Social-Cognitive Function

Social-cognitive functions encompass executive function (EF)  processes (attention, memory, judgement, perspective-taking) underlying  social interactions. These include perceiving social information (language/social cues, facial expressions, body language), interpreting (understanding others’ mental states or theory of mind), and responding (planning our own behaviors and actions) — crucial mental processes for social interaction. Disturbances in social cognition can be early features of neurological disorders. Examples of social-cognitive functions:

• Perceiving/interpreting social information, including verbal cues (language) and nonverbal (facial expressions, body language, tone of voice). Understanding why someone might be upset or happy.
• Understanding others’ perspectives/intentions, predicting how they might think, feel, behave.
• Making social judgments about others, deciding how to interact with them, and understanding the consequences of our actions on them.
• Social skills and competence, essential for navigating social interactions, building relationships, and adapting to different social situations.
• Modeling: Albert Bandura’s Bobo doll experiment (1977) demonstrated children who observed adults being aggressive toward a doll were more likely to display the same behavior