Social Cognition In The Scarlet Letter
Social cognition is a concept that is imperative in interpersonal relationships. It is the idea that individuals “must consider how people around them are likely to think about, behave in, and react to various situations” (Ormond, 2015, p.252). Social cognition requires involvement of mirror neurons, but it also “requires involvement of the prefrontal cortex in order to draw reasonable inferences about why other individuals are behaving and feeling in certain ways” (Ormond, 2015, p.252). Throughout The Scarlet Letter reading discussion in the textbook, many students provided engaging statements that illustrate social cognition. Two specific examples are: when one speaker mentioned the way the baby’s eyes followed the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale
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In the second example, the students specifically described how Hawthorn provided information about the Dimmesdale’s character traits through expressions illustrated in the text about how the Dimmesdale acted around other people. For example, one student mentioned that he was always shaking in the text, therefore Arthur Dimmesdale must always be nervous.
In the first example with the baby, this student interpreted the baby’s feelings and emotions through the way the baby’s eyes followed the Dimmesdale. Clearly, Dimmesdale is the father of the child because the clues in the text illustrate that the baby is crying because he or she wants to be held by the father. Dimmesdale probably provided a psychological state for the child that is comforting in the past; therefore, the child wants to be near that state and illustrates this feeling through the movement of his or her eyes. This identification within the text reveals that the speaker has developed a theory of the mind in their social cognition. The theory of the mind “encompasses increasingly complex understandings of human mental and psychological states- thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and motives” (Ormond, 2015, p.253). The speaker interpreted and predicted the behaviors of the child in the novel; and, I believe
In the second example, the students specifically described how Hawthorn provided information about the Dimmesdale’s character traits through expressions illustrated in the text about how the Dimmesdale acted around other people. For example, one student mentioned that he was always shaking in the text, therefore Arthur Dimmesdale must always be nervous.
In the first example with the baby, this student interpreted the baby’s feelings and emotions through the way the baby’s eyes followed the Dimmesdale. Clearly, Dimmesdale is the father of the child because the clues in the text illustrate that the baby is crying because he or she wants to be held by the father. Dimmesdale probably provided a psychological state for the child that is comforting in the past; therefore, the child wants to be near that state and illustrates this feeling through the movement of his or her eyes. This identification within the text reveals that the speaker has developed a theory of the mind in their social cognition. The theory of the mind “encompasses increasingly complex understandings of human mental and psychological states- thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and motives” (Ormond, 2015, p.253). The speaker interpreted and predicted the behaviors of the child in the novel; and, I believe