and spurious correlations in a joint framework, to conduct focused tests for memory effects of relative infrequency and to investigate the detection of covariations with the context variable. The results revealed that illusory and spurious correlations were formed without enhanced memory for infrequent events and with existing covariations of the confounding context factor being well extracted. These observations suggest that illusory and spurious correlations can be understood without assuming specific cognitive processes that are tied to the particular characteristics of a given stimulus distribution, such as enhanced memory in the case of relative infrequency and neglect of a context variable in the case of a confounding factor. Instead, computer simulations with an exemplar-based learning model demonstrated that exemplar-based category learning may provide a coherent and integrative theoretical framework for illusory correlations, spurious correlations and true contingency learning in social cognition. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Effects of Clothing and Behavior on Perceptions Concerning an Alleged Date RapeFAMILY & CONSUMER SCIENCES RESEARCH JOURNAL, Issue 3 2000Kim K. P. Johnson The use of schemata in social cognition was the theoretical framework for this quasiexperimental study that investigated the relative effect of clothing, behavior, and participants' sex on perceptions surrounding an alleged date rape. A convenience sample of 368 individuals (men = 160, women = 208) read vignettes that manipulated the independent variables in a description of a date. After reading the vignettes, participants responded on Likert-type scales to questions measuring their perceptions, including whether or not a rape had occurred. Participants were asked to provide reasons for each of their responses. Data were analyzed by using multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVAs), analyses of variance (ANOVAs), and qualitative techniques. Although the victim's clothing did not result in significant differences, the victim's behavior and participant's sex were statistically significant influences on participants' perceptions. [source] The human mirror neuron system in a population with deficient self-awareness: An fMRI study in alexithymiaHUMAN BRAIN MAPPING, Issue 7 2009Yoshiya Moriguchi Abstract The mirror neuron system (MNS) is considered crucial for human imitation and language learning and provides the basis for the development of empathy and mentalizing. Alexithymia (ALEX), which refers to deficiencies in the self-awareness of emotional states, has been reported to be associated with poor ability in various aspects of social cognition such as mentalizing, cognitive empathy, and perspective-taking. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we measured the hemodynamic signal to examine whether there are functional differences in the MNS activity between participants with ALEX (n = 16) and without ALEX (n = 13), in response to a classic MNS task (i.e., the observation of video clips depicting goal-directed hand movements). Both groups showed increased neural activity in the premotor and the parietal cortices during observation of hand actions. However, activation was greater for the ALEX group than the non-ALEX group. Furthermore, activation in the left premotor area was negatively correlated with perspective-taking ability as assessed with the interpersonal reactivity index. The signal in parietal cortices was negatively correlated with cognitive facets assessed by the stress coping inventory and positively correlated with the neuroticism scale from the NEO five factor personality scale. In addition, in the ALEX group, activation in the right superior parietal region showed a positive correlation with the severity of ALEX as measured by a structured interview. These results suggest that the stronger MNS-related neural response in individuals scoring high on ALEX is associated with their insufficient self-other differentiation. Hum Brain Mapp, 2009. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Social cognition and the brain: A meta-analysisHUMAN BRAIN MAPPING, Issue 3 2009Frank Van Overwalle Abstract This meta-analysis explores the location and function of brain areas involved in social cognition, or the capacity to understand people's behavioral intentions, social beliefs, and personality traits. On the basis of over 200 fMRI studies, it tests alternative theoretical proposals that attempt to explain how several brain areas process information relevant for social cognition. The results suggest that inferring temporary states such as goals, intentions, and desires of other people,even when they are false and unjust from our own perspective,strongly engages the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ). Inferring more enduring dispositions of others and the self, or interpersonal norms and scripts, engages the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), although temporal states can also activate the mPFC. Other candidate tasks reflecting general-purpose brain processes that may potentially subserve social cognition are briefly reviewed, such as sequence learning, causality detection, emotion processing, and executive functioning (action monitoring, attention, dual task monitoring, episodic memory retrieval), but none of them overlaps uniquely with the regions activated during social cognition. Hence, it appears that social cognition particularly engages the TPJ and mPFC regions. The available evidence is consistent with the role of a TPJ-related mirror system for inferring temporary goals and intentions at a relatively perceptual level of representation, and the mPFC as a module that integrates social information across time and allows reflection and representation of traits and norms, and presumably also of intentionality, at a more abstract cognitive level. Hum Brain Mapp, 2009. