UE943 - SOCSCI 203 - Social cognition: Brain and psychology

Intervenant·e·s

• Coralie Chevallier [référent·e]   chargée de recherche, INSERM
• Julie Grèzes   chargée de recherche, INSERM

The goal of this course is to study the main cognitive systems that are involved in social cognition: social information perception, theory of mind, social categorization, social learning, reputation management, morality and cooperation, etc. During the course, students will be exposed to the main questions in contemporary social cognition research and to a range of relevant methods in the field (neuroscience, developmental psychology, cognitive psychology, evolutionary psychology, comparative psychology, etc.).

1. Logistics and Introduction

What is social cognition?

2. Action perception

What is the role of the motor system in understanding others’ actions? What is specific to the interpretation of a social action?

3. Face perception

What are the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying facial perception? Is neural facial treatment domain specific or domain general?

4. Emotion

Our understanding of emotions remains obstructed by many outstanding questions. For example, are subjective feelings necessary for defining an emotional response? Are emotions universal? Are animals capable of experiencing emotions? Can we infer emotional states from behavioral and/or physiological responses?

5. Theory of mind

How do we understand others’ mental states? How does ToM develop? Is ToM a specifically human ability?

6. Natural pedagogy and learning

Are humans born to learn? What role does education play in cultural transmission? Is teaching uniquely human?

7. Morality and cooperation

Why are humans so cooperative? What are the foundations of morality? How can the variability of moral judgments be explained?

8. Reputation and audience effects

Why do human beings behave differently when they are observed and when they are alone? How and why are we managing our reputation? How does this capacity develop? Is it present in other animals?

9. Stereotypes and first impressions

How can stereotypes be explained? How do they guide behaviour? Are people judged by their appearance? What are the cognitive foundations of these social judgments?

10. Communication, misinformation, and reputation

Why do rumors and fake news thrive? How can humans’ natural concern for their reputation explain why and how false information spread?

11. Are two heads better than one? (Does deliberating in small groups lead to better decisions?  What are the optimal conditions for small groups to deliberate? What are the implications for public policy?

12. Social cognition and public policy

How can the insights of social cognition be applied to public policies?

13. Final exam