Social cognition for competition versus cooperation

竞争与合作的社会认知

• 批准号: 1627157
• 负责人: Liane Young
• 金额: $ 38.26万
• 依托单位: Boston College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-08-01 至 2020-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1627157&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Social; cognition; competition; versus; cooperation

Moral judgment depends on an assessment of internal mental states such as beliefs, intentions, and motivations, and not just external, observable actions. Thus, forming moral judgments of other people and interacting with them requires reasoning about their minds--a capacity known as theory of mind. For example, judging the morality of an action requires questions such as "Did she INTEND to poison his coffee, or did she THINK it was sugar?" Prior work has examined the role of theory of mind for moral judgment for some contexts, such as distinguishing intentional from accidental harms when people make judgments regarding third-party interactions. However, people are not mere observers. People are active participants in the social world; they consider the minds of their social partners with whom they are interacting. Theory of mind processes may differ in important ways for an active participant in an interaction. Understanding theory of mind in contexts where individuals' goals involve social connection and coordination versus strife and social distance may be of particular societal importance. For example, in a process called dehumanization, individuals distance themselves from being aware of others as thinking, feeling agents with intentions and minds. Research suggests people may dehumanize the enemy to justify their own aggression, either before aggressing or after the fact. Thus existing research reveals the importance of theory of mind for moral judgment, and it also provides clues that theory of mind might be modulated by social context. The current work addresses a key gap in theory of mind research, by examining systematically how theory of mind is deployed for social interaction in two distinct motivational contexts--competition and cooperation. This project uses methodological and theoretical approaches from social, cognitive and developmental psychology and neuroscience. Investigating the early emergence of differences in social cognition for competition versus cooperation and the underlying neural mechanisms will provide insight for scholars and policy makers into the scale and nature of the problems at hand. Ultimately, understanding social cognition across motivational contexts will shed light on societal problems, from political disagreement to ethnic discord.The investigators consider three fundamental questions about the role of theory of mind in social interaction across motivational contexts. First, do distinct neural mechanisms support theory of mind for competition versus cooperation? Second, do distinct developmental trajectories underlie theory of mind across these contexts? Third, what are the social consequences of these differences for intergroup conflict, such as whether people support diplomatic efforts? The research will use functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the neural processes in typically developing adults and adults with autism, a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by difficulties with social interaction. To track the developmental trajectories, the research will apply novel paradigms to typically developing children between 3 and 5 years of age, an age group associated with emerging theory of mind capacities. To investigate the social consequences of possible differences in theory of mind processes and to test the impact of an intervention, the research will examine existing groups in society with a history of conflict. By integrating social psychological, developmental, and cognitive neuroscientific methods, the project aims to provide a comprehensive account of how theory of mind operates in real and consequential contexts of social interaction. In addition, testing whether cognitive impairments are associated with an inability to distinguish between these contexts will also advance our understanding of the cognitive capacities that enable most people to be able to make such distinctions. Finally, the research may provide preliminary guidance on how situations of potential intergroup conflict may be reduced via theory of mind processes.

道德判断依赖于对内部精神状态的评估，如信仰、意图和动机，而不仅仅是外部的、可观察到的行为。因此，形成对他人的道德判断并与之互动需要对他们的思想进行推理——一种被称为心智理论的能力。例如，判断一个行为的道德性需要问这样的问题：“她是有意在他的咖啡里下毒，还是她认为那是糖？”先前的研究研究了心理理论在某些情况下对道德判断的作用，比如当人们对第三方互动做出判断时，如何区分故意伤害和意外伤害。然而，人们不仅仅是旁观者。人们是社会世界的积极参与者；他们考虑与他们交往的社会伙伴的思想。对于积极参与互动的人来说，心理理论过程可能在重要方面有所不同。在个体目标涉及社会联系和协调而不是冲突和社会距离的情况下理解心理理论可能具有特殊的社会重要性。例如，在一个被称为“去人性化”的过程中，个人将自己与意识到他人是有思想、有感情、有意图和思想的代理人的意识保持距离。研究表明，人们可能会在攻击之前或之后将敌人非人化，以证明自己的攻击是正当的。由此可见，既有研究揭示了心理理论在道德判断中的重要性，也提供了心理理论可能受社会情境调节的线索。目前的工作解决了心理理论研究中的一个关键空白，通过系统地检查心理理论如何在两种不同的动机背景下（竞争和合作）用于社会互动。该项目采用社会、认知和发展心理学以及神经科学的方法论和理论方法。研究竞争与合作的社会认知差异的早期出现及其潜在的神经机制，将为学者和政策制定者了解手头问题的规模和性质提供见解。最终，理解跨动机背景的社会认知将有助于揭示从政治分歧到种族不和等社会问题。研究者考虑了关于心理理论在跨动机背景下的社会互动中的作用的三个基本问题。首先，不同的神经机制是否支持竞争与合作的心智理论？第二，在这些情况下，不同的发展轨迹是否构成心智理论的基础？第三，这些差异对群体间冲突的社会后果是什么，比如人们是否支持外交努力？这项研究将使用功能性磁共振成像来研究正常发育的成年人和患有自闭症的成年人的神经过程。自闭症是一种以社交困难为特征的神经发育障碍。为了追踪发展轨迹，该研究将应用新的范式来研究3 - 5岁的典型发育儿童，这是一个与新兴心智能力理论相关的年龄组。为了调查心理过程理论中可能存在的差异的社会后果，并测试干预的影响，该研究将调查社会中存在冲突历史的现有群体。通过整合社会心理学，发展和认知神经科学方法，该项目旨在提供一个关于心理理论如何在社会互动的真实和后果环境中运作的全面说明。此外，测试认知障碍是否与无法区分这些环境有关，也将促进我们对认知能力的理解，使大多数人能够做出这样的区分。最后，本研究可以为如何通过心理过程理论减少潜在群体间冲突提供初步指导。