Component Of Social Cognition Research Articles

Predictors of Marital Burnout in Pregnant Women Based on Social Cognitive Theory Components

Background & aim: Pregnancy is considered a critical period in marital life and any changes can lead to marital burnout in pregnant women. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the predictors of marital burnout in pregnant women in Gonabad, based on social cognitive theory components. Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was performed on 261 pregnant women in Gonabad, Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. The required data were collected using questionnaires, namely a demographic information form, the Couple Burnout Measure, and a lf-structured questionnaire based on social cognitive theory. The data were analyzed in SPSS software (version 25) using Spearman's coefficient, Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney U test, and linear regression. Results: The mean age of pregnant mothers was obtained at 28.69±5.47 and they were at 23.67±9.91 weeks of pregnancy. It was revealed that all components of social cognitive theory, except outcome expectation, were significantly associated with marital burnout. This model was able to predict 15% of marital burnout in pregnant women. It was also found that the components of skills (P=0.006), understanding of the situation (P=0.041), self-efficacy of overcoming obstacles (P=0.128), and self-efficacy (P=0.153) were the strongest predictors of marital burnout in descending order. Conclusion: In this study, the components of skills and understanding of the situation were found to be the most important predictors of marital burnout in pregnant mothers. It is suggested to use this theory, and especially focus more on these variables, in designing educational programs to reduce problems caused by marital burnout in pregnant women.

The Soviet person in post-Soviet time. Reflections on the book by V. I. Tolstykh “We Were. The Soviet Person As He Is”

The subject of this article is the evolution of Marxism in our country. Reflecting on the problems articulated by V. I. Tolstykh, the author discusses the professional convention as one of the mechanisms for transforming Marxist doctrine from the theory of revolutionary reform of society into the ideology, which justifies the totalitarian regime. This convention implies the right to misunderstanding and the right to ignorance. The first has two key tasks: 1) isolate the narration from profane interest, and 2) isolate the narration from “theoretical and political mistakes”. Misunderstanding as a latent component of social cognition and fundamental ignorance as limitation of the subject horizon of the theory of the “developed socialism” played a crucial role in metamorphoses of the Marxist thought in Russia. The following conclusions were made: either the philosopher confronts the world as a cognizing subject subordinated only to the interests of cognition, or he subordinates cognition to the interests of the world, primarily social. In the first case, the language must appropriately express what did not exist in mentality, language, and culture prior to it, while in the second case, the language is a means to safely glide over the surface of being, ensuring the faultlessly built theoretical scheme. In this case, philosophy, without explaining the world, gives the recipes for adaptation, survival, apology, and acceptance. The conflict of benefits and principles is resolved by aligning them, so that the theoretician formulates his position as sincerely ministering to the interests (of the party, doctrine, fundamental principles) of power. The author outlines two positions in defending the right to misunderstanding: the first suggest complication of language for preserving the authorial position; the second is the creation of theoretical schemes focused not on the real problems, but own logic. Misunderstanding as one of the strongholds of the thought is bounded up with ignorance. This allowed narrowing down the object horizon of science (theory), excluding the urgent problematic arbitrarily.

Regrouping scalets: Psychometric properties of the theory of mind picture stories task in a schizophrenic sample

ABSTRACT Theory of mind is one of the most intensively studied phenomena in the development of schizophrenic symptoms and impairments in social adjustment. Complex theory of mind processing requires both visual and verbal aspects of the social-perceptual and social-cognitive components of mind reading. Reliable assessment methods are considered essential for the proper conduct of research. The current study aims at investigating the psychometric properties of the Theory of Mind Picture Stories Task (ToM PST). Forty-seven patients with schizophrenia were enrolled in the study from three sites. Data from ToM PST were used for computing the consistency, reliability, and internal and construct validity of the test. Our preliminary findings showed less appropriate consistency. Therefore, we attempted to carry out structural changes on the task while preserving its scales and subscales, which measure crucial factors of ToM. The newly structured task has four scales. They show proper consistency (Sequencing: Cronbach's α = 0.70, Theory of a Single Person's Mind: α = 0.74, Switching Between Minds: α = 0.70, Comprehension of Misleading Behaviour: α = 0.67, Total: α = 0.80) with appropriate internal and construct validity, a moderate test-retest reliability over a four-month-course, and a proper inter-rater reliability.

