Daydreaming to navigate the social world: What we know, what we don’t know, and why it matters.
Abstract
Abstract A substantial portion of daily life is spent daydreaming—that is, engaged in thought independent of, and unrelated to, goals in the external environment. We argue that this naturally occurring, unconstrained cognition is a vital, but currently underappreciated, form of social cognition that enables navigation of the social world. First, we present the results of a meta‐analysis of neuroimaging studies which illustrate the shared neural basis of daydreaming and social cognition (including regions of the anterior temporal lobes and the posterior cingulate cortex). Second, we review evidence regarding the frequency, correlates, and adaptive outcomes of social daydreaming, cumulative findings that point to the adaptive value of imaging others during this offline state. We end by encouraging cross‐fertilization between daydreaming research and domains of social psychology (goal pursuit, social interactions, and close relationships), which we hope will foster mutually beneficial directions for understanding the role that unconstrained thinking plays in social life.
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Mind-wandering is evolutionarily adaptive, serving as a platform for offline social cognition.
“Poerio and Smallwood (2016) have proposed that the phenomenon is evolutionarily adaptive, serving as a platform for offline social cognition”
From Hypernatural Monitoring: A Social Rehearsal Account of Smartphone Addiction (2018) · cites this paper as Poerio and Smallwood, 2016
A large part of our spontaneous mental lives is devoted to rehearsing social scenarios.
“a large part of our spontaneous mental lives is devoted to rehearsing social scenarios”
From Hypernatural Monitoring: A Social Rehearsal Account of Smartphone Addiction (2018) · cites this paper as Poerio and Smallwood, 2016
Mind-wandering and social cognition rely on shared neural activation, whereby neural activity during daydreaming significantly overlaps with core social processes like mentalizing and perspective taking.
“mind-wandering and social cognition rely on shared neural activation, whereby the neural activity that occurs during daydreaming significantly overlaps with that of core social processes like mentalizing and perspective taking”
From Hypernatural Monitoring: A Social Rehearsal Account of Smartphone Addiction (2018) · cites this paper as Poerio and Smallwood, 2016
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Hypernatural Monitoring: A Social Rehearsal Account of Smartphone Addiction
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“Moreover, mind-wandering and social cognition rely on shared neural activation, whereby the neural activity that occurs during daydreaming significantly overlaps with that of core social processes like mentalizing and perspective taking – the very processes that enable an individual to socially flourish (Poerio and Sm…”
BackgroundInfluential
- Authors
- Poerio, G. L., & Smallwood, J.
- Affiliations
- University of York (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Poerio, Giulia Lara
- Venue
- Social and Personality Psychology Compass
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2016-11
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 605-618
- ISSN
- 1751-9004 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2548528489
- Cited by
- 42
- References
- 19
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 3
- FWCI
- 1.91
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Social and Personality Psychology Compass (publishedVersion)
- Open Access at Essex (University of Essex) (acceptedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Mind wandering and attention
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Social Representations and Identity
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
- Keywords
- daydreaming, social cognition, anterior temporal lobe, posterior cingulate cortex, social navigation, goal pursuit, social interaction, close relationships
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