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Individual differences in children's understanding of social evaluation concernsINFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 3 2002Robin BanerjeeArticle first published online: 27 AUG 200 Abstract Recent research suggests that children's understanding of self-presentational behaviour,behaviour designed to shape social evaluation,is a function of both cognitive and motivational variables. Furthermore, the motivational factors involved are likely to reflect individual differences in the salience of concerns about social evaluation. The present research represents a first effort to determine whether measures of such differences are indeed associated with the understanding of self-presentational behaviour. In a first experiment, a teacher rating measure of self-monitoring was found to be positively associated with the understanding of self-presentational motives. In a second experiment, a more narrowly specified self-report measure of public self-consciousness was found to have a similar association with the understanding of self-presentation, with no such association found for private self-consciousness. These preliminary results make it clear that our formulations of development in social cognition must indeed include a consideration of individual differences in motivational orientations. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Early social cognition: understanding others in the first months of life.INFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 3 2001Edited by Philippe Rochat, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, London No abstract is available for this article. [source] Young children's difficulty with inhibitory control in a social context,JAPANESE PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH, Issue 2 2008YUSUKE MORIGUCHI Abstract:, The authors' prior research has documented that young children's behaviors in the Dimensional Change Card Sorting (DCCS) task can be influenced by their observation of another person performing the task and has suggested that young children committed perseverative errors in a social context. The present study explored whether children who committed perseverative errors in the social context also committed perseverative errors in the standard DCCS task. Three- and 4-year-old children were given the standard DCCS and the observation version of the DCCS, and the relationship between them was examined. The results showed that the correlation between these two tasks was significant. Furthermore, 4-year-old children displayed more difficulty in the observation version than in the standard DCCS, whereas 3-year-olds did not. The results are discussed in terms of the development of inhibitory control and social cognition. [source] Cognitive distortions in child sex offenders: An overview of theory, research & practiceJOURNAL OF FORENSIC NURSING, Issue 3 2008Shruti Navathe BscHons Abstract A great deal of clinical and research attention has been paid to understanding and explaining child sex offenders' social cognition. Cognitive distortions have been implicated as a core feature of child sex offenders' offense supportive cognition. The primary aim of this paper is to critically evaluate the phenomenon of cognitive distortions as currently understood with respect to child sex offenders: it reviews the theoretical and research literature and highlights the implications for clinical practice. [source] Age Differences in Conservatism: Evidence on the Mediating Effects of Personality and Cognitive StyleJOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 1 2009Ilse Cornelis ABSTRACT The present study investigates the commonly found age,conservatism relationship by combining insights from studies on the development of personality and motivated social cognition with findings on the relationships between these factors and conservative beliefs. Based on data collected in Belgium (N=2,373) and Poland (N=939), we found the expected linear effect of age on indicators of social-cultural conservatism in Belgium and Poland and the absence of such effects for indicators of economic-hierarchical conservatism. We further demonstrated that these effects of age on indicators of cultural conservatism in both countries were (in part) mediated through the personality factor Openness to Experience and the motivated cognition variable Need for Closure. The consistency of these findings in two countries with a very dissimilar sociopolitical history attests to the importance of the developmental perspective for the study of the relationship between age and conservatism. [source] Social Cognitive and Emotion Processing Abilities of Children With Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders: A Comparison With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity DisorderALCOHOLISM, Issue 10 2009Rachel L. Greenbaum Background:, Although children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASDs) are at high risk of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), direct comparisons show distinct cognitive phenotypes in the 2 diagnoses. However, these groups have not been directly compared for social problems or social cognition, nor has social cognition been directly examined in FASDs. Objectives:, To compare FASDs and ADHD groups on social cognition tasks and determine whether deficient social cognition and emotion processing predict behavioral problems and social skills. Methods:, Studied were 33 children with FASDs, 30 with ADHD, and 34 normal controls (NC). All received