M.A.

OPEN MIND UNIVERSITY OF BUCHAREST

SOCIAL COGNITION (Jan. 28 Feb. 6)
Dr. Guillaume Dezecache (Universities of Portsmouth and Neuchtel)

Social cognition is the study of the various psychological mechanisms that make social living
possible. In this course, we will use insights from a variety of disciplines (notably:
anthropology, social psychology, neurosciences, behavioral economics and primatology) to
get a better understanding of what makes human sociality special.

Session 1: The evolution of primate sociality and social cognition (Thursday, January 28,
16.00 - 19.00)
1/ Isbell, L. A. 1994 Predation on primates: Ecological patterns and evolutionary
consequences. Evol. Anthropol. 3, 6171. (doi:10.1002/evan.1360030207)
2/ Shultz, S. & Dunbar, R. I. M. 2007 The evolution of the social brain: anthropoid primates
contrast with other vertebrates. Proc. Biol. Sci. 274, 24292436.
(doi:10.1098/rspb.2007.0693)
3/ Byrne, R. W. & Corp, N. 2004 Neocortex size predicts deception rate in primates. Proc
Biol Sci 271, 16931699. (doi:10.1098/rspb.2004.2780)
4/ Dunbar, R. I. M. 2012 Bridging the bonding gap: the transition from primates to humans.
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 367, 18371846.

Session 2: How special is human sociality? (Friday, January 29, 16.00 - 19.00)
5/ Kaplan, H. S., Hooper, P. L. & Gurven, M. 2009 The evolutionary and ecological roots of
human social organization. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B:
Biological Sciences 364, 32893299. (doi:10.1098/rstb.2009.0115)
6/ Apicella, C. L., Marlowe, F. W., Fowler, J. H. & Christakis, N. A. 2012 Social networks
and cooperation in hunter-gatherers. Nature 481, 497501. (doi:10.1038/nature10736)
7/ Burkart, J. M., Hrdy, S. B. & Van Schaik, C. P. 2009 Cooperative breeding and human
cognitive evolution. Evolutionary Anthropology 18, 175186.
8/ Whitehouse, H., McQuinn, B., Buhrmester, M. & Swann, W. B. 2014 Brothers in arms:
Libyan revolutionaries bond like family. PNAS 111, 1778317785.
(doi:10.1073/pnas.1416284111)

Session 3: The ontogeny of social cognition (Saturday, January 30, 10.00 - 13.00)
9/ Hirschfeld, L. A. 2001 On a Folk Theory of Society: Children, Evolution, and Mental

Representations of Social Groups. Pers Soc Psychol Rev 5, 107117.

(doi:10.1207/S15327957PSPR0502_2)
10/ Powell, L. J. & Spelke, E. S. 2013 Preverbal infants expect members of social groups to
act alike. PNAS 110, E3965E3972. (doi:10.1073/pnas.1304326110)
11/ Herrmann, E., Call, J., Hernndez-Lloreda, M. V., Hare, B. & Tomasello, M. 2007
Humans Have Evolved Specialized Skills of Social Cognition: The Cultural Intelligence
Hypothesis. Science 317, 13601366. (doi:10.1126/science.1146282)
12/ Rekers, Y., Haun, D. B. M. & Tomasello, M. 2011 Children, but Not Chimpanzees, Prefer
to Collaborate. Current Biology 21, 17561758. (doi:10.1016/j.cub.2011.08.066)

Session 4: Understanding others (Monday February 1, 16.00 - 19.00)

13/ Call, J. & Tomasello, M. 2008 Does the chimpanzee have a theory of mind? 30 years
later. Trends in cognitive sciences 12, 187192.
14/ Kovcs, . M., Tgls, E. & Endress, A. D. 2010 The social sense: Susceptibility to
others beliefs in human infants and adults. Science 330, 18301834.
15/ Crockford, C., Wittig, R. M., Mundry, R. & Zuberbhler, K. 2012 Wild Chimpanzees
Inform Ignorant Group Members of Danger. Current Biology 22, 142146.
(doi:10.1016/j.cub.2011.11.053)
16/ Chevallier, C., Kohls, G., Troiani, V., Brodkin, E.S., Schultz, R.T. (2012). The Social
Motivation Theory of Autism. Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

Session 5: Sharing others emotions (Tuesday, February 2, 16.00 - 19.00)

