Psychologists who study social cognition study how people think (that’s the cognition part) about others and about the social world, broadly. Major topics of study include: how people make sense of themselves and others to make judgments, form attitudes, and make predictions about the future. Much of the research in social cognition has demonstrated that humans are skilled at taking in large amounts of information in our social worlds and converting it into smaller, more usable chunks, and that we possess many cognitive tools that allow us to efficiently navigate our environments. This research has also illuminated many social factors that can influence these judgments and predictions. Not only can our past experiences, expectations, motivations, and moods impact our reasoning, but many of our decisions and behaviors are driven by unconscious processes and implicit attitudes we are unaware of having.
Please explore the topics within Module 5: