Social Cognition in the Real World: Reconnecting the Study of Social Cognition With Social Reality

The scientific study of social cognition is a growing field which promises to deliver valuable insights into how the brain underpins human’s social success. However, the poor ecological validity of many popular paradigms constrains the progress of social cognitive scientists. Highly simplistic and contrived stimuli are commonplace, despite the complexity and unpredictability of real-world social experiences. A shift toward a cognitive ethology approach would allow us to determine if, when, and how specific cognitive processes contribute to real-world functioning. This shift would enable us to break new ground in our understanding of the cognitions which underpin so much of the human experience. To address these questions, we must innovate and test social cognitions in dynamic, multimodal, context-embedded, and interactive environments. Furthermore, measuring responses dynamically and in terms of accuracy (rather than based on arbitrary criteria defined by the experimenter), would improve ecological validity. Finally, researchers should take into account sample diversity and participants’ motivation to ensure the generalizability of findings to everyday interactions. This article considers these issues in turn and outlines recent research which demonstrates how they might be overcome.