SINTONIAS CORPÓREAS:NEUROCIÊNCIA AFETIVA E EMPATIA

In recent decades, neurosciences have reached considerable goals in understanding mental processes and human behavior, overcoming the classic separations between mind and body, reason and passion, penetrating the maze of our cognitive and emotional life to explain their rootedness in the body and the their interactions with the environment. And if until not many years ago psychological and neuroscientific research neglected the study of emotional life to focus only on cognitive functions tout court, today there is even a dedicated sector called affective Neuroscience. By broadly reconstructing the general panorama of neuroscience, and of the affective ones in particular, this essay focuses on the contribution that research on mirror neurons has made to understanding the mechanisms of intersubjectivity and above all that component of social cognition that is empathy. The goal is to understand how we recognize the emotions of others and to explain what the human ability to interpret the actions and intentions of others as if they were ours, to know better how we work and how we relate to others. Research on mirror neurons, within an embodied perspective, shows how the brain is an organ linked to a body that acts, moves and feels in its unceasing interaction with the world. Keywords: Neuroscience. Affective Neurosciences. Emotions. Empathy. Mirror neurons. Embodied cognition.

Neural network of social interaction observation in marmosets.

A crucial component of social cognition is to observe and understand the social interactions of other individuals. A promising nonhuman primate model for investigating the neural basis of social interaction observation is the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus), a small New World primate that shares a rich social repertoire with humans. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging acquired at 9.4 T to map the brain areas activated by social interaction observation in awake marmosets. We discovered a network of subcortical and cortical areas, predominately in the anterior lateral frontal and medial frontal cortex, that was specifically activated by social interaction observation. This network resembled that recently identified in Old World macaque monkeys. Our findings suggest that this network is largely conserved between New and Old World primates and support the use of marmosets for studying the neural basis of social cognition.

Theory of mind in bipolar disorder: a review

Bipolar disorder (DB) is associated with an impairment in socio-cognitive functioning in both the acute and, to a lesser extent, the euthymic phase. Several neuroimaging and behavioral studies have evaluated social cognition, especially theory of mind (ToM), in people with bipolar disorder, in attempt to identify clinical features, its role and severity. A bibliographical research of controlled studies from January 1999 to April 2018 was completed in PubMed and PsycINFO using the keywords "Bipolar Disorder" and "Theory of mind", "Mirror neuron system". During the euthymic phase patients with bipolar disorder show a different pattern in different ToM tasks, compared to healthy controls. Some studies show how these anomalies also involve the mirror neuron system, a network closely connected to the neural structures underlying the ToM. The studies evaluate only one component of social cognition and not all studies include a control group. Research supports the role of ToM deficits in DB as a relevant clinical element in the complex model of this disorder, especially in interpersonal functioning, offering possibilities for further research and treatment integration.

Validation de la mini-SEA dans une population française variée : données de référence pour la pratique clinique

Social cognition, referring to humans’ abilities to process social information in order to efficiently interact with each other, is impaired in a wide range of clinical groups. Among them, patients with behavioral variant frontotemporal lobar degeneration (bvFTD) have been found to present deficits in emotion recognition and mental state inference. Based on these components of social cognition, the mini-SEA battery was developed a dozen years ago and is widely used today with patients suffering from a variety of conditions. However, national normative studies are still lacking. The aim of the present study is to provide such normative reference data for French participants and to evaluate the psychometric qualities of the mini-SEA. 150 healthy participants were assessed with the mini-SEA. We found that performance decreased with the age of participants, and we observed a general, though small, advantage for women participants. Sensitivity analyses revealed that both sub-tests are relatively easy for healthy participants. However, emotion recognition performance appeared to depend on the type of emotions displayed. Internal consistency and reliability both appeared to be satisfactory, although these dimensions should be investigated in greater depth in future studies. Finally, the mini-SEA showed good clinical validity, as reflected by excellent specificity and sensitivity values.

