Social Cognition

Introduction

“Social cognition” is the unique process that refers to the aspects of mental processing shaped by social intervention, real or imagined, and influenced by subsequent social behaviour. “Social cognition” refers to a research orientation that engages cognitive principles to analyse and investigate social psychological principles such as social inference and social perception. Here, social information is processed in a more conscious and controlled manner. This process considers others’ thoughts, emotions, and intentions while using acquired knowledge about social concepts and sequences of behaviour that typically occur in social inferences. After perceiving and interpreting social information, a behavioural response is selected and enacted, requiring executive and regulatory processes. 

They navigate our environments efficiently. Development psychologists study the development of “social cognition” abilities. Social cognition concerns various psychological processes that make a person part of a social group. The various social signals that enable us to learn about the world are of major importance to social cognition. In many ways, the field of social cognition is reinventing itself. Efforts to improve methods and reevaluate old theories, integrate knowledge from adjacent academic disciplines, expand research on diverse populations, study technology’s influence on human (and robot) interaction, and assess cognition that emerges outside the individual are exciting developments.

Social Cognitive Theory

The social cognitive theory is the most widely used and strongest health behaviour change theory. The social cognitive theory emerged from the social learning theory that people learn from their own experiences and observations of others’ experiences.

A Bobo doll experiment was used to teach social cognitive theory. Adults were initially placed in a room with multiple Bobo dolls in this experiment. The adults acted violently, which was videotaped, and the footage was presented to the children before they were permitted to play in a room filled with toys. As the adults in the movie, children were violent toward the Bobo doll (Cherry, 2014). Due to this research, Bandura discovered that children learn by observing and modelling certain behaviours. This idea spawned the Social Cognitive Theory.

Assumptions of “Social Cognitive Theory”

• Learning from others and modelling.
• Internal processes and/or cognition of observed behaviour may or may not lead to the learned behaviour.
• Behaviour is motivation driven.
• Behaviour is self-regulated.
• Punishment and reinforcement have indirect effects on learning.

There are three major constructs in social cognitive theory that influence behaviour:

• Personal factors
• Environmental factors
• Behaviour

There are two additional constructs in social cognitive theory: goal setting and social support. The constructs were consistently and strongly associated with physical activity participation among adults. Goal-setting can positively impact learning new health behaviours like physical activities to enhance oneself when challenging and achievable goals are set. When it is not challenging, they decrease one’s efficiency. Based on the social cognitive theory, cognitive processes promote self-management behaviour by improving knowledge, self-efficacy, and problem-solving skills.

Types of learning

There are two types of learning.

Enactive learning is learning by doing and experiencing the outcome of your actions that provide information.

Vicarious learning is learning by observing, not by performance. Learning by watching must only focus on constructing images, remembering, analysing, and making decisions.

In social cognitive theory, we talk about models, and these models can be real people we meet every day. They can be teachers, friends, or anybody else. Models can also come from books, magazines, or any TV show. Models influence one’s behaviour either positively or negatively. Models can be real or symbolic. They have prestige and power, and they are competent. There is also a weakness in this theory that it is loosely structured. It doesn’t trigger an emotional response. It ignores the biological factors. It assumes that all behaviour results from modelling, not genetics, illness, or other factors.

Social Cognitive Theory Examples

Chattanooga CARES has a program called Healthy Relationships, which is an HIV/AIDS intervention group. The program is based on social cognition theory and employs skill-building exercises to encourage individuals to participate in the formation of healthy habits. There are several social cognitive theory examples. One of the social cognitive theory examples is HoMBReS. It is a community-based intervention to reduce the risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases in rural areas of the United States.

We can also think of a time we have learned a skilled behaviour from observing another person. For example, we may learn behaviour by seeing our parents bring food to a homeless person or by observing our mother. These are everyday social cognitive theory examples. People can learn both positively and relatively. For example, being polite and courteous is learned through role models who were so aggressive and violent in their youth. Suppose a child observes their parents going to work every day, volunteering at a local community centre and helping their significant other with tasks around the home. In that case, they are likely to mimic your behaviour. If rewarded, those behaviours become reinforced and most likely repeated by the individual. These are some of the social cognitive theory examples.

Conclusion

As we are skilled and efficient at making these judgements and predictions, as evidenced by the studies given in this section, they are not produced in a vacuum. Finally, our vision of the social environment is a subjective one, and our choices are impacted by our past experiences, expectations, emotions, motives, and current circumstances. Knowing when our judgements are most accurate and how social influences shape our judgements prepares us to be better positioned to appreciate and potentially counter their effects.