PA R T T H R E ESOCIAL PSYCHOLOGYCHAPTER 11Social V. BODENHAUSEN, C. NEIL MACRAE, AND KURT HUGENBERGMENTAL REPRESENTATION: PROCESS Network Models Memory Models AND CONTROLLED SOCIAL COGNITION Social Cognition Social Cognition 268SOCIAL COGNITION IN CONTEXT: AFFECTIVE INFLUENCES Motivation Motivation Motivation States 277Sociality is a hallmark of human functioning. Indeed, and success of our evolutionary ancestors their ability to form coordinated bands of (., Leakey, 1978). The benefits of group living allowed a band to succeed where an individual might fail ( & Hamilton, 1981). Although our species has long way from the harsh and precarious conditions early hominid evolution, human beings continue to dependent on one another for their survival and wellbeing. It is therefore quite reasonable to assume that and motivational tendencies were shaped by of group living (., Brewer, 1997; Seyfarth &.Cheney, 1994). Some have claimed that our capacities and our other higher mental functions may very existence to the constraints imposed by sociality survival and reproductive success (Byrne, 2000). fundamental concerns depend crucially on our ability the characteristics, motivations, and intentions ; according to Cummins (1998, p. 37), “the evolution emerges as a strategic arms race in which the ever-increasing mental capacity to represent and manipulate internal representations of the minds of others.” This capacity to understand the minds of others is so central human functioning that when it is compromised,.the consequences are often devastating (., Baron-Cohen,.1995). How the mind understands the social world withinwhich it functions is therefore a matter of central psychology. It is this question that is at the center of research on social cognitionSocial cognition refers to the cognitive structures that shape our understanding of social that mediate our behavioral reactions to them. At its core,.the fundamental assumption of social cognition research idea that internal mental representations of other of social situations play a key causal role in shaping behavior. The central task of social cognition research is thus a specification of the nature of these mental structures and the processes that operate on them. A simple,.generic depiction of the theoretical space within which researchers work is provided in Figure . the most general level, a social cognition analysis incorporates a consideration of (a) the informational cues that experienced in the social environment; (b) that are constructed on the basis of current experience; (c) the ways these representations and the processes through which they aspects of attention and cognition; and (d) the decisions, judgments, intentions, and behaviors that result application of these processes. The distinction and process is more a matter of it is a reflection of a clear theoretical dissociation between considerations of mental structure and mental CognitionFigure A schematic overview of the core assumptions of the fact, as we shall see, many social-cognitive theories consist of propositions that link representational particular processing tendencies that are assumed to
