social cognition

Examples of social cognition in the following topics:

• Criticisms of the Social-Cognitive Pespective on Personality

  • Critics of the social-cognitive theory of personality argue that it is not a unified theory and does not explain development over time.
  • The social-cognitive theory of personality emphasizes both learning and cognition as sources of individual differences in personality.
  • One of the main criticisms of the social-cognitive theory is that it is not a unified theory.
  • Because of this, it can be difficult to quantify the effect that social cognition has on development.
  • Critics of social-cognitive theory argue that the theory does not provide a full explanation of how social cognition, behavior, environment, and personality are related (known as "reciprocal determinism").

• Social Cognition

  • Social cognition, like general cognition, uses schemas to help people form judgments and conclusions about the world.
  • Similarly, a notable theory of social cognition is social-schema theory.
  • In social cognition, salience is the degree to which a particular social object stands out relative to other social objects in a situation.
  • Social psychologists have become increasingly interested in the influence of culture on social cognition.
  • Studies have found that culture influences social cognition in other ways too.

• Bandura's and Rotter's Social-Cognitive Theories of Personality

  • Bandura's and Rotter's social-cognitive theories of personality emphasize cognitive processes, such as thinking and judging.
  • Social-cognitive theories of personality emphasize the role of cognitive processes, such as thinking and judging, in the development of personality.
  • Social cognition is basically social thought, or how the mind processes social information; social-cognitive theory describes how individuals think and react in social situations.
  • How the mind works in a social setting is extremely complicated—emotions, social desirability factors, and unconscious thoughts can all interact and affect social cognition in many ways.
  • Two major figures in social cognitive-theory are behaviorist Albert Bandura and clinical psychologist Julian Rotter.

• What is Social Constructivism?

  • Social constructivism emphasizes the importance of culture and context in understanding what occurs in society and constructing knowledge based on this understanding (Derry, 1999; McMahon, 1997).
  • This perspective is closely associated with many contemporary theories, most notably the developmental theories of Vygotsky and Bruner, and Bandura's social cognitive theory (Shunk, 2000).

• History of Cognition

  • The word "cognition" is the closest scientific synonym for thinking.
  • Human cognition takes place at both conscious and unconscious levels.
  • Some of the most important figures in the study of cognition are:
  • The study of human cognition began over two thousand years ago.
  • For example, in psychology, "cognition" usually refers to processing of neural information; in social psychology the term "social cognition" refers to attitudes and group attributes.

• Cognitive Development in Adolescence

  • In adolescence, changes in the brain interact with experience, knowledge, and social demands and produce rapid cognitive growth.
  • Adolescence is a time for rapid cognitive development.
  • Biological changes in brain structure and connectivity in the brain interact with increased experience, knowledge, and changing social demands to produce rapid cognitive growth.
  • Metacognition is relevant in social cognition and results in increased introspection, self-consciousness, and intellectualization.
  • However, adolescents seem to give more weight to rewards, particularly social rewards, than do adults.

• General Perspectives of Social Constructivism on Learning

  • Social constructivists see as crucial both the context in which learning occurs and the social contexts that learners bring to their learning environment.
  • Cognitive tools perspective: Cognitive tools perspective focuses on the learning of cognitive skills and strategies.
  • Students engage in those social learning activities that involve hands-on project-based methods and utilization of discipline-based cognitive tools (Gredler, 1997; Prawat & Folden, 1994).
  • Pragmatic or emergent approach: Social constructivists with this perspective assert that the implementation of social constructivism in class should be emergent as the need arises (Gredler, 1997).
  • Transactional or situated cognitive perspectives: This perspective focuses on the relationship between the people and their environment.

• Social Constructivism and Instructional Models

  • Instructional models based on the social constructivist perspective stress the need for collaboration among learners and with practitioners in the society (Lave & Wenger, 1991; McMahon, 1997).
  • Lave and Wenger (1991) assert that a society's practical knowledge is situated in relations among practitioners, their practice, and the social organization and political economy of communities of practice.
  • Social constructivist approaches can include reciprocal teaching, peer collaboration, cognitive apprenticeships, problem-based instruction, webquests, anchored instruction and other methods that involve learning with others (Shunk, 2000).

• Cognitive Psychology

  • "Cognition" refers to thinking and memory processes, and "cognitive development" refers to long-term changes in these processes.
  • Much of the work derived from cognitive psychology has been integrated into various other modern disciplines of psychological study, including social psychology, personality psychology, abnormal psychology, developmental psychology, educational psychology, and behavioral economics.
  • Major areas of research in cognitive psychology include perception, memory, categorization, knowledge representation, numerical cognition, language, and thinking.
  • Though there are examples of cognitive approaches from earlier researchers, cognitive psychology really developed as a subfield within psychology in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
  • Piaget is best known for his stage theory of cognitive development.

• Cognitive Learning and Sociobiology

  • Cognitive learning relies on cognitive processes such as reasoning and abstract thinking; it is much more efficient than conditioning.
  • In the reverse scenario, conditioning cannot help someone learn about cognition.
  • Sociobiology is an interdisciplinary science originally popularized by social insect researcher E.O.
  • Wilson defined the science as "the extension of population biology and evolutionary theory to social organization."
  • The main thrust of sociobiology is that animal and human behavior, including aggressiveness and other social interactions, can be explained almost solely in terms of genetics and natural selection.