tasks of social cognition and emotion processing. Parents and teachers rated children on measures of completed questionnaires assessing child's behavioral problems and social skills using the Child Behavior Checklist, Teacher Report Form, and Social Skills Rating Scale. Children received 3 subtests from the Saltzman-Benaiah and Lalonde (2007) Theory of Mind Task as a measure of social cognition and 4 subtests from the Minnesota Test of Affective Processing (Lai et al., 1991) to assess emotion processing. Results:, Parents and teachers reported more behavior problems and poorer social skills in children in FASD and ADHD than NC groups. FASDs demonstrated significantly weaker social cognition and facial emotion processing ability than ADHD and NC groups. Regression analyses identified social cognition as a significant predictor of behavior problems and emotion processing as a significant predictor of social skills. Conclusions:, Children with FASDs show a distinct behavioral profile from children with ADHD. Difficulties in social cognition and emotion processing in children with FASDs may contribute to their high incidence of social behavioral problems. [source] fMRI BOLD Response to the Eyes Task in Offspring From Multiplex Alcohol Dependence FamiliesALCOHOLISM, Issue 12 2007Shirley Y. Hill Background:, Increased susceptibility for developing alcohol dependence (AD) may be related to structural and functional differences in brain circuits that influence social cognition and more specifically, theory of mind (ToM). Alcohol dependent individuals have a greater likelihood of having deficits in social skills and greater social alienation. These characteristics may be related to inherited differences in the neuroanatomical network that comprises the social brain. Methods:, Adolescent/young adult participants from multiplex AD families and controls (n = 16) were matched for gender, age, IQ, education, and handedness and administered the Eyes Task of Baron-Cohen during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Results:, High-risk (HR) subjects showed significantly diminished blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) response in comparison with low-risk control young adults in the right middle temporal gyrus (RMTG) and the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG), areas that have previously been implicated in ToM tasks. Conclusions:, Offspring from multiplex families for AD may manifest one aspect of their genetic susceptibility by having a diminished BOLD response in brain regions associated with performance of ToM tasks. These results suggest that those at risk for developing AD may have reduced ability to empathize with others' state of mind, possibly resulting in diminished social skill. [source] The neuropathology of autism: where do we stand?NEUROPATHOLOGY & APPLIED NEUROBIOLOGY, Issue 1 2008C. Schmitz The neurobiology and neuropathology of the autism spectrum disorders (ASD) remain poorly defined. Brain imaging studies suggest that the deficits in social cognition, language, communication and stereotypical patterns of behaviour that are manifest in individuals with ASD, are related to functional disturbance and ,disconnectivity', affecting multiple brain regions. These impairments are considered to arise as a consequence of abnormal pre- and postnatal development of a distributed neural network. Examination of the brain post mortem continues to provide fundamental information concerning the cellular and subcellular alterations that take place in the brain of autistic individuals. Neuropathological observations that have emerged over the past decade also point towards early pre- and postnatal developmental abnormalities that involve multiple regions of the brain, including the cerebral cortex, cortical white matter, amygdala, brainstem and cerebellum. However, the neuropathology of autism is yet to be clearly defined, and there are several areas that remain open to further investigation. In this respect, more concerted efforts are required to examine the various aspects of cellular pathology affecting the brain in autism. This paper briefly highlights four key areas that warrant further evaluation. [source] Interpersonal Expectations as the Building Blocks of Social Cognition: An Interdependence Theory PerspectivePERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS, Issue 1 2002John G. Holmes In this paper I use interdependence theory as an analytic framework for depicting the logically interconnected network of expectations that determines social interaction. The framework focuses on expectations about a partner's goals (B) relevant to particular interdependence situations (S), and suggests that expectations about these two elements define the social situation that activates a person's own goals (A). Together, these elements determine interaction behavior (I). This SABI framework is complementary to Mischel and Shoda's (1995) CAPS theory of personality in its logic. It depicts a person's interpersonal dispositions as having profiles or signatures dependent on both the expected features of situations and the expected dispositions of partners. A taxonomic theory for classifying both situations and the functionally relevant goals of interaction partners is outlined. Research on attachment theory and trust is used to illustrate the model. Finally, I suggest that people's expectations about partners' prosocial motivations,their perceived responsiveness toward the self,play an imperial role in social cognition, and, further, that complex SABI models can be seen as detailing a set of security operations that serve as a program for social action. SABI models detail the set of mechanisms that constitute the basic survival kit of interpersonal