Social Cognition Is Grounded in Physical Reality

Abstract

Mind and body form an inseparable system. A full analysis of social cognition cannot afford to ignore bodily processes. Highlighting this theme, our chapter leverages the broad perspective of grounded cognition to shed light on social cognitive processes. We outline the intellectual background of this perspective. We review six relevant key theories: conceptual metaphors, perceptual symbol systems, situated action, facial and proprioceptive feedback, somatic marker hypothesis, and grounded procedures. We delve into illustrative findings pertaining to priming and accessibility, social perception and behavior, evaluative and cognitive processes, and mood and emotion. We extend the focus of grounded cognition from the physical body (“embodied cognition”) to the physical environment and tools (“distributed cognition”). We conclude that a fully contextualized model of social cognition requires careful delineation of the cognitive loops among mind, body, and the social and physical realities in which they operate.