The social motivation theory of autism

The idea that social motivation deficits play a central role in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) has recently gained increased interest. This constitutes a shift in autism research, which has traditionally focused more intensely on cognitive impairments, such as theory-of-mind deficits or executive dysfunction, and has granted comparatively less attention to motivational factors. This review delineates the concept of social motivation and capitalizes on recent findings in several research areas to provide an integrated account of social motivation at the behavioral, biological and evolutionary levels. We conclude that ASD can be construed as an extreme case of diminished social motivation and, as such, provides a powerful model to understand humans' intrinsic drive to seek acceptance and avoid rejection.     

The multiple factor theory in terms of common elements

With the mechanism of common elements we designed numerous sets of variates correlated with each other in a known manner and also correlated with the primary and specific factors in the same predetermined fashion. To the correlations from theoretical populations, and also from experimental samples, Thurstone's centroid method of factoring was applied. The resulting centroid co-ordinates were rotated to yield the test vectors. These vectors were close approximations to the theoretical and sample correlations.     

The motor theory of social cognition: a critique

Recent advances in the cognitive neuroscience of action have considerably enlarged our understanding of human motor cognition. In particular, the activity of the mirror system, first discovered in the brain of non-human primates, provides an observer with the understanding of a perceived action by means of the motor simulation of the agent's observed movements. This discovery has raised the prospects of a motor theory of social cognition. In humans, social cognition includes the ability to mindread, and many motor theorists of social cognition try to bridge the gap between motor cognition and mindreading by endorsing a simulation account of mindreading. Here, we question the motor theory of social cognition and give reasons for our skepticism.     

The effect of social role on theory of mind reasoning

The aim of this project was to explore the effects of social status on Theory of Mind (ToM) reasoning. Neurologically normal adults' ToM performance was manipulated experimentally by temporarily putting them in a higher or lower status condition. Half the participants ‘won’ a mock competition and subsequently acted as instructor and evaluator. The other half ‘lost’ and subsequently acted as learner. Participants then completed ToM and control tasks including embedded false belief tasks and cartoon comprehension tasks. The hypothesis tested was that social role manipulation could affect performance on ToM tasks independently of any effect on control tasks. Results show an interaction between assigned status and task type. That performance on theory of mind tasks can vary independently of performance on matched control tasks is consistent with the idea that ToM reasoning can change as a result of a change in social status.     

The emergence of autobiographical memory: a social cultural developmental theory

The authors present a multicomponent dynamic developmental theory of human autobiographical memory that emerges gradually across the preschool years. The components that contribute to the process of emergence include basic memory abilities, language and narrative, adult memory talk, temporal understanding, and understanding of self and others. The authors review the empirical developmental evidence within each of these components to show how each contributes to the timing, quantity, and quality of personal memories from the early years of life. The authors then consider the relevance of the theory to explanations of childhood amnesia and how the theory accounts for and predicts the complex findings on adults' earliest memories, including individual, gender, and cultural differences.     

The theory of games as a tool for the social epistemologist

Philosophical Studies - Traditionally, epistemologists have distinguished between epistemic and pragmatic goals. In so doing, they presume that much of game theory is irrelevant to epistemic...     

From political philosophy to social theory

Critical accounts of the origins of sociology stress both continuity and change as they are related to previous styles of political and social thought. This article further extends these accounts. It analyzes substantive as well as formal continuities and changes in the transition from political to social conceptions of order. Both intellectual and societal factors are responsible for this theoretical transition. Explicitly political and social conceptions of order reflected two stages in the development of European society. But purely internal, intellectual factors, involving the refinement of empirical analysis, called into question political theories of society. Finally, the article makes explicit and defends the distinction between bourgeois and Marxist varieties of theoretical reflection with reference to the transition from political philosophy to social theory.     

Human agency in social cognitive theory

The present article examines the nature and function of human agency within the conceptual model of triadic reciprocal causation. In analyzing the operation of human agency in this interactional causal structure, social cognitive theory accords a central role to cognitive, vicarious, self-reflective, and self-regulatory processes. The issues addressed concern the psychological mechanisms through which personal agency is exercised, the hierarchical structure of self-regulatory systems, eschewal of the dichotomous construal of self as agent and self as object, and the properties of a nondualistic but nonreductional conception of human agency. The relation of agent causality to the fundamental issues of freedom and determinism is also analyzed.     

The danger of Durkheim: Ambiguity in the theory of social effervescence

The purpose of this article is to shed light on an ambiguity in Émile Durkheim's theory of social effervescence. Durkheim's failure to distinguish two kinds of effervescence at the heart of the religious rite has left a dangerous legacy in the study of religion. If his work is read, however, in light of René Girard's theory of the violent origins of religion, his analysis of la société can retain the distinction between the effervescence of the crowd in scapegoating and the effervescence of protecting the victims of scapegoating. This thesis is tested by briefly comparing some contemporary essays on Durkheim.