relations. [source] Habits of the heart: Life history and the developmental neuroendocrinology of emotionAMERICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN BIOLOGY, Issue 6 2009Carol M. Worthman The centrality of emotion in cognition and social intelligence as well as its impact on health has intensified investigation into the causes and consequences of individual variation in emotion regulation. Central processing of experience directly informs regulation of endocrine axes, essentially forming a neuro-endocrine continuum integrating information intake, processing, and physiological and behavioral response. Two major elements of life history,resource allocation and niche partitioning,are served by linking cognitive-affective with physiologic and behavioral processes. Scarce cognitive resources (attention, memory, and time) are allocated under guidance from affective co-processing. Affective-cognitive processing, in turn, regulates physiologic activity through neuro-endocrine outflow and thereby orchestrates energetic resource allocation and trade-offs, both acutely and through time. Reciprocally, peripheral activity (e.g., immunologic, metabolic, or energetic markers) influences affective-cognitive processing. By guiding attention, memory, and behavior, affective-cognitive processing also informs individual stances toward, patterns of activity in, and relationships with the world. As such, it mediates processes of niche partitioning that adaptively exploit social and material resources. Developmental behavioral neurobiology has identified multiple factors that influence the ontogeny of emotion regulation to form affective and behavioral styles. Evidence is reviewed documenting roles for genetic, epigenetic, and experiential factors in the development of emotion regulation, social cognition, and behavior with important implications for understanding mechanisms that underlie life history construction and the sources of differential health. Overall, this dynamic arena for research promises to link the biological bases of life history theory with the psychobehavioral phenomena that figure so centrally in quotidian experience and adaptation, particularly, for humans. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] The Secret Lives of Liberals and Conservatives: Personality Profiles, Interaction Styles, and the Things They Leave BehindPOLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 6 2008Dana R. Carney Although skeptics continue to doubt that most people are "ideological," evidence suggests that meaningful left-right differences do exist and that they may be rooted in basic personality dispositions, that is, relatively stable individual differences in psychological needs, motives, and orientations toward the world. Seventy-five years of theory and research on personality and political orientation has produced a long list of dispositions, traits, and behaviors. Applying a theory of ideology as motivated social cognition and a "Big Five" framework, we find that two traits, Openness to New Experiences and Conscientiousness, parsimoniously capture many of the ways in which individual differences underlying political orientation have been conceptualized. In three studies we investigate the relationship between personality and political orientation using multiple domains and measurement techniques, including: self-reported personality assessment; nonverbal behavior in the context of social interaction; and personal possessions and the characteristics of living and working spaces. We obtained consistent and converging evidence that personality differences between liberals and conservatives are robust, replicable, and behaviorally significant, especially with respect to social (vs. economic) dimensions of ideology. In general, liberals are more open-minded, creative, curious, and novelty seeking, whereas conservatives are more orderly, conventional, and better organized. [source] Emotions in action through the looking glass,THE JOURNAL OF ANALYTICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 1 2010Corrado Sinigaglia Abstract:, The paper aims at highlighting how our primary understanding of others' actions is rooted in the mirror mechanism. To this end, the anatomical architecture of the mirror neuron system for action will be outlined as well as its role in grasping goals and intentions in others' motor behaviour. One further step through the looking glass of social cognition will be referring to the ubiquitous emotional colouring of actions and considering its links with the motor domain. This will allow a clearer perspective on the mechanism underlying our abilities for emotional understanding and on cases in which these abilities are amiss, as in autistic spectrum disorders. Translations of Abstract Cet article vise à mettre l'accent sur la manière dont notre compréhension primaire des actions d'autrui s'enracine dans le mécanisme du miroir. A ces fins, sera esquissée l'architecture anatomique du système neuronal de l'action, de même que son rôle dans la saisie des buts et intentions du comportement moteur de l'autre. Un pas supplémentaire à travers le miroir réfléchissant de la cognition sociale et sera abordée la question de la coloration émotionnelle inhérente aux actions et de ses liens avec le domaine moteur. Ceci nous fournira une perspective plus claire du mécanisme sous-tendant nos aptitudes à la compréhension émotionnelle, notamment dans les cas où de telles aptitudes font défaut, à savoir les troubles de la sphère de l'autisme. Der Text beleuchtet, wie unser primäres Verstehen des Handelns anderer im Spiegelmechanismus wurzelt. Hierzu wird die anatomische Architektur des Spiegelneuronensystems nachgezeichnet sowie dessen Rolle beim Erfassen von Zielen