Sociocognitive Traits Research Articles

Individual differences in sociocognitive traits in semi-free-ranging rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta).

Characterizing individual differences in cognition is crucial for understanding the evolution of cognition as well as to test the biological consequences of different cognitive traits. Here, we harnessed the strengths of a uniquely large, naturally-living primate population at the Cayo Santiago Biological Field Station to characterized individual differences in rhesus monkey performance across two social cognitive tasks. A total of n = 204 semi-free-ranging adult rhesus monkeys participated in a data collection procedure, where we aimed to test individuals on both tasks at two time-points that were one year apart. In the socioemotional responses task, we assessed monkeys' attention to conspecific photographs with neutral versus negative emotional expressions. We found that monkeys showed overall declines in interest in conspecific photographs with age, but relative increases in attention to threat stimuli specifically, and further that these responses exhibited long-term stability across repeated testing. In the gaze following task we assessed monkeys' propensity to co-orient with an experimenter. Here, we found no evidence for age-related change in responses, and responses showed only limited repeatability over time. Finally, we found some evidence for common individual variation for performance across the tasks: monkeys that showed greater interest in conspecific photographs were more likely to follow a human's gaze. These results show how studies of comparative cognitive development and aging can provide insights into the evolution of cognition, and identify core primate social cognitive traits that may be related across and within individuals.

Similar but yet different: individual cognitive traits and family contingencies as antecedents of intrapreneurship and self-employment

Entrepreneurship is of great significance to individuals, families and society. Recently, intrapreneurship, i.e., business ventures within established organisations, has also attracted widespread interest among individuals and organisations. However, we still know little about how individuals make decisions when they face diverse types of entrepreneurial activities. Based on theories of entrepreneurial action and conservation of resources and the literature on family embeddedness, this paper proposes an integrated framework for entrepreneurial choice—including intrapreneurship, self-employment and non-entrepreneurship, and examines the roles of socio-cognitive traits and family contingency factors in the entrepreneurial choice process. By using secondary and survey data, the empirical results show that (a) entrepreneurial alertness (EA) and self-efficacy (ESE) both positively affect individuals’ choice towards intrapreneurship and self-employment, with a stronger effect on the latter; (b) the interaction between EA and ESE has a negative effect on intrapreneurship but a positive effect on self-employment; (c) family-to-work conflict weakens the aforementioned interactive effect on both intrapreneurship and self-employment, whereas work-to-family conflict strengthens its effect on self-employment; (d) household income strengthens the interactive effect on both intrapreneurship and self-employment. Overall, these findings contribute to a nuanced understanding of the relationship among individual cognitive traits, family contingencies and entrepreneurial choice. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Would You Detour with Me? Association between Functional Breed Selection and Social Learning in Dogs Sheds Light on Elements of Dog–Human Cooperation

Interspecific social learning is a main synchronizing mechanism that enables dogs to adapt to the anthropogenic niche. It is not known whether dogs in general possess the capacity of learning from humans or whether more recent selective events have affected their ability to learn from humans. We hypothesized that cooperative and independent working dog breeds may behave differently in a social learning task. Dogs (N = 78 from 16 cooperative and 18 independent breeds) had to detour a transparent, V-shaped wire mesh fence. The experiment consisted of three one-minute-long trials. The control condition did not include a demonstration. In the demonstration condition, the experimenter placed a reward in the inside corner by walking around the fence. Cooperative dogs reached the target significantly faster, while independent dogs did not detour faster in trials 2 and 3 after the human demonstration. Detour latencies were not associated with the keeping conditions and training level of the subjects. As we assembled both test groups from several genetically distantly related breeds, we can exclude the explanation that higher cooperativity emerged only in particular clades of dogs; instead, functional selection for particular working tasks could enhance capacities that affect a wide range of socio-cognitive traits in dogs.

