The social brain

We saw that people are better than chance at predicting apartner’s cooperation. But how?

I cognitive adaptations: is there a “cheater-detection” module?

I reading minds with a “theory of mind”

I reading faces

I emotions as honest signals

The Wason selection task

Each card has a number on one side and a colored patch on theother side.

Proposition: if a card shows an even number on one face, then itsopposite face is red

Question: Which card(s) must you turn over in order to test thetruth of the proposition?

Most people get the abstract problems wrong, but varies withcontent. Which content elicits correct answers, and why?

Cosmides and Tooby: people have minds adapted to solve socialproblems, not abstract logical problems

So should be easier to solve when phrased as a social rule: abenefit only available to someone who qualifies for the benefit

(caveats)

Cheater detection and the Wason selection task (abstractproblem)

Part of your new clerical job at the local high school is to make sure thatstudent documents have been processed correctly. Your job is to makesure the documents conform to the following alphanumeric rule:

If a person has a ’D’ rating, then his documents must be marked code ’3’( If P then Q )

The cards below have information about the documents of four peoplewho are enrolled at this high school. Each card represents one person.One side represents a person’s letter rating, the back side his numbercode. Indicate only those card(s) you definitely need to turn over to see ifthe documents of any of these people violate this rule:

Wason selection task (social contract problem)

In its crackdown against drunk drivers, Salt Lake City law enforcementofficers are revoking liquor licenses left and right. You are a bouncer in aSalt Lake bar, and you’ll lose your license unless you enforce the following:

If a person is drinking beer, then he must be over 20 years old( If P then Q )

The cards below have information about four people sitting at a table inyour bar. Each card represents one person. One side of a card tells whata person is drinking, and the other side tells that person’s age. Indicateonly those card(s) you definitely need to turn over to see if any of thesepeople are breaking the law:

Wason selection task (perspective-taking)

Rule: If an employee gets a pension (P) then that employee musthave worked for the firm for at least 10 years (Q).

pension no pension worked didn’t workP not P Q not Q

What cards do you have to turn over to see if the rule has beenviolated?

(a) you are the employerP and not-Q(b) you are the employeenot-P and Q

Theory of Mind and Social intelligenceTheory of mind (“mindreading”): We engage in social reasoningby understanding mental states of others.

I Mind-reading allows one to predict behavior (even when thereare no behavioral cues).

I Helps in sending as well as receivingI facilitates deception (and decoding of deception)

Reading minds with a “theory of mind”

Theory of mind (“mindreading”): We engage in social reasoningby understanding mental states of others.

What would the world look like if you were mindblind?

Very young children are “mindblind”, most animals (except apes),and is one hypothesis for social deficits in autism

Autism

I Social interaction with others often difficult

I Problems with nonverbal and sometimes verbalcommunication

I Less imaginative play

I Sometimes strong visual and spatial skills

The social problems may reflects “mindblindness”: lack of aconcept of other people’s minds (or their own)

I Deception: Children with autism can put something out ofsight, but not out of another’s mind

I Emotion: Children with autism can recognize happiness andsadness, have trouble recognizing surprise.

Developmental components of mind-reading(Baron-Cohen)

I Intentionality detector (infancy) (infants ascribe agency toself-propelled motion)

I Gaze monitoring and shared attention (9-14 months)

I Theory of mind (false belief tests at 4 years)

See again the ’intentionality bias’ clips in Fun and Games on thewebsite

Developmental components of mind-reading(Baron-Cohen)

I Intentionality detector (infancy)

I Gaze monitoring and shared attention (9-14 months)

I Theory of mind (false belief tests at 4 years)

Seeing leads to knowing

Which candy will Charlie take?

Gaze-monitoring and shared attention based on this; impaired inautism.

Seeing leads to knowing

Developmental components of mind-reading(Baron-Cohen)

I Intentionality detector (infancy)

I Gaze monitoring and shared attention (9-14 months)

I Theory of mind (false belief tests at 4 years)

Theory of mind and False belief tests

Can the child distinguish his own(true) belieffrom someone else’s different(false) belief?

A Human Cognitive Specialty

Mind-reading in primates?

I Anecdotes of deception in primates

I Ability to recognize goals and intentions in primates

I Shared attention? Chimps will follow the gaze of others, butnot clear what it tells them

I Evidence for theory of mind is thin in non-human species

(See Warneken and Saxe videos)

Emotional expressions as honest signals

Felt (genuine) smiles vs. posed (social) smiles:

I Real smiles involve outer orbicularis oculi (muscles thatproduce crows feet)

I Real smiles are more symmetrical, differ in timing

I Real smiles are not (usually) under conscious control

I Produced by different parts of the brain

Genuine smiles elicit trust, signal cooperation

Brown, Palmetta, and Moore 2003 study:

I selected altruists and non-altruists (from dictator games, etc)

I 1 minute video segment of story-telling

I video clip of them giving advice to partner in a game

I video clip of self-presentation (name, likes, dislikes)

Results:

I people could detect altruists better than chance.

I Altruists gave more genuine smiles, not more social open smiles

I People rated honest smilers as higher on “concern for others”

Social emotions and reciprocityGuilt, shame, vengeance, righteous indignation: They ensurecooperation and reciprocity, but often costly, sometimes irrational.What is the benefit?

Summary

I Cognition specialized for solving social problemsI Social contract problems easier than abstract logic problemsI Social intelligence comes from understanding the mental states

of others (attributing intention to agents, shared attention,theory of mind)

I Emotion specialized for solving social problemsI Social emotions (guilt, shame, etc) ensure social cooperation,

reciprocityI Genuine (hard to fake) smiles perceived as a signal of altruistic

behaviorI Hard-to-fake emotions may confer a long-term benefit as

commitment devices