Investigation of the Influential Factors in Leading People to Seek Mobile Information for the Promotion of Health-Related Behaviors

This study explored the cognitive structures that influence mobile information seekers’ intentions of promoting health behaviors. Using a nationwide self-reported survey (n = 1010) conducted by a national research institute in Korea, the present study conducted multiple regression analyses and moderated mediation tests for its analysis. The results showed that two of the three social cognitive components—i.e., health information orientation (HIO) and e-health literacy (EHL)—had a positive effect on users’ mobile health information seeking behaviors (MHIS), whereas informational social support (ISS) did not. Furthermore, the effects of the social cognition factors varied based on the type of health-promoting behaviors, and the types of health-related behavior predicted by the three factors also differed. Moreover, HIO was a factor that affected only nutritional intake among all of the health promotion behaviors, while ISS was a critical factor that predicted most health-related behaviors, except for the participants’ regular exercise (REX). The findings also indicated that the respondents’ levels of health efficacy and the extent of their health-related information seeking on mobile devices partially mediated the associations between the independent variables and their health-related behavioral outcomes. Among the mediated moderation effects of the three factors in social cognition theory (SCT), only the mediated effects of EHL were found to be significant. Based on these findings, the present study highlighted that the predictors of health-promoting behaviors may vary according to the features of the information seekers. The further implications of the study are also discussed.

Take a Seat and Get Into Its Shoes! When Humans Spontaneously Represent Visual Scenes From the Point of View of Inanimate Objects.

Human description of the surrounding world may spontaneously rely on others' perspective, which is a crucial component of social cognition. In five studies, participants were asked to describe the spatial relations between objects in visual scenes including, or not, other agents. In Experiment 1, a substantial proportion of participants used an other-centered perspective in the presence of another agent, replicating classical findings. To our own surprise, we also observed that an even greater number of participants used an other-centered perspective when the human agent was replaced by an armchair. In order to explore this phenomenon, Experiments 2 to 5 compared the respective strength of chair-centered and agent-centered perspectives and/or set them into conflict. A significant proportion of participants spontaneously took the seat's perspective even when it may not be sat on (Experiments 3 and 4) and even when the seat was not referred to (Experiments 4 and 5). Altogether, these findings suggest that perspective taking may spontaneously apply to inanimate objects. These results question whether such tendencies originate from social cognitive skills-as classically assumed-or reveal a nonsocial phenomenon. Future works should specifically test the widely assumed social nature of spontaneous perspective-taking.

Designer receptor inhibition suggests mechanism for monkey Theory of Mind.

Theory of Mind (ToM) is a critical component of human social cognition that has not been found reliably in other primates, especially monkeys. Hayashi et al. (Cell Reports, 30, 4433-4444, 2020) used newly developed behavioral techniques to detect evidence for ToM in Japanese macaque monkeys and employed sophisticated neurobiological manipulations to implicate the medial prefrontal cortex is this capacity.

Psychometric assessment of social cognitive tasks

Although there has been a marked increase in interest in social cognition (SC) in recent years, psychometric data relating to many tasks used to measure its components remain limited in healthy populations with only five articles published to date. It is accordingly premature to speak of a consensus concerning the specific components, or best tests of the components, and possible cultural differences. The present study sought to partially fill that gap, examining the psychometric properties of a battery of SC tasks in a sample of 100 healthy adults aged 18–85 years old. Initially, nine tasks assessing four SC components were selected: emotion recognition, theory of mind, attributional bias, and social judgment. Construct validity and criterion-related validity were assessed using factor and correlational analyses. Performance across age and sex groups was also investigated. Reliability was assessed through internal consistency, interrater and intercoder agreement. Results indicated satisfactory properties for the Ambiguous Intentions Hostility Questionnaire-blame score, the Social Judgment Task, the Facial Emotions Recognition Test, and a modified version of the Strange Stories Task. Statistically significant differences were found between the groups with regard to age and sex after accounting for demographic and cognitive factors. However, the correlations of these measures with relationship quality were mostly very low, raising questions about their concomitant validity. Other tasks showed sub-optimal properties, suggesting that some frequently used tests require further validation or modifications to ensure the quality of research findings. Based on the results, recommended measures for future studies and limitations are discussed.

