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Development of Social Cognition

Development of Social Cognition. Sense of self. Learning objectives. To define what we mean by social cognition To explain how we develop a sense of self and how this is tested To apply “Theory of mind” to sense of self development. So far we have looked at….

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Development of Social Cognition

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  1. Development of Social Cognition Sense of self

  2. Learning objectives • To define what we mean by social cognition • To explain how we develop a sense of self and how this is tested • To apply “Theory of mind” to sense of self development

  3. So far we have looked at… • Theories of Cognitive development • Piaget • Vygotsky • Theories of Moral development • Kohlberg • Piaget

  4. Development of social cognition • The mental processes by which information concerning ourselves and others is understood • The understanding of information relating to others

  5. Sense of self • The ability to self-recognise • To know that we are separate from other people • This ability is needed for social interactions to occur

  6. Testing the sense of self • This is done using the “mirror test” – Lewis and Brooks-Gunn (1979) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8311498.stm Thought to develop between the age of 1 and 2 – by 21 months 70% of infants were touching the dot Main evaluation point – lack of language in small children, making conclusions difficult to arrive at

  7. Theory of Mind (ToM) • Until we have a sense of self, we cannot develop a theory of mind – this links to understanding others • ToM refers to the ability to understand our own thoughts and feelings and the thoughts and feelings of others. For example, understanding that a friend who is about to take an exam is feeling nervous even if we are not • We are putting ourselves in other peoples shoes – taking their perspective • Generally thought that children over 4 years of age possess a ToM

  8. Testing Theory of Mind… • False belief tasks: • Smarties tests • Sally-Ann Task https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41jSdOQQpv0 Watch the video clip and outline the methods of the two tasks in your booklets – make sure you include what the responses should be if a child does have theory of mind

  9. ToM and autism • Baron-Cohen et al (1985): • The Sally-Ann task was carried out on 61 children aged between 6 and 17 with matched mental ages • 20 autistic children, 14 with Down’s Syndrome, 27 normally developing children • Results showed that 85% of children who were normally developing and with Down’s Syndrome could correctly answer, showing they possessed ToM • Only 20% of autistic children answered correctly • Autistic children have difficulty putting themselves in someone else's shoes

  10. Linking sense of self, ToM and autism • Until we develop a sense of self we cannot develop a Theory of Mind or understand others. • Based on evidence by Baren-Cohen, it is thought that in autism, ToM fails to develop • Autism is therefore a creditable example of what might happen if the development of the self, and hence of Theory of Mind, goes wrong. • Main symptoms of autism – difficulty in social communication and interaction

  11. Evaluation of sense of self theory • Issues with research • IDA Complete the cut and stick to decide which points are limitations of research and which are related to IDA

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