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Related Experiment Video

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Assessment of Social Interaction Behaviors
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Alignment in social interactions.

M Gallotti1, M T Fairhurst2, C D Frith3

  • 1School of Advanced Study, University of London, Senate House Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU, United Kingdom.

Consciousness and Cognition
|December 30, 2016
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Social cognition involves aligning individual minds through reciprocal information exchange, even without a shared goal. This dynamic process of mental alignment underpins social interactions.

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Area of Science:

  • Social Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Science
  • Psychology

Background:

  • The prevailing view in social-cognitive neuroscience posits that shared mental states arise from mutual adaptation towards a common objective.
  • This perspective often links shared cognition directly to the pursuit of shared goals.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To challenge the prevailing paradigm by proposing an alternative framework for understanding the cognitive underpinnings of social interactions.
  • To assert that social cognition is fundamentally a process of mental alignment, irrespective of shared goals.

Main Methods:

  • Conceptual analysis and theoretical proposition.
  • Examination of the conditions under which mental alignment occurs in social contexts.
  • Focus on reciprocal information exchange as a key mechanism.

Main Results:

  • Social cognition is characterized by the graded and dynamic alignment of individual minds.
  • This alignment can occur even in the absence of a shared goal.
  • Reciprocal information exchange drives the unfolding of mental alignment over time and space.

Conclusions:

  • Social interactions are constituted by the alignment of individual minds, not solely by shared goals.
  • Understanding social interaction requires focusing on how individuals align thoughts, words, and actions to account for others.
  • The proposed framework offers a new perspective on the cognitive foundations of sociality.