The Importance of Origins: Why Cognitive Development is Central to a Mature Understanding of Social Cognition

Dunham, Yarrow; Olson, Kristina R.

doi:10.2174/1874350100801010059

Cited by 20 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 58 publications

(72 reference statements)

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“…Social psychologists have an even longer tradition of studying the role of cognition in behavior, acknowledging since the middle of last century, for example, the critical role that categorization plays in our beliefs, attitudes, and actions toward others (5,47). However, developmental psychologists have barely begun to investigate the extent to which the social cognitive capacities that guide adults are present in infancy and whether features of such nascent social cognition persist into adulthood (48,49). Here, we report evidence that treating individuals as instances of social categories, one of the fundamental aspects of adult social reasoning (6), begins before humans can talk or tie their shoes and before most infants have even encountered a social group other than their families.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Preverbal infants expect members of social groups to act alike

Powell

Spelke

2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

267

182

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The short ontogenetic time courses of conformity and stereotyping, both evident in the preschool years, point to the possibility that a central component of human social cognition is an early developing expectation that social group members will engage in common behaviors. Across a series of experiments, we show that by 7 months of age preverbal infants differentiate between actions by individuals that are and are not consistent with the actions of their social group members. Infants responded to group-inconsistent actions only in a social context: they failed to distinguish the same behavioral differences when presented with collections of nonsocial agents or inanimate objects. These results suggest that infants expect social group membership and behavior to covary, before extensive intergroup experience or linguistic input. This expectation is consistent with the socially motivated imitation and stereotyping evident in toddlers and preschoolers, and may play a role in the early emergence of one or both of these aspects of social behavior and cognition.social development | infancy

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Preverbal infants expect members of social groups to act alike

Powell

Spelke

2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

267

182

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“…Findings from studies of priorities in children's social categorization naturally raise the question of how developmental priorities are related to, and can inform our understanding of, adults' social categorization (see also Dunham & Olson, 2008;Olson & Dweck, 2009). On the one hand, adults' relative weighting of different social categories could be continuous with children's analyses of the social world.…”

Section: Looking Forwardmentioning

confidence: 99%

Priorities in social categories

Kinzler

Shutts

Correll

2010

Euro J Social Psych

159

119

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In this paper we review evidence from social, developmental, and evolutionary psychology to raise a common question: Are there priorities in how humans categorize their social world? Are some social groupings more prominent in childhood, and more resilient in adulthood than others? We review and compare evidence from each field, with a particular emphasis on exploring the relative robustness of gender, race, age, and language as social categories. We highlight the value of developmental approaches for characterizing the origins and nature of social categories in adults, and provide suggestions for how collaborative research from social, developmental, and evolutionary psychology could inform our understanding of potential priorities in social categorization. Copyright # 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Social cognition is characterized not only by our thinking about individuals, but also by our thinking about groups of individuals. Psychologists from multiple subfields have investigated how we detect, represent, and reason about social categories, or distinctions that connote social group membership. In this paper we draw on evidence from social, developmental, and evolutionary psychology to raise a common question: Do some social distinctions carry more weight than others in guiding our divisions of the social world? Put more simply, are some social categories more important to us than others? Developmental, social, and evolutionary psychologists have addressed this question, though often with different tools and methodologies, and sometimes resulting in divergent conclusions. Here we review key literature from each field, with a particular emphasis on illustrating the value of developmental approaches to characterizing the origins and nature of social categories in adults. Finally, we provide examples of how synergistic research in developmental, social, and evolutionary psychology can shed light on potential priorities in social categorization. SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGYSocial psychologists have long investigated mechanisms of social categorization and social group-based preferences. Notable in this tradition of research is the finding that the variables used to create group distinctions are remarkably flexible. Beginning with the research of Tajfel, countless studies have shown that almost any group division-regardless of how seemingly arbitrary-can foster relative preferences for novel ingroup over outgroup members. ''Minimal group'' divisions can be based on completely arbitrary grouping assignments, such as the random assignment of individuals to

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“…In doing so, I seek to build much-needed bridges between experimental social and developmental psychology [32]. I discuss evidence that young children seek to form and maintain bonds with their group members and that a lack of bonds is detrimental to their well-being.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The origins of belonging: social motivation in infants and young children

Over¹

2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

121

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One contribution of 16 to a theme issue 'Understanding self and other: from origins to disorders'. Our reliance on our group members has exerted a profound influence over our motivation: successful group functioning requires that we are motivated to interact, and engage, with those around us. In other words, we need to belong. In this article, I explore the developmental origins of our need to belong. I discuss existing evidence that, from early in development, children seek to affiliate with others and to form long-lasting bonds with their group members. Furthermore, when children are deprived of a sense of belonging, it has negative consequences for their well-being. This focus on social motivation enables us to examine why and in what circumstances children engage in particular behaviours. It thus provides an important complement to research on social cognition. In doing so, it opens up important questions for future research and provides a much-needed bridge between developmental and social psychology.

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The Importance of Origins: Why Cognitive Development is Central to a Mature Understanding of Social Cognition

Cited by 20 publications

References 58 publications

Preverbal infants expect members of social groups to act alike

Preverbal infants expect members of social groups to act alike

Priorities in social categories

The origins of belonging: social motivation in infants and young children

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