Great ape enculturation studies: a neglected resource in cognitive development research

Disagreement remains about whether particular human socio-cognitive traits arose primarily as a result of biological adaptations, or because of changing cultural practices. Heyes argues that uniquely human traits, including imitation and theory of mind, are the product of cultural learning. In contrast, Tomasello argues that they are, in key respects, part of a suite of adaptations for ‘shared intentionality’. We consider how such disagreements might be resolved. We show that the kinds of consideration often used to adjudicate questions about trait origins are insufficient to settle origin questions. Furthermore, humankind’s immersion in culture undermines the prospect that cross-cultural and developmental studies could resolve origin questions. Nonetheless we argue that, when cautiously interpreted, currently neglected studies of enculturated great apes (i.e. apes raised in human environments) can shed new light on trait origins, and inform mechanistic accounts of cognitive development. While acknowledging the shortcomings of enculturation research, we argue that it deserves renewed attention.

Taking mental models seriously: institutions, entrepreneurship, and the mediating role of socio-cognitive traits

Taking mental models seriously: institutions, entrepreneurship, and the mediating role of socio-cognitive traits

Digital infrastructure and entrepreneurial action-formation: A multilevel study

This study investigates how country-level digital infrastructure shapes the relationships between the action-formation mechanisms of socio-cognitive traits, i.e., entrepreneurial self-efficacy, fear of failure, and opportunity recognition, and entrepreneurial action. We amalgamate the agent-centric social cognitive theory with the external enabler framework and apply mechanism-based theorizing to explain how access-related mechanisms provided by digital infrastructure influence entrepreneurial action-formation. Based on a multilevel analysis of 344,265 individual-level observations from 46 countries and an additional robustness analysis of 391,119 individuals from 53 countries, we find that an individual's proclivity to starting a new venture is contingent upon the level of the digital infrastructure of a country. The empirical results show that a country's digital infrastructure is an external enabler that moderates the relationship between socio-cognitive traits and entrepreneurial action.

Cross-Diagnostic Patterns of Socio-Cognitive Traits in the Developing Brain of Children and Adolescents

Many mental disorders debut during adolescence, a period also involving substantial brain development. The influence of environmental factors on child and adolescent brain development, and its relation to psychiatric symptoms, is not well understood.

Interpopulational variation in human brain size: implications for hominin cognitive phylogeny

Throughout the hominin lineage brain size is believed to have increased threefold – increase which, it is argued by some researchers, results in the enhanced brain power that distinguishes humans from any other living being. However, as we demonstrate in this article this supposed increase is the result of comparing the species mean of contemporary humans with other great apes and fossil hominins. This method obscures both interpopulational variation among modern humans, and the fact that the putative increases in the mean are the result of an increase in the upper limit in some populations, which has the result of obscuring the relative stasis in the lower limit over the last 600k years. For example, populations such as Aboriginal Australians have a range that is more different from Danes than it is from that of Asian H. erectus over the last 600ka. Yet Aboriginal Australians, whose unique anatomy seems to be related to the climatic conditions of Australia, possess all of the socio-cognitive traits characteristic of all other modern-day populations – yet they seemed not to have undergone increase in brain size to the degree that many other populations have. In this instance brain size seems to be unrelated to cognition. In this article we present a statistical analysis of interpopulational variation in contemporary humans and why such an analysis is crucial for our understanding of hominin cognitive, social and technological evolution. We also suggest how such variation may add to our understanding of hominin ontogeny or life history. Additionally, we develop a model based on humanity’s unique form of embodied social cognition that results from our upright bipedal posture and hand morphology. This model is then used to explain the results of our statistical analysis and the possible factors underpinning the human emergence.

Default and executive networks' roles in diverse adolescents' emotionally engaged construals of complex social issues.

Across adolescence, individuals enrich their concrete, empathic, context-specific interpretations of social-world happenings with abstract, situation-transcending, system-level considerations—invoking values, bigger implications and broader emotional perspectives. To investigate neural mechanisms involved in abstract construals vs concrete construals and the effects of emotional engagement on these mechanisms, 65 mid-adolescents aged 14–18 years reacted to compelling video mini-documentaries during private, open-ended interviews and again during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Following calls to diversify samples, participants were ethnically diverse low-socioeconomic status (SES) urban adolescents performing well in school. Participants spontaneously produced both concrete and abstract construals in the interview, and tendencies to produce each varied independently. As hypothesized, participants who made more abstract construals showed a greater subsequent default mode network (DMN) activity; those who made more concrete construals showed greater executive control network (ECN) activity. Findings were independent of IQ, SES, age and gender. Within individuals, DMN activation, especially when individuals were reporting strong emotional engagement, and ECN deactivation together predicted an abstract construal to a trial. Additionally, brief ECN activation early in the trial strengthened the DMN–abstraction relationship. Findings suggest a neural mechanism for abstract social thought in adolescence. They also link adolescents’ natural construals of social situations to distinct networks’ activity and suggest separable sociocognitive traits that may vary across youths.

