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The DOI matches its Crossref record; 51 of the 51 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Social cognition

Open access
Frith, Chris D·2008·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
DOI 10.1098/rstb.2008.0005PMC PMC2375957
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Abstract

Social cognition concerns the various psychological processes that enable individuals to take advantage of being part of a social group. Of major importance to social cognition are the various social signals that enable us to learn about the world. Such signals include facial expressions, such as fear and disgust, which warn us of danger, and eye gaze direction, which indicate where interesting things can be found. Such signals are particularly important in infant development. Social referencing, for example, refers to the phenomenon in which infants refer to their mothers' facial expressions to determine whether or not to approach a novel object. We can learn a great deal simply by observing others. Much of this signalling seems to happen automatically and unconsciously on the part of both the sender and the receiver. We can learn to fear a stimulus by observing the response of another, in the absence of awareness of that stimulus. By contrast, learning by instruction, rather than observation, does seem to depend upon awareness of the stimulus, since such learning does not generalize to situations where the stimulus is presented subliminally. Learning by instruction depends upon a meta-cognitive process through which both the sender and the receiver recognize that signals are intended to be signals. An example would be the ‘ostensive’ signals that indicate that what follows are intentional communications. Infants learn more from signals that they recognize to be instructive. I speculate that it is this ability to recognize and learn from instructions rather than mere observation which permitted that advanced ability to benefit from cultural learning that seems to be unique to the human race.

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Research works printed but not linked: 5

  1. Clark H.H. 1996 Using language. Cambridge UK:Cambridge University Press.
  2. Csibra G, 2006, Processes of change in brain and cognitive development: attention & performance XXI, 249, 10.1093/oso/9780198568742.003.0011 · DOI
  3. Király I. Csibra G. & Gergely G. 2004 The role of communicative–referential cues in observational learning during the second year. Paper presented at 14th Biennial Int. Conf. on Infant Studies Chicago IL USA .
  4. Sperber D& Wilson D. 1995 Relevance: communication and cognition. 2 edn. Oxford UK:Blackwell.
  5. Winkielman P. & Schooler J. In press. Unconscious conscious and meta-conscious in social cognition. In Social cognition: the basis of human interaction (eds F. Strack & J. Förster). Philadelphia PA: Psychology Press.

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Metadata

Authors
Frith, C. D.
Affiliations
Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging (GB)
Corresponding author
Frith, Chris D
ORCID
Frith, Chris D
Venue
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Publisher
The Royal Society
Published
2008-02-21
Volume
363
Issue
1499
Pages
2033-2039
ISSN
  • 0962-8436 (ISSN-L)
  • 1471-2970
DOI
10.1098/rstb.2008.0005
PMC
PMC2375957
OpenAlex
W4234660116
Cited by
355
References
51
Citations by year
2026: 26 · 2025: 40 · 2024: 51 · 2023: 36 · 2022: 28 · 2021: 28 · 2020: 20 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 24 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 11
FWCI
1.56
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Wellcome Trust
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
  • Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Language and cultural evolution
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Primate Behavior and Ecology
Keywords
social cognition, social signals, facial expressions, gaze direction, social referencing, infant development, observational learning, subliminal learning, metacognition, ostensive communication, cultural learning
MeSH terms
Brain, Cognition, Communication, Culture, Humans, Psychology, Social, Social Behavior

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