The Relationship between Social Cognition and Executive Functions in Alzheimer's Disease: A Systematic Review.

Social Cognition (SC) is a complex construct that reflects a wide variety of implicit and explicit cognitive processes. Many neurocognitive domains are associated with SC and the Executive Function (EF) is the most representative one. We conducted a systematic review aiming at clarifying whether SC impairments are associated with dysfunction on EF in people with Alzheimer Disease (AD). The search, based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta- Analyses (PRISMA), was undertaken between January 2007 and December 2019 using Pubmed, SciELO, BIREME and Thomson Reuters Web of Science electronic databases. The keywords were SC, AD, EF, Neuropsychological functioning and Executive Disorder. One hundred thirty-six articles were identified and fifteen were included. These studies are not in agreement about the extent of SC deficits in AD, mainly in the mild stage of the disease. EF deficits, specifically inhibition and the ability to manipulate verbal information, are associated with the impairment in SC in AD. SC decreases with the disease progression, a relationship explained by global cognition impairment and SC specific symptoms. SC impairment is associated with disease progression, mainly because of the decline in EF. Studies on SC components are unequal, contributing to a frequent generalization of Theory of Mind results, and often hampering the investigation of other components, mainly empathy. More precise knowledge about SC functioning in AD may contribute to a better understanding of the behavioral changes and interpersonal interactions.

Bilingual Infants are More Sensitive to Morally Relevant Social Behavior than Monolingual Infants

ABSTRACT Forming social evaluations of others is a core component of social cognition. In this study, the relationship between bilingual experience and social evaluations was investigated in 8-month-old infants. We compared monolingual and bilingual infants’ responses to third-party interactions where characters performed prosocial and antisocial actions toward a neutral actor. The same prosocial and antisocial characters were then rewarded by positive acts or punished by negative acts performed by “givers” and “takers,” respectively. Results demonstrated that bilingual infants preferred prosocial agents whereas monolingual infants did not prefer prosocial or antisocial agents. Moreover, bilingual infants demonstrated selective preferences for actors who rewarded prosocial actors as well as for those who punished antisocial actors. In contrast, monolingual infants preferred actors who rewarded prosocial characters, but demonstrated no preference for actors who punished antisocial characters. Results point to heightened social sensitivity on the part of bilingual infants in evaluating morally relevant social events. Findings are discussed in terms of possible mechanisms that may link bilingual exposure and social evaluations in infancy.

Thinking of you: Relations between mind‐mindedness, theory of mind, and social anxiety traits in middle childhood and adulthood

AbstractThe mapping of developmental relations between social cognition and real‐world social behaviors has theoretical and practical importance. In the domain of social anxiety, however, studies examining links between social cognitive ability and anxiety have produced mixed results. One potential explanation is that varied facets of social cognition are differentially linked to social anxiety across development. To better understand how social cognition relates to social anxiety, we assessed multiple facets of two important social cognitive capacities—mind‐mindedness and theory of mind— in school‐aged children aged 7–12 and young adults aged 18–24. We also measured social anxiety traits. We found that, across ages, mind‐mindedness and theory of mind were not related to each other. Additionally, for children and adults, higher levels of social anxiety correlated with higher levels of mind‐mindedness toward close social partners, indicating an increased propensity to describe partners using mental state terms. By contrast, social anxiety was not correlated with theory of mind, which measured the ability to decipher or attribute mental states to photographs, videos, or story characters. These findings offer insight into how different components of social cognition are related and how more naturalistic measures of social cognition involving relationships may relate to social anxiety across development.