17/ Gallese, V., Keysers, C. & Rizzolatti, G. 2004 A unifying view of the basis of social
cognition. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 8, 396403.
18/ Wicker, B., Keysers, C., Plailly, J., Royet, J. P., Gallese, V. & Rizzolatti, G. 2003 Both of
us disgusted in My insula: the common neural basis of seeing and feeling disgust. Neuron 40,
655664.
19/ Singer, T., Seymour, B., ODoherty, J., Kaube, H., Dolan, R. J. & Frith, C. D. 2004
Empathy for Pain Involves the Affective but not Sensory Components of Pain. Science 303,
11571162. (doi:10.1126/science.1093535)
20/ Bartal, I. B.-A., Decety, J. & Mason, P. 2011 Empathy and pro-social behavior in rats.
Science 334, 14271430.

Session 6: Learning from others (Wednesday, February 3, 16.00 - 20.00)

21/ Csibra, G. & Gergely, G. 2009 Natural pedagogy. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 13, 148
153.

22/ Horner, V. & Whiten, A. 2005 Causal knowledge and imitation/emulation switching in
chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and children (Homo sapiens). Animal Cognition 8, 164181.
23/ Haun, D. B. M., Rekers, Y. & Tomasello, M. 2012 Majority-Biased Transmission in
Chimpanzees and Human Children, but Not Orangutans. Current Biology 22, 727731.
(doi:10.1016/j.cub.2012.03.006)
24/ Hobaiter, C., Poisot, T., Zuberbhler, K., Hoppitt, W. & Gruber, T. 2014 Social Network
Analysis Shows Direct Evidence for Social Transmission of Tool Use in Wild Chimpanzees.
PLoS Biol 12, e1001960. (doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001960)

Session 7: Acting with others (Thursday February 4, 16.00 - 20.00)

25/ Sebanz, N., Bekkering, H. & Knoblich, G. 2006 Joint action: bodies and minds moving
together. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 10, 7076.
26/ Vesper, C., D, P. R., Knoblich, G. & Sebanz, N. 2013 Are you ready to jump? Predictive
mechanisms in interpersonal coordination. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human
Perception and Performance 39, 4861. (doi:10.1037/a0028066)
27/ Bahrami, B., Olsen, K., Latham, P. E., Roepstorff, A., Rees, G. & Frith, C. D. 2010
Optimally interacting minds. Science 329, 10811085. (doi:10.1126/science.1185718)
28/ Boesch, C. 1994 Cooperative hunting in wild chimpanzees. Animal Behaviour 48, 653
667.

Session 8: The adverse effects of social exclusion and isolation (Friday February 5, 16.00
- 20.00)
29/ Cacioppo, J.T. and Hawkley, L.C. (2009) Perceived social isolation and cognition. Trends
in Cognitive Sciences 13, 447454
30/ Hillebrandt, H., Sebastian, C. & Blakemore, S.-J. 2011 Experimentally induced social
inclusion influences behavior on trust games. Cogn Neurosci 2, 2733.
(doi:10.1080/17588928.2010.515020)
31/ Epley, N. et al. (2008) Creating social connection through inferential reproduction.
Psychological Science 19, 114120

Session 9: When social cognition goes awry (Saturday February 6, 10.00 - 13.00)
32/ Pardini, D. A., Raine, A., Erickson, K. & Loeber, R. 2014 Lower amygdala volume in
men is associated with childhood aggression, early psychopathic traits, and future violence.
Biol. Psychiatry 75, 7380. (doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2013.04.003)

33/ Decety, J., Chen, C., Harenski, C. & Kiehl, K. A. 2013 An fMRI study of affective
perspective taking in individuals with psychopathy: imagining another in pain does not evoke
empathy. Front Hum Neurosci 7. (doi:10.3389/fnhum.2013.00489)
34/ Sheikh, H., Atran, S., Ginges, J., Wilson, L., Obeid, N. & Davis, R. 2014 The Devoted
Actor as Parochial Altruist: Sectarian Morality, Identity Fusion, and Support for Costly
Sacrifices. Cliodynamics: The Journal of Quantitative History and Cultural Evolution
35/ Wilson, M. L. et al. 2014 Lethal aggression in Pan is better explained by adaptive
strategies than human impacts. Nature 513, 414417. (doi:10.1038/nature13727)