Theory of Social Cognition

What is self recognition 

Ability to identify yourself

What is self awareness

Aware that you are unique person that is separate from the environment 

Normal autistic stage of separation individuation

Infant is self absorbed, not aware of external world

Normal symbiotic stage of separation individuation

Infant sees mother and self as a fusion

Separation individuation phase

hatching, practicing, rapprochement, consolidation and object constancy phases

What is individuation in Mahler’s theory

The achievement that mark the child’s ability to assume their own characteristic

What is object relations theory

Child has a fear annihilation → Destructive impulse on objects 

Paranoid schizoid position 

Position where things are either good or bad; being breast fed when hungry = good breast, not being breast fed when hungry = bad breast

Depressive position 

Child realizes that good and bad comes from the same object → Guilt from previous treatment → Fear of loss of love to object 

What is the end goal of the object relations theory

The child is able to realize that good and bad can exist in the same person

Primary maternal preoccupation

Mother is (temporary) psychologically focused on the need of infant → Infant thinks the mother is extension of self → Infant feels like their needs create the world 

Disillusionment

Separation of mother as an extension of infant → Develop tolerance to frustration

Good enough mother

Mother is not perfect but sufficiently in tune with the needs of infant

Transitional space

Middle area between the self and the world; uses a transitional object (teddy bear)

Bion’s 2 group dynamics

Work group, basic assumption group

What is basic assumption group

Driven by emotion, lack of task focus → Energy goes towards relieving anxiety 

Bion’s 3 basic assumptions

Dependency (there needs to be a leader), fight flight, pairing (believe that people that pair will save the group)

What is risky shift

Increased risk taking in groups not found in individuals

What is group polarization

Group discussion can polarize group in a direction faster than one individual

What is group think

Desire to agree with other people which can override judgment

What is reward and coercive power

Reward → Ability to reward positive consequence; Coercive → Ability to punish people that don’t agree with you 

What is legitimate power

The election of a group leader gives that person power

What is referent power

Power through association to someone with power

What is expert and information power

Expert → having distinct skill; information → Based on controlling information

What does Milgram’s experiment on obedience uncover

People are inclined to obey if the person in charge → Seems qualified to be in charge AND will take responsibility if something goes wrong

What is schema theory 

Mental structures that organize knowledge → Can cause stereotype and confirmation bias

What is assimilation, accommodation and priming

Assimilation → New info is interpreted to fit schema; accommodation → Schema is modified to fit new info; priming → environment can trigger schema

What is attribution

Trying to understand behavior of others until a reasonable cause is reached

What drives attributional bias

Heuristics (save time/effort), motivation, perceptual, cultural

What is fundamental attribution error

Attributing the action of a person to represent their whole personality

What is actor observer effect

As the actor → Find fault in the environment not self; As observer → Find the fault of the person doing the action not the environment

What is self serving bias

When you win → I am the best in the world; when you lose → The person who won has dumb luck

What is just world hypoothesis

We live in a just world where people get what they deserve; Bad things happen to bad people

What is false consensus effect

View the behavior of one person as a representation of the entire group

Deficits in people with ASD

ToM, nonverbal communication, challenge with empathy

Deficit in people with schizophrenia

ToM, distortion of attributional style, emotion recognition

Deficit in people with depression 

Negative self schema, bias towards negative cues and reduced accuracy in positive emotion 

Deficit in people with social anxiety disorder

Attentional bias toward threatening cues, heightened self focused attention

Deficit in people with psychopathy/antisocial disorder

Impaired emotional empathy, intact/heightened cognitive empathy (know what others would feel)