Cognitive Science 301

Applied Cognitive Science and Education
Fall 2006

Social Ability

Building and sustaining human relationships (social mastery) may be greatly influenced by and may greatly affect self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-image.

Social challenges that influence schoolchildren

• Conformity, inner vs. outer-directedness, the dilemma of autonomy from and dependence on parents
• "The ability of some of these relatively autonomous children to maintain their individuality without experiencing retribution from their peers must be one of the more laudable early-life accomplishments." (p 263)

Major Themes of Social Development

• Formation of friendships
  • initially involves sharing material things and participation in similar activities
  • involves a growing understanding of how personal actions can affect a friend's state of mind and feelings
  • ability to see things from another's point of view
  • depends on an increasing independence from "adult participation in friendships"
  • an increasing tendency to form close friendships with a few peers
  • Selman's 5 levels of development (based on clinical experience and previous research, pp 265-266)
    • Level 0: egocentric or undifferentiated perspectives (ages 3 to 7)
      • Friendship is "playmateship". (p 265)
    • Level 1: subjective or differentiated perspectives (ages 4 to 9)
      • Children begin to understand that the other person has perspectives that may be the same as or different compared to their perspectives.
    • Level 2: self-reflective or reciprocal perspectives (ages 6 to 12)
      • At this stage individuals can imagine the other person's perspective and how the other person sees them.  "They become increasingly aware of how their actions and thoughts affect their evaluations of other people." (p 265)
      • This may not involve reciprocity of actions.
    • Level 3: third person or mutual perspectives (9 to 15)
      • Individuals form close relationships, that are often very possessive.
      • Relationships can withstand arguments and other differences.
    • Level 4: societal or in-depth perspectives (12 to adult)
      • Varying degrees of friendship are possible based on societal, moral and/or personal similarities.
  • McGuire and Weisz (1982) studied "chumships" and found that formation of chumships demands intimacy, affecting matching, and mutual understanding (8 to 11 years of age).
    • Strong social cognitive skills reinforce these chumships.
  • Role of gender differences in the formation of friendships
    • Schofield (1981)
      • males: interaction with peer groups "seems directed toward proving and displaying athletic skill and physical strength." (p 267)
      • females: social interactions frequently involve discussion of hair, clothing, and personal appearance
    • both groups seek acceptance by peers and close relationships
• The understanding of others
  • Social behavior is in large part dependent on understanding and interpreting the actions of other people.
  • Children/people become increasingly selective and cognizant of analyzing others (in communicating with them, joining clubs, cliques, and adopting social behaviors).
  • The situationalist view: the specific situation causes specific behaviors
  • The dispositionalist view: the person's reactions and behavior are determined by their own personal beliefs that are relatively fixed
  • What do you think of the conclusions of Ross's research based on the Johnny and the Dog story regarding responses from different aged individuals? (page 268-69)  Can these generalizations be valid?
    • Does the situationalist perspective undergo a rebirth?
• Moral development
  • Ethical behavior, fairness, moral transgression are aspects of moral development.
  • Kohlberg's stages of moral development (p 271)
    • preconventional: recognize rules of good/bad, right/wrong and associate them to consequences of their actions
      • behavior at this stage considers avoidance of punishment and obedience
    • conventional: the person is aware that expectations of their family or culture is valuable, regardless of the consequences.  Loyalty
      • good behavior "consists of doing your duty, showing respect for others, and maintaining the social order because it is important that it be sustained." (p 271)
    • postconventional (autonomous or principled): perception that moral values and principles are valid beyond those of cultures, groups of people and loyalty to one's group(s)
      • "Correct actions are defined in terms of individual rights and the standards that have been critically examined and agreed on by a whole society." (p 272)
  • The stages go from self-serving behavior and ending up accepting rationale behind universal ethical principles ("a form of metacognition")
• Popularity and Unpopularity
  • What are the social-cognitive needs to being popular?
  • Categories according to  Coie, Dodge, and Coppotelli 1982: Popular, controversial, neglected, rejected
    • inappropriate play behaviors and antisocial and aggressive acts caused rejection in groups of boys who were studied
    • popular boys were engaged in social conversation and more cooperative play; were good leaders and shared things; were more physically attractive
  • Categories of Asher (1983)
    • relevance: Table 8-1.  Ability to "read" a social situation and adapt behavior accordingly
    • responsiveness: Table 8-1. Capacity to be receptive to and reinforce the social initiatives of others
    • timing and staging: Table 8-1. Capacity to pace relationships; knowing what and when to do or say
