socialcognition

Social cognition refers to the set of mental processes by which people attend to, interpret, remember, and use information about others. It encompasses social perception, attribution of causes to others’ actions, theory of mind (the understanding that others have beliefs and desires different from one's own), and the processing of stereotypes, attitudes, and emotions. It supports everyday judgments and social interaction.

Developmentally, basic social-cognitive skills emerge in early childhood, with theory of mind typically developing by age four. Performance and strategies vary across individuals and cultures, and atypical development—such as in autism spectrum disorders—can affect several aspects of social cognition, including emotion recognition and belief understanding.

Key theories include attribution theory, which explains how people infer causes of behavior (dispositional versus situational explanations), and impression formation models. Dual-process accounts distinguish fast automatic and slower controlled processing of social information. Neurocognitive research highlights brain regions such as the medial prefrontal cortex, temporoparietal junction, superior temporal sulcus, and amygdala as contributing to social-cognitive computations.

Methods range from behavioral tasks (for example, emotion recognition tests and false-belief tasks) to neuroimaging and computational modeling. Findings inform applications in education, clinical psychology, conflict resolution, marketing, and human–computer interaction, where an understanding of others’ minds can improve communication and intervention.

Limitations include biases such as the fundamental attribution error and false-consensus effect, as well as cross-cultural variation in social cues. Researchers seek ecologically valid designs to better capture how people think about others in real-world settings.