Social cognition: how our mind works in social situations

Human behavior depends a lot on each situation. One of the issues that psychology studies is that of social cognition..

We are going to try to delve into this field in order to understand what its relevance is and what interesting knowledge is contributing to psychology about a very important part of our behaviors and cognitions, as well as all the processes that there is behind

• Related article: "What is social psychology?"

What is social cognition?

social cognition is the part of psychology that studies the way in which human beings deal with social situations from a scientific point of view. That is, it tries to explain the mental processes that make us behave as we do with our peers and even with other living beings, especially those with which we have some kind of bond, such as pets.

Social cognition would therefore be a branch within social psychology. Within this area, the methods of cognitive psychology would be used as well as the knowledge provided by the theory of information processing to be able to analyze the thought processes that are hidden behind each psychological phenomenon of dye social.

Within this category, there are several processes that are of interest and that therefore make up the field of study of social cognition. They would be those that have to do with how we perceive social stimuli, the judgment we make of them, how we remember them, what effects social relationships have on the way we process data.

I would also look at the repercussions on the level of behavior among subjects who have all of those prior thought processes. All these factors are taken into account for the different existing levels in social psychology, that is, the one that concerns the person with herself (intrapersonal), the person with others (interpersonal), the group with himself (intragroup) and the group with others (intergroup).

The functioning of social cognition

Social cognition is a fundamental instrument of our psychology, since it encompasses a series of procedures thanks to which people are able to give a meaning to all the information that comes to us in the social field and, what is more important, allows us to know what is the correct way to behave in front of others people.

That is why it is essential to have a system that automatically collects all the indicators that we find in the information obtained from the environment. These stimuli are the ones that trigger the automatic reactions, which will go in one line or another depending on the personality of the person. person, but also the emotions you are feeling, the prejudices and stereotypes that arise and your own attitude towards the matter.

But in addition to these automatic reactions, behind social cognition there is also deliberate reasoning from information about peer situations. In this analysis, the subject's mind takes into account both the emotional context and the thoughts and even the intentionality of others with the specific interaction that is being carried out.

The process of social cognition is also fed back, because with each new social experience that the person has, it amplifies her knowledge and therefore learns and optimizes her responses in the future.

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The face as an element of social interaction

If we stop for a second to think about a typical social interaction, we will immediately realize that, normally, one of the key elements is the perception of others' faces. And it is that throughout the entire interaction, if eye contact is possible between both people, it will produce a constant feedback process between one and the other for the information that both emit and collect.

Through facial gestures, both conscious and unconscious, we are transmitting our emotions and our intentionality to others during the interaction. Sometimes this process is carried out with very obvious gestures but also with much more subtle changes, and it can even occur precisely through a lack of said gesticulation.

All these behaviors are valuable information that the other subject immediately collects, processes and in turn generates a series of behaviors (gesticulations) that will be returned to the initial person. This process occurs in a continuous and bidirectional manner until the interaction ends. It is evident, therefore, that the recognition of facial expressions is key to social cognition.

Of course, although the bulk of the information comes from the face, these signals are added to those of language, both by the face itself content such as the tone of voice used, the words chosen, the inflections and each detail in general of all those that make up the message. Likewise, body posture and non-verbal language will also provide valuable information.

Clearly, although this is an automatic process, Not everyone has the same ability to correctly and accurately analyze all the information that the other individual is providing them. just with a gesture. Therefore, people who show greater sensitivity in this task will start with a clear advantage at a social level compared to those who have more difficulties in it.

And it is that those who, thanks to their development in social cognition, have a greater capacity to analyze the emotions and intentions of In addition, they will be able to obtain a greater understanding of their neighbor, anticipate their feelings and reactions and even guide the behavior of others to their own. favor. It is one of the qualities of great leaders.

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Social cognition in dogs

Social cognition has been extensively studied in humans, but is still largely unexplored terrain in other species.. However, there are some studies, such as the one that Dr. Emily Bray and her collaborators carried out in 2020 with puppies. of the Labrador and Golden breed, breeds generally used to help people with various alterations in their capabilities.

In this study, a series of experiments were carried out with puppies of about nine weeks of age in order to learn more about the thought processes and emotional processes that take place in these animals in certain social situations, in comparison with the results previously obtained with adult dogs in other studies.

One of the questions Bray wondered about social cognition in dogs was whether their understanding of certain human signals was innate or learned. The results seem to lead to the following conclusions.

First of all, it seems that certain social skills appear in these animals at a very early age. Said abilities also appear to be innate, since the dogs had not yet had interactions with humans of the type that is described. they looked for in the experiments and it is not likely that they learned them during the experiments, since they appeared from the beginning of said experiments. studies. Another of the most surprising conclusions is that these degrees also seem to be heritable.

The subjects that were more adept at certain tasks were descendants of adult dogs that were, indeed, more adept at the behaviors the researchers were looking for. This discovery supports the idea that social cognition potential can be artificially selected to achieve breeds more adept at this particular issue, as in fact happens.

The types of exercises that the puppies in the study were subjected to in order to reach these conclusions were basically four tests in which their social cognition was evaluated. In the first one, the researcher presented the animal with two containers of food, at an identical distance, but she pointed to one of them with her hand. Dogs tended to choose such a container with a higher probability.

The second trial was similar to the first, but instead of pointing, the researcher placed an object in front of one of the stimuli. The dog chose significantly more times the one he had been marked with.

In the third exercise, the puppy's reaction to the presence of the human was simply checked, another way of checking his social cognition.

Finally, each dog was presented with an exercise in which there was food inside a closed container, which in no way could it be opened. In other words, it was an exercise with no solution, in which the animal's reaction was observed. In this case it was verified that the puppies sought visual contact with the researcher, in search of instructions on how to proceed.

Bibliographic references:

• Bray, E.E., Gruen, M.E., Gnanadesikan, G.E., Horschler, D.J., Levy, K.M., Kennedy, B.S., Hare, B.A.,MacLean, E.L. (2020). Cognitive characteristics of 8-to 10-week-old assistance dog puppies. Animal Behavior. Elsevier.
• Fiske, S.T., Taylor, S.E. (1991). McGraw-Hill series in social psychology. Social cognition. McGraw-Hill Book Company.
• Flavell, J.H., Miller, P.H. (1998). Social cognition. In W. Damon (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 2. Cognition, perception, and language. John Wiley & Sons Inc.
• Frith, C.D. (2008). Social cognition. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. The Royal Society Publishing.