The role of alexithymia in social cognition: Evidence from a non-clinical population

BackgroundAlexithymia is a personality construct characterised by difficulty in identifying and describing one's emotions. We investigated whether people with alexithymia, who struggle with emotion-processing abilities, have diminished emotion-related social cognitive competencies, where social cognition encompasses the set of abilities that allows one to navigate one's social environment. MethodsWe assessed alexithymia and four components of social cognition: recognition of others’ emotions, representation of others’ affective and cognitive mental states, empathy, and regulation of one's own feelings. We investigated whether alexithymia could significantly predict each of these components, beyond the effect of other individual difference variables (i.e., anxiety/depressive symptoms), which have been previously associated with both social cognition and alexithymia.Two hundred six participants were recruited. Multiple hierarchical regression analyses were performed to assess the possible relationships between alexithymia and social cognition skills. ResultsAlexithymia significantly predicted emotion recognition, empathy, and emotional regulation, even after controlling for the effect of potentially competing factors (i.e., anxiety/depressive symptoms). Alexithymia did not predict representation of others’ affective and cognitive mental states. LimitationsThe present study adopted a cross-sectional design, which does not permit us to draw firm conclusions about the causality of the emergent relationships. ConclusionsThese data provide support for the argument that recognising others’ emotions and feelings relies on the ability to identify correctly one's own feelings. Our results also indicate the importance of taking into consideration individual differences in levels of alexithymia when investigating social cognition in non-clinical populations, as alexithymia appears to be clearly related to social cognitive functioning.

S68. DIFFERENTIAL PATTERN OF SOCIAL COGNITION IMPAIRMENT BETWEEN RURAL AND URBAN DWELLING PATIENTS OF SCHIZOPHRENIA AND ITS FUNCTIONAL CORRELATES

BackgroundCognitive deficits (both neuro & social Cognition) play a vital role in determining functional status in schizophrenia. It has been noted that functional outcomes are relatively better in Indian rural settings. This suggests that cognition might be better in rural patients. Considering the prevailing vast cultural differences there is paucity of research which delineates the differences in social cognition and its impact on the functional outcomes between rural and urban setups. Hence, we aim to explore differential impairment in social cognition in patients with schizophrenia residing in rural versus urban settings and their impact on real-world functioning.Methods122 patients diagnosed with either schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder from the rural taluk of Thirthahalli and Turuvekere were compared with 97 patients with similar diagnosis visiting a teaching hospital with urban residence. All the 219 patients met the standardized criteria for remission from positive and disorganized symptoms and were compared on culturally validated tests of SC—Social Cognition Rating Tool in Indian Setting (SOCRATIS) & Tool for Recognition of Emotions in Neuropsychiatric Disorders (TRENDS) to assess theory of mind, social perception and emotion recognition and NC—(attention/vigilance, speed of processing, visual and verbal learning, working memory and executive functions). Groningen Social Disabilities Schedule (GSDS) was used for the assessment of social dysfunction of the patients. Based on past factor analytical studies on these tests, social cognition dimensions were grouped into inferential social cognition which comprised of 1st order theory of mind & 2nd order theory of mind Index & socio-emotional cognition which included faux pas recognition, emotional recognition & social perception indices. These were compared using analysis of covariance after controlling for neurocognitive composite performance and other confounders Correlation between social-cognition and functioning among the two groups was assessed using Pearson correlation.ResultsPatients from rural population had significantly better inferential social cognition whereas patients form urban population had significantly better socio-emotional cognition. ANCOVA showed that even after controlling for effects of age, gender, duration of illness, family history, number of hospitalization & neuro-cognition composite scores the differences were significant. Social cognition composite score was significantly (negatively) correlated with functional disability. The socio-emotional cognition component had a stronger association (proportion of variance explained) with functioning in both rural & urban samples (r= -0.411, r= -0.403 respectively). Inferential Social cognition from both rural & urban samples (r= -0.212, r= -0.238) also has significant association with functioning but of lesser magnitude as compared to the formerDiscussionThe two distinct components of social cognition - inferential and socio-emotional- were differentially impaired among rural & urban patients. With respect to its relationship with functioning, the socio-emotional cognition had a stronger association with functioning in both the groups. The reasons for the difference need to be explored by studying the socio-cultural characteristics of rural & urban dwelling patients which can moderate their expression of social cognition. These observations are critical in understanding how our micro- and macro-level environments can influence cognitive performance

Persons With Schizophrenia Misread Hemingway: A New Approach to Study Theory of Mind in Schizophrenia.

