Social Cognition - Fall 2013
Social Cognition – course description
Svend Østergaard & Riccardo Fusaroli
Wednesdays in seminar weeks 14– 16
In a combination of lectures, students’ presentations and discussions this course will investigate the social cognitive foundations of human semiotic capacities. Taking the point of departure mainly in recent empirical investigations within the fields of developmental and experimental psychology, primatology, complex systems and cognitive neuroscience, we will pursue the following questions: what sorts of cognitive capacities are necessary in order to develop the complex social organization characteristic of human culture and society? What sorts of cognitive capacities are necessary in order for language to evolve? What is the impact of language on cognition and social dynamics?
1. September 11th - Introduction to the course:
In the first lecture, we will introduce and discuss central themes in social cognition and how we are going to work with them.
1. How would you define “social cognition”? Expand on how the “social” interact with the “cognitive”.
2. Is the perspective in Frith&Frith compatible with Moussaid et al? Why?
3. Which aspects of social cognition are you most interested in?
2. September 25th - Ontogenetic perspectives on social cognition
What can studies of infant behavior and development reveal about the nature of human social cognition? We will review a number of recent studies of infant social contingency, gaze following, ostensive cues, and intention recognition and discuss the foundations and development of complex human social skills.
Which central cognitive/behavioral traits characterize the species-specific human predispositions for complex social organization as compared to our close relatives in the animal kingdom. And what can studies of e.g. primates tell us about the uniquely human evolutionary trajectory? We will review comparative studies of human and primate cognition.
4. October 23th - Dynamical models of social interaction
What is the basic mechanisms underlying social interaction? Are they best thought of as inferential mental skills or simple behavioral dynamics? We will try to go beyond the scope of the individual mind to see what happens when people coordinate their actions and activities in cooperative tasks.
5. November 6th - The social emergence of signs
How do semiotic practices evolve and stabilize through socially dynamic processes? And what are their effects on coordination? Do different styles/channels of interaction result in different sign-systems? We will discuss a number of recent studies on experimental semiotics and discuss how they can inform theories of language evolution.
6. November 20th - Language evolution:
What is the underlying mechanism driving the evolution of human language? Are they to be found on the level of individual or collective cognition? On the level of innate biology or cultural, material transmission? And what are the tools that allow us to investigate such mechanisms? We will discuss a number of studies using experimental and simulation techniques to approach the fundamentals of language evolution.
7. December 4th - Linguistic Coordination
What is the role of language in social interaction? How does language come to facilitate and shape social coordination? And how do social dynamics shape language? We will review a number of studies and theories investigating the interrelation between language, social cognition and interaction.
8. December 18th - The Social Brain:
Which brain structures and networks facilitate our social perceptions, inferences and interactions? How can brain-imaging experiments contribute to the discussion of the nature of human social cognition? We will look at neuro-cognitive studies of Theory of Mind, mirror neurons and social interaction.
Svend Østergaard & Riccardo Fusaroli
Wednesdays in seminar weeks 14– 16
In a combination of lectures, students’ presentations and discussions this course will investigate the social cognitive foundations of human semiotic capacities. Taking the point of departure mainly in recent empirical investigations within the fields of developmental and experimental psychology, primatology, complex systems and cognitive neuroscience, we will pursue the following questions: what sorts of cognitive capacities are necessary in order to develop the complex social organization characteristic of human culture and society? What sorts of cognitive capacities are necessary in order for language to evolve? What is the impact of language on cognition and social dynamics?
1. September 11th - Introduction to the course:
In the first lecture, we will introduce and discuss central themes in social cognition and how we are going to work with them.
- Frith & Frith 2007: Social Cognition in Humans, Current Biology 17, 724-432
- Moussaid, Mehdi, et al. 2009 "Collective information processing and pattern formation in swarms, flocks, and crowds." Topics in Cognitive Science 1.3: 469-497.
- Barret et al 2012: Taking sociality seriously, Philosophical Transactions.
- De Jægher et al 2010 Can Social Interaction constitute Social Cognition? Trends in Cognitive Science
1. How would you define “social cognition”? Expand on how the “social” interact with the “cognitive”.
2. Is the perspective in Frith&Frith compatible with Moussaid et al? Why?
3. Which aspects of social cognition are you most interested in?
2. September 25th - Ontogenetic perspectives on social cognition
What can studies of infant behavior and development reveal about the nature of human social cognition? We will review a number of recent studies of infant social contingency, gaze following, ostensive cues, and intention recognition and discuss the foundations and development of complex human social skills.
- Tomasello, M. (1999). The cultural origins of human cognition, Harvard University Press, chapter 2, 3 & 6
- Nadel et al (1999). Expectancies for social contingency in 2-month-olds, Developmental Science, 2(2):164-173
- Rączaszek-Leonardi et al (2013)Young children’s dialogical actions: The beginnings of purposeful intersubjectivity, TAMD
- Csibra & Gergely (2009). Natural Pedagogy, Trends in Cognitive Science, 13(4):148-153
Which central cognitive/behavioral traits characterize the species-specific human predispositions for complex social organization as compared to our close relatives in the animal kingdom. And what can studies of e.g. primates tell us about the uniquely human evolutionary trajectory? We will review comparative studies of human and primate cognition.