Does cross-cultural experience matter for new venture performance? The moderating role of socio-cognitive traits

We investigate the impact of entrepreneurs' cross-cultural experience on new venture performance. Drawing on social cognitive theory, we examine how two socio-cognitive traits, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and alertness to opportunities moderate the relationship between cross-cultural experience and new venture performance. Weadopt a multi-method approach. In Study 1, we implement an experiment on a sampleof 177 participants enrolled in an innovation and entrepreneurship program. In Study 2, we conduct a field survey of 65 entrepreneurs with varying cross-cultural experience. Our findings suggest that cross-cultural experience has a positive effect on new venture performance, and that entrepreneurial self-efficacy and alertness to opportunities bolster this relationship. Our research contributes to entrepreneurship research in a cross-cultural context and to the growing literature regarding individual cognitions in entrepreneurship.

The Interplay Among Cultural Leadership Ideals and Entrepreneurs’ Socio-Cognitive Traits

The consequences of culturally-endorsed implicit leadership theories have received scarce research attention. The present study aims to make a contribution to fil this research gap. While charismatic leadership is generally viewed positively, self-protective leadership is often viewed negatively. More recently self-protective leadership has been linked to higher levels of entrepreneurial behavior, but its effects remain unclear. This study advances knowledge about the role of cultural leadership ideals blending cultural implicit leadership theories with social cognitive theory. Using a sample of 33 countries that result from matching GEM and GLOBE datasets and employing a multi-level model, this study examines the interaction of country- level culturally-endorsed leadership theories with individual socio- cognitive traits in explaining differences in the levels of opportunity entrepreneurship across countries. The findings suggest that societies that endorse both charismatic and self-protective leadership ideas are more likely to have higher levels of opportunity entrepreneurship. The results show that these two culturally-endorsed leadership ideals increase the level of new venture creation. However, the results also show that the endorsement of self- protective leadership does not increase or decrease the effect of socio-cognitive traits, while the endorsement of charismatic leadership increases the positive effect of self-efficacy on entrepreneurial action and increases the negative impact of the fear of failure. These new insights have relevant implications for both researchers and policy-makers.

A Thin Slice of Science Communication: Are People’s Evaluations of TED Talks Predicted by Superficial Impressions of the Speakers?

First impressions based on physical characteristics and superficial information predict a wide variety of social judgments and outcomes. We build on recent work examining the effects of such impressions on the communication of scientific research and ideas to the general public. A large diverse sample viewed and evaluated scientific TED talks, while a separate group viewed short, silent excerpts of each video and judged the speakers on three core sociocognitive traits: competence, morality, and sociability. Neither the perceived scientific quality nor the entertainment value of the talks was meaningfully predicted by the thin-slice judgments; likewise, they were independent of the speakers’ age, gender, ethnicity, and attractiveness. We propose that these null results arise because the influence of superficial visual cues was overwhelmed by the wealth of more diagnostic information and by our participants’ attentiveness to this information. Our results suggest limits to the predictive power of superficial impressions.

Socio-cognitive traits and entrepreneurship: The moderating role of economic institutions

We examine how country-level institutional context moderates the relationship between three socio-cognitive traits—entrepreneurial self-efficacy, alertness to new business opportunities, and fear of failure—and opportunity entrepreneurship. To do this, we blend social cognitive theory (SCT) with institutional theory to develop a multi-level model of entrepreneurial entry. We merge data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) surveys and the Economic Freedom of the World (EFW) index for 45 countries from 2002 to 2012. Our results, which are based on a multi-level fixed-effects model, suggest that entrepreneurs' self-efficacy and alertness to new opportunities promote opportunity entrepreneurship while fear of failure discourages it. However, the strength of these relationships depends on the institutional context, with entrepreneurial self-efficacy and alertness substantially more likely to lead to new opportunity-driven ventures in countries with higher levels of economic freedom. These results provide suggestive evidence that economic freedom not only channels individual effort to productive entrepreneurial activities, but also affects the extent to which individuals' socio-cognitive resources are likely to mobilized and lead to high-growth entrepreneurship.

