Chapter 13 Social Cognition thinking about perceptions thoughts emotions motives and behaviors of self other people groups and even whole social systems the ability to understand human psychology Theory of Mind understanding that people have mental states desires beliefs intentions that guide behavior o Children do not have a theory of mind False Belief Task assesses the understanding that people can hold inaccurate beliefs that can influence behavior Ex Hiding object person leaves room comes back and it s not where it was hidden but they think it is Achieve by 4 years Foundation for later social cognitive development Precursors to theory of mind Joint attention looking at the same object at the same time Imitation imitation of other people in the first year of life reveals an ability to mentally represent their actions and very likely the goals or intentions behind them Pretend play shared goal between two people two people sharing a situation Ex They know difference between pretend tea party and a fake one exaggerated lip smacking when they drink from a cup Intention understanding children look more at intention they under stand good and bad intentions helpers and hinderers Emotional understanding understanding that other people have emotions and that these emotions can be influenced for good or bad Deception lying 3 year olds can t do it but by 4 they can Desire psychology explain own and others behaviors in terms of what they want 18M Ex Broccoli and cracker study Belief desire psychology people behave because they desire things and believe their actions will help fulfill their desires They appreciate that people do what they do because the desire certain things and because they believe that certain actions will help them fulfill their desires Related to passing the false belief task at 4 years old Age Birth to 2 Achievements Joint attention understanding of intentions pretend play imitation emotional understanding Desire psychology Belief desire psychology Understanding of second order beliefs sarcasm different views of reality Age 2 Age 4 Age 5 and beyond Nature provides innate skills adaptive to functioning in a social group Nonhuman primates have basic theory of mind skills Requires biological maturation at certain age children everywhere develop the same Mirror neurons neurons that are activated both when we perform an action and when we observe someone else perform the same action Through mirror neuron systems we make sense of other people by drawing on what we know of ourselves Impaired in individuals with autism Makes sense of others by drawing on self knowledge Nurture requires interaction and environmental input Siblings children with siblings seem to grasp the elements of a theory of mind earlier than children without siblings Sensitive parents who talk about mental states of others to their children contribute to the development of theory of mind of their children Requires language Children do not construct their theories of mind on their own instead they construct them jointly with others during conversations about mental states Combination of nature and nurture o Describing and Evaluating Others Preschool School Age Later school age and adolescence Physical traits possessions activities or global traits Preschool children do not yet seem to understand traits as enduring qualities that predict how a person will behave in the future and explain why a person behaves as he does Enduring psychological traits 7 8 Around 7 or 8 children s descriptions of people show that they think about others in terms of their enduring psychological traits Traits explain behaviors 11 12 Make more use of psychological traits to explain why people behave as they do ex Mike pulled the dogs tail because he is cruel Integrated distinct personality profiles adolescence They see people as unique individuals with distinctive personality traits interests values and feelings Moreover they are able to create more integrated or organized person descriptions analyzing how an individual s often inconsistent traits fir together and make sense as a whole personality o Social perspective taking thoughts and feelings Social perspective skills the ability to adopt another s perspective and understand their Essential in thinking about moral issues and predicting action Improves if parents provide perspective taking examples Advances in social cognition are more likely if parents are good models of perspective taking consider their children s feelings and thoughts and rely on explanation rather than punishment in disciplining them Leads to positive peer relationships children with advanced perspective taking skills are likely to be sociable and popular and enjoy good relationships with peers Roots of empathy o Social perspective taking in adulthood More gains than losses Social cognitive skills hold up well to aging despite declines in fluid intelligence Declines may be due to mental capacity overload Perspectives on Moral Development o Morality the ability to distinguish right from wrong act on this discrimination and experience pride when we do right things or guilt shame when we do not Cognitive distinguish right from wrong Behavioral act accordingly Affective emotional experience pride and guilt or shame Empathy vicarious experiencing of another person s feelings Prosocial Behavior positive acts that reflect concern for other s welfare o o o Antisocial Behavior behavior that violates social norms rules or laws and often involve harm o Moral affect Psychoanalytic Theory Moral affect emotion related to right and wrong Motivated to avoid negative moral emotions Empathy motivates prosocial behavior Superego conscience formed during phallic stage 3 6 yrs Oedipus Electra complex children are presumed to experience an emotional conflict over their love for other sex parent and resolve it by identifying with the same sex parent taking on the parent s moral standards as his or her own Internalization of parental morals Responsive parenting important o Cognitive Development Theory Moral Reasoning thinking process involved in deciding whether an act is right or wrong Universal stages represents a consistent way of thinking about moral issues Interest in how we decide what to do what is of interest is how we decide what to do not what we decide of what we actually do Reciprocity equal give and take in relationship ask whether things are fair from multiple points of view Piaget s views focus on thinking process