Cognitive Psychology

The social world refers to 'the self, other people and interactions with other people. ' (The Open University, 2016a) A large portion of psychological research questions the reasons people interact with their social world in the ways that they do, and seeks to better understand human relationships. To what extent does current research withing psychological disciplines succeed in explaining the phenomena and reasons for human interaction with the social world as it currently is? This assignment will explore current research and explore the relevance and validity when considering the question of human interaction with the self and others.

Firstly, research in cognitive psychology explores the ways in which mental shortcuts enable us to interact
2016b) studied the ways in which rumours and conspiracies often spread faster than the truth. His particular interest was within the realms of social media. His conclusion was that untrue statements simply yield faster and more widespread exposure, causing an influx of false stories to spread. This research analysed 2.6 million tweets to reach this conclusion, meaning the sample size was large (which is usually positive when considering the likelihood that the research is valid.) However, this research only analyses rumour-spreading within societies that have access to social media. Therefore it may not apply to cultures which do not have the same technology. Further study would be beneficial when exploring social media and the spread of information, and information surrounding information spread in non-western cultures may provide a broader understanding of the ways humans tell their stories, and why falsehoods arise. Studies like this one often only tell part of the story when considering how people interact with one another, and some cultures and societies may be
It has succeeded to some extent. Theory of mind relates to a human or animal ability to understand that another has a mind separate from their own, and another person may have different wants or desires. (Hewson. ,2015). Studies have sought to understand at what stage humans develop this ability. (Baron-Cohen et al., (1985) cited in Hewson, (2015 p.29) conducted the Sally-Ann task. (Sally places a marble in a box, leaves the room, Ann removes the marble and places it into a basket, and children are subsequently asked where Sally will look for her marble.) If a child correctly answers that Sally will look for her marble in the box, it is understood that the child has a concept of false belief. (I.e a child understands a belief may be different from the truth the child knows) The ability to answer this correctly develops around the age of four, and furthermore, cognitive abilities follow a 'developmental trajectory' (Hewson, 2015 p. 50), I.e that this cognitive development progresses until it is similar to that of an adult. However, this idea of how a child might understand the social world (In the context of how understanding how other people might feel) in this case, is flawed. Hewson points out that a language barrier may be relevant in this type