- Tomasello (2008). The Origins of Human Communication, MIT Press, chapter 2 & 3
- Tomasello et al, (1997). Comprehension of novel communicative signs by apes and human children, Child Development, 68(6):1067-1080
- Horner & Whiten (2005). Causal knowledge and imitation/emulation switching in chimpanzees and children Animal Cognition, 8:164-181
- Dean et al (2012) Identification of the Social and Cognitive Processes Underlying Human Cumulative Culture, Science
4. October 23th - Dynamical models of social interaction
What is the basic mechanisms underlying social interaction? Are they best thought of as inferential mental skills or simple behavioral dynamics? We will try to go beyond the scope of the individual mind to see what happens when people coordinate their actions and activities in cooperative tasks.
- Dale et al (2013) The self-organization of human interaction, Psychology of Learning and Motivation
- Marsh, et al. (2009). Social Connection Through Joint Action and Interpersonal Coordination, Topics in Cognitive Sciences, 1:320-339
- Richardson et al (2007). Judging and actualizing intrapersonal and interpersonal affordances, Journal of Experimental Psychology, 33(4):845-859
- Caldwell & Millen (2008). Studying cumulative cultural evolution in the laboratory, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 12 November 2008 vol. 363 no. 1509 3529-3539
5. November 6th - The social emergence of signs
How do semiotic practices evolve and stabilize through socially dynamic processes? And what are their effects on coordination? Do different styles/channels of interaction result in different sign-systems? We will discuss a number of recent studies on experimental semiotics and discuss how they can inform theories of language evolution.
- Galantucci & Garrod (2010). Experimental Semiotics, Interaction Studies 11:1, 1-13
- Garrod et al (2007). Foundations of Representation: where might graphical symbol systems come from?, Cognitive Science, 31:961-987
- Fay et al (2008). The Fitness and Functionality of Culturally Evolved Communication Systems, Transactions of the Royal Society B, 363:3553-3561
- Fay et al (2010). The Interactive Evolution of Human Communication Systems, Cognitive Science 34 (2010) 351–386
- Fusaroli et al (2012) Carving language for social interaction. Interaction Studies.
6. November 20th - Language evolution:
What is the underlying mechanism driving the evolution of human language? Are they to be found on the level of individual or collective cognition? On the level of innate biology or cultural, material transmission? And what are the tools that allow us to investigate such mechanisms? We will discuss a number of studies using experimental and simulation techniques to approach the fundamentals of language evolution.
- Tomasello (2008). The Origins of Human Communication, MIT Press, chapter 5, 6 & 7
- Tylén et al (2013) Making sense together. Semiotica.
- Croft et al (2009). Language is a complex adaptive system, Language Learning 59:Suppl. 1, December 2009, pp. 1–26
- Steels (2011). Modeling the Cultural Evolution of Language, Physics of Life Reviews, volume 8, issue 4, December 2011, Pages 339–356
7. December 4th - Linguistic Coordination
What is the role of language in social interaction? How does language come to facilitate and shape social coordination? And how do social dynamics shape language? We will review a number of studies and theories investigating the interrelation between language, social cognition and interaction.
- Garrod & Doherty (1994). Conversation, co-ordination and convention: an empirical investigation of how groups establish linguistic conventions, Cognition 53 (1994) 181-215
- Pickering & Garrod (2004). Toward a mechanistic psychology of dialogue, Brain and Behavioral Sciences, 27:169-226
- Fusaroli et al. (2012). Coming To Terms: quantifying the benefits of linguistic coordination, Psychological Science, 23(8): 931-939
- Tomasello, M. (1999). The cultural origins of human cognition, Harvard University Press, chapter 4 & 5
8. December 18th - The Social Brain:
Which brain structures and networks facilitate our social perceptions, inferences and interactions? How can brain-imaging experiments contribute to the discussion of the nature of human social cognition? We will look at neuro-cognitive studies of Theory of Mind, mirror neurons and social interaction.
- Rizzolatti & Craighero (2004). The Mirror Neuron System, Annual Review of Neuroscience, 27:169-192
- Frith & Frith (2006). The Neural Basis of Mentalizing, Neuron 50, 531–534
- Frith & Frith (2010). The Social Brain: allowing humans to boldly go where no other species has been, Transactions of the Royal Society B, 365:165-176
- Tylén, Kristian, et al. "Interaction vs. observation: distinctive modes of social cognition in human brain and behavior? A combined fMRI and eye-tracking study." Frontiers in human neuroscience 6 (2012).
- Barrett, L. 2007 Social brains, simple minds, Philosophical Transactions