IntroductionTheory of Mind (ToM) is a key component of social cognition. Recently the Short Story Task (SST) was developed as a new measurement of ToM. SST uses a short story of Ernest Hemingway to assess ToM skills. SST proved to be a suitable tool, and sensitive to individual differences among healthy subjects. Our aim was to test SST to evaluate the ToM skills of persons with schizophrenia.Materials and MethodsSST was used to assess ToM skills. After reading the short story “The End of Something” a structured interview was done with 14 questions. Spontaneous mental state reasoning, explicit mental state inference and comprehension of nonmental aspects of the story were evaluated. 47 persons with schizophrenia in remission and 48 healthy controls were assessed and compared.ResultsPersons with schizophrenia performed significantly more poorly in the explicit mental state inference questions. Ceiling effect was not detectable in explicit ToM scores. Patients made less spontaneous mental state references as well, although the occurrence of spontaneous mental state terms was infrequent in both groups. Patients were also less accurate in answering comprehension questions, but the difference was not significant after Bonferroni correction.DiscussionOur results lined up with the original findings and we found SST to be a sensitive tool to explore the individual differences in ToM performance, not only among healthy subjects, but also among persons with schizophrenia especially in explicit mental state inferences without observing the ceiling effect. We found, however, SST to be less sensitive to measure spontaneous mental state reasoning and also the lack of the use of another ToM test to assess convergent validity of SST for indicating ToM deficits in schizophrenia stands as a limitation of current study.

Neurodevelopmental origins of social competence in very preterm children

Social problems are an important feature of the preterm behavioral phenotype but are diverse and multidimensional. A model of social competence comprised of the three interrelated components of social cognition, social interaction, and social adjustment is useful in conceptualizing these problems. Weaknesses in social cognition in very preterm (VPT) children, although rarely studied, are found on tasks involving interpretation of social cues. Difficulties in social interaction in VPT infants and young children are documented by structured observations of their interactions with adults. Problems in social adjustment are endorsed on parent and teacher ratings of VPT infants and youth and on self-reports of VPT adults. These multiple deficits likely stem from early disruptions in neural development, are related to other consequences of preterm birth, and subject to postnatal environment influences. Further research is needed to more fully account for the effects of VPT birth on the development of social competence.

Effects of Psychotic Symptoms and Social Cognition on Job Retention in Patients with Schizophrenia in Korea.

This research examined the relationship between psychotic symptoms, social cognition, and job retention among people with schizophrenia in Korea. Participants (158 people with schizophrenia from 15 mental health institutions) were divided into two groups: those with a job retention period of less than six months (n = 75), and those with a job retention period of six months or more (n = 83). Participants completed a survey packet containing the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), Global Assessment of Function (GAF) Scale, Interpersonal Relationship Functioning Assessment Scale, Basic Empathy Scale, Hinting Task, and Ambiguous Intention Hostility Questionnaire (AIHQ), and provided their job retention status. We used binomial logistic regression analysis to examine whether job retention was affected by participants’ demographic, clinical, and vocational characteristics, as well as the three components of social cognition, i.e., theory of mind, empathy, and attribution style. Results showed that theory of mind (ToM), attribution style, and psychotic symptoms explained 52.7% of the variance in job retention. A higher theory of mind means a higher ability to grasp the intentions of others. The higher theory of mind, the lesser attribution style, and the lesser psychotic symptoms were related to a longer period of job retention.

Folk personality psychology: mindreading and mindshaping in trait attribution

Character-trait attribution is an important component of everyday social cognition that has until recently received insufficient attention in traditional accounts of folk psychology. In this paper, I consider how the case of character-trait attribution fits into the debate between mindreading-based and broadly ‘pluralistic’ approaches to folk psychology. Contrary to the arguments of some pluralists, I argue that the evidence on trait understanding does not show that it is a distinct, non-mentalistic mode of folk-psychological reasoning, but rather suggests that traits are ordinarily understood as mentalistic dispositions. I also examine several ways in which trait attribution might also serve regulative, ‘mindshaping’ functions by promoting predictable norm-governed behavior, and argue that mindreading plays several important roles in these cases as well. I conclude that an appreciation of the relationship between trait attribution and mindreading is crucial to understanding the role it plays in our folk psychology.