Social Cognition

Social cognition is how people process, remember and use information in social contexts to explain and predict their own behavior and that of others.

Social cognition refers to a complex set of mental abilities underlying social stimulus perception, processing, interpretation, and response. Together, these abilities support the development of adequate social competence and adaptation. Social cognition has a protracted development from infancy to adulthood.

Social cognition enables individuals to take advantage of being part of a social group.

• All social signals that enable us to learn about the world are essential, e.g., facial expressions.
• Social abilities are disrupted in autism, schizophrenia and psychopathy.