    • indirect approaches: Table 8-1. Awareness that relationships and interactions are often initiated and sustained by indirect means
    • feedback cues: Table 8-1. Sensitivity to negative and positive social feedback while relating; self-monitoring; ability to discern visual and verbal social cues
    • resolution of conflict: Table 8-1. Aptitude for settling disagreement without resorting to violence (verbal or physical) without aggression
    • verbal pragmatics: Table 8-1. Understanding and effective use of language in social contexts; the selection of words and vocal tone
    • social memory: Table 8-1. recall and use of prior interactional experience
    • social prediction: Table 8-1. Propensity to foresee the social consequences of one's actions and/or words
    • awareness of image: Table 8-1. tendency to present oneself to peers in a socially acceptable way; they understand what their peers appreciate and know how to talk, dress, and act
    • affective matching: Table 8-1. Ability to discern and reinforce the current feelings and/or mood of a peer
    • recuperative strategies: Table 8-1. Ability to compensate for social error
• Popularity vs. chumship (friendship): "The intimacy and altruism described earlier as essential ingredients of chumship are not as central to popularity." (p 280)
• Table 8-2. Dysfunctions of other neurodevelopmental constructs and their impact on social cognitive ability
  • Attention: may have trouble paying attention to facial expressions, verbal tone, and the social scene in general
    • insatiable social contacts: possibly egocentric without mutual understanding
    • impulsivity may preclude the indirect approaches suggested above by Asher
  • Spatial and temporal-sequential ordering:
    • spatial - perhaps have trouble with visual perception of body language
    • temporal-sequential - difficulty perhaps with sequential reasoning and prediction of consequences of inappropriate social interactions
  • Memory:
    • memory for faces, names
    • memory for previous social experiences and what worked and did not
  • Language:
    • "Conversational skills play a critical role in the formation and maintenance of relationships." (p 284) - both receptive and expressive are important
    • detect verbal feedback cues
    • social interaction requires appropriate interpretation of verbal social inferences
    • "Words and sentences are an essential means of gaining control of social situations." (p 284)
    • "In-group language" may be difficult to master for individuals with social ability problems
    • Selection of appropriate words can facilitate or inhibit social interactions
  • Higher-order cognition:
    • individuals with weakness in this area may have difficulty solving social problems
    • social metacognition (constant analysis of what is happening and how am I doing)
  • Production capacities:
    • Being a producer, demonstrating a high level of accomplishment may assist in social capability with others.
  • Other influences:
    • family and cultural influences set models for social interactions
    • school environments affect social capability
    • bodily image: physical attractiveness, acne, glasses, braces
    • self-esteem and self-confidence
    • age
• Complications of Social Inability: low self-esteem, performance anxiety in social situations, reactive depression
  • development of self-protective strategies: withdrawal
  • formation of friendships with nonpeers
  • reactive aggressive behavior with siblings as a result of problems with social interactions out of the home
• Assessment:
  • Direct observation in a variety of settings with peers and nonpeers (classroom, playground, after school activities)
  • Obtain comprehensive information from the parents and teachers
  • See Figure 8-1. A checklist of social cognitive functions
  • Talk with the individual and explore "the critical social hot spots" (p 292)
• Management:
  • psychological counseling
  • social skills groups
  • select activities for the child in which she is likely to succeed.

Main Ideas about Social Ability

1. The formation of friendships is one of the first experiences that the individual will have regarding social interactions with peers.
2. The child goes through many steps developing from egocentrism to having the capacity to predict others' thoughts and feelings.
3. Ross (1981) discusses the situationalist vs the dispositionalist perspective in interpreting social interactions.
4. Developing through the hypothesized stages of moral maturation also contributes to strong social ability.
5. Popularity and the capability of forming chumships require different social capabilities.
6. Social capability is influenced by all of the other neurodevelopmental constructs.
7. Poor self-esteem and social ability negatively impact all of the other neurodevelopmental constructs.

Questions About Social Ability

• Formation of friendships
• The understanding of others
• Moral development
• Popularity and unpopularity

Choose one of these and describe what it is, Levine's reason for including it as a main area of social development, the importance of this area according to Levine, and possible dysfunctions that may occur.

2.  Comment on the differences between assessing social ability based on popularity/unpopularity vs. friendships/chumships. 

3.  Explain how each of the other neurodevelopmental constructs impacts social cognitive ability.

4.  Design a means of assessing social cognitive ability.  What parameters need to be included?