und Absichten aus dem motorischen Verhalten anderer. Ein weiterer Blick durch die Brille sozialen Erkennens richtet sich auf die ubiquitäre emotionale Färbung von Handlungen sowie deren Verbindung zur Domäne des Motorischen. Dieses ermöglicht eine deutliche Perspektive auf die Mechanismen, die unseren Fähigkeiten zu sozialem Verstehen zugrundeliegen wie auch auf die Fälle, in denen diese Fähigkeiten fehlen, wie etwa in den Störungen des Formenkreises des Autismus. Questo lavoro si propone di mettere in luce in che modo la comprensione primaria delle azioni degli altri si radichi nel meccanismo del rispecchiamento. A questo scopo verrà delineata l'architettura anatomica per l'azione del sistema dei neuroni specchio oltre al suo ruolo nell'afferrare le mete e le intenzioni nel comportamento motorio degli altri. Un ulteriore passo attraverso lo specchio della conoscenza sociale sarà il riferimento alla colorazione emotiva dotata di ubiquità delle azioni e il considerare i suoi legami con il campo motorio. Ciò permetterà una prospettiva più chiara del meccanismo sottostante le nostre capacità di comprensione emotiva e della sua assenza in certi casi, come nei disturbi dello spettro autistico. El objetivo de este trabajo en destacar cómo nuestra comprensión primaria de las acciones de otros están arraigadas en el mecanismo de espejo. A este fin, será resumida la arquitectura anatómica del sistema de neuronas de espejo para la acción así como su papel para logar los objetivos e intenciones en la conducta motriz de otros. Un paso adicional en el espejo de la cognición social se refiere al ubicuo colorido emocional de acciones teniendo en cuenta sus lazos con el dominio motriz. Esto permitirá una perspectiva más clara en los mecanismo fundamentales de nuestras capacidades para la comprensión emocional y en casos en los que estas capacidades están dañadas, como en el espectro los desórdenes autistas. [source] Self-referenced memory, social cognition, and symptom presentation in autismTHE JOURNAL OF CHILD PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY AND ALLIED DISCIPLINES, Issue 7 2009Heather A. Henderson Background:, We examined performance on a self-referenced memory (SRM) task for higher-functioning children with autism (HFA) and a matched comparison group. SRM performance was examined in relation to symptom severity and social cognitive tests of mentalizing. Method:, Sixty-two children (31 HFA, 31 comparison; 8,16 years) completed a SRM task in which they read a list of words and decided whether the word described something about them, something about Harry Potter, or contained a certain number of letters. They then identified words that were familiar from a longer list. Dependent measures were memory performance (d,) in each of the three encoding conditions as well as a self-memory bias score (d, self,d, other). Children completed The Strange Stories Task and The Children's Eyes Test as measures of social cognition. Parents completed the SCQ and ASSQ as measures of symptom severity. Results:, Children in the comparison sample showed the standard SRM effect in which they recognized significantly more self-referenced words relative to words in the other-referenced and letter conditions. In contrast, HFA children showed comparable rates of recognition for self- and other-referenced words. For all children, SRM performance improved with age and enhanced SRM performance was related to lower levels of social problems. These associations were not accounted for by performance on the mentalizing tasks. Conclusions:, Children with HFA did not show the standard enhanced processing of self- vs. other-relevant information. Individual differences in the tendency to preferentially process self-relevant information may be associated with social cognitive processes that serve to modify the expression of social symptoms in children with autism. [source] Attributing Social Meaning to Ambiguous Visual Stimuli in Higher-functioning Autism and Asperger Syndrome: The Social Attribution TaskTHE JOURNAL OF CHILD PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY AND ALLIED DISCIPLINES, Issue 7 2000Ami Klin More able individuals with autism and Asperger syndrome (AS) have been shown to pass relatively high level theory of mind (ToM) tasks without displaying commensurate levels of social adaptation in naturalistic settings. This paper presents a social cognitive procedure,the Social Attribution Task (SAT),that reduces factors thought to facilitate ToM task performance without facilitating real-life social functioning. Sixty participants with autism (N= 20), AS (N= 20), and normally developing adolescents and adults (N= 20) with normative IQs were asked to provide narratives describing Heider and Simmel's (1944) silent cartoon animation in which geometric shapes enact a social plot. These narratives were coded in terms of the participants' abilities to attribute social meaning to the geometric cartoon. The SAT provides reliable and quantified scores on seven indices of social cognition. Results revealed marked deficits in both clinical groups across all indices. These deficits were not related to verbal IQ or level of metalinguistic skills. Individuals with autism and AS identified about a quarter of the social elements in the story, a third of their attributions were irrelevant to the social plot, and they used pertinent ToM terms very infrequently. They were also unable to derive psychologically based personality features from the shapes' movements. When provided with more explicit verbal information on the nature of the cartoon, individuals with AS improved their performance slightly more than those with autism, but not significantly so. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||