Flexibility of Gender Stereotypes: Italian Study on Comparative Gender-consistent and Gender-inconsistent Information

The topic of this study is flexibility in gender stereotyping linked to attribution of toys, socio-cognitive traits, and occupations in 160 Italian children aged 6 to 12 years. We used the Gender Toys Choice, the Gender Traits Choice, and the Gender Jobs Choice, a ed set of colored cards containing masculine and feminine stimuli to assign to a male or female or both male and female silhouette (the flexible-choice technique). In order to verify the change of flexibility in gender stereotyping, we made use of four cartoon stories with male and female characters with typical or atypical traits and performing gender-consistent or gender-inconsistent activities. Results indicated that the exposure to cartoon stories with gender-inconsistent information rather than cartoon stories with gender-consistent information increased flexibility in gender stereotyping, showing age differences in favor of children aged 11-12. Implications in relation to the developmental-constructivist approach were noted.

Projective Mapping for interpreting wine aroma differences as perceived by naïve and experienced assessors

The perceptions of differences in the aroma of high quality Italian red wines were compared in experts and consumers by Projective Mapping. Quality and typicality assessments from experts, and liking ratings from consumers, were collected on the same wine set. The sensory profiles of the wines were described by a panel of trained subjects. The results suggest that product separation by experts was mainly based on the perceived overall quality rather than on specific sensory differences. Product differentiation by consumers was poor and worse than that of experts and trained subjects. Consumers’ internal preference map showed a good sample separation based on liking data and allowed the identification of the aroma attributes that drove their preferences. Results from consumer tests indicated that differences among samples based on liking data were more evident than those from Projective Mapping. An increased differentiation ability was observed for those consumers able to match the duplicate samples in the Projective Mapping test. In this group, sample differentiation based mainly on liking was observed. The socio-cognitive traits of these subjects highlighted their high level of wine knowledge.In general, the results indicate that Projective Mapping can be a valuable method for investigating the perceived similarities/dissimilarities among samples with subtle sensory differences when assessors share a high level of knowledge and experience about the product.

Age and gender-related differences in the temporal congruence development between motor imagery and motor performance

Temporal congruence between motor imagery and motor performance was evaluated in 30 elementary school children (7 and 8-year-olds) and 61 middle school children (11 and 12-year-olds), using the “Harre's Chase” obstacle-course [Harre, D. (1976). Trainingslehre. Berlin: Sportverlag]. It is made of successive elementary actions including running, rolling forward, changing direction, jumping and crawling. The children were requested to perform the obstacle-course both actually and mentally. Results showed that motor imagery duration was closer to that of actual execution in the middle school children group, as compared to elementary school children. We also found a gender difference, boys being more able than girls to reach the temporal congruency between imagined and physical times. Developmental factors, as well as gender differences in socio-cognitive traits, are discussed as the main factors explaining the development of the isochrony between actual and imagined movements.

Toys, Sociocognitive Traits, and Occupations: Italian Children's Endorsement of Gender Stereotypes

In a sample of 136 Italian children ages 8 to 12 years (M = 9.6, SD = 1.2; 68 boys, 68 girls), gender stereotypes related to gender-typed toys, traits, and occupational choices were examined, using the forced-choice technique between a male and a female silhouette. Stereotypy was established considering boys' and girls' choices for the 70%-100% range. Differences in gender stereotyping for age and sex of participants were verified. Analysis indicated children attributed toys prevalently connected with aesthetic aspect and domestic activities to the female silhouette, while technology, warfare, locomotion, and construction toys were attributed to the male. Children attributed physical and verbal aggressiveness and dominance to the male silhouette; the female profile was exclusively characterized by sweetness. The occupational stereotypical male model was structured in both practical-manual activities and of highly cultural and specialist relevance, while for the female model the number of activities, mainly of a domestic type, were reduced. Significant main effect of sex of children was found, but no significant age-related differences in the three domains. Results were discussed within the framework of gender-stereotype theories.