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How does cognition shape social relationships?

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posted on 2023-08-30, 15:17 authored by Claudia A. F. Wascher, Ipek G. Kulahci, Ellis J. G. Langley, Rachael C. Shaw
The requirements of living in social groups, and forming and maintaining social relationships, are hypothesized to be one of the major drivers behind the evolution of cognitive abilities. Most empirical studies investigating the relationships between sociality and cognition compare cognitive performance between species living in systems that differ in social complexity. In this review, we ask whether and how individuals benefit from cognitive skills in their social interactions. Cognitive abilities, such as perception, attention, learning, memory, and inhibitory control aid in forming and maintaining social relationships. We investigate whether there is evidence that individual variation in these abilities influences individual variation in social relationships. We then consider the evolutionary consequences of the interaction between sociality and cognitive ability to address whether bi-directional relationships exist between the two, such that cognition can both shape and be shaped by social interactions and the social environment. In doing so, we suggest that social network analysis is emerging as a powerful tool that can be used to test for directional causal relationships between sociality and cognition. Overall, our review highlights the importance of investigating individual variation in cognition to understand how it shapes the patterns of social relationships.

History

Refereed

  • Yes

Volume

373

Issue number

1756

Publication title

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

ISSN

1471-2970

Publisher

Royal Society

File version

  • Accepted version

Language

  • eng

Legacy posted date

2018-05-02

Legacy creation date

2018-05-01

Legacy Faculty/School/Department

ARCHIVED Faculty of Science & Technology (until September 2018)

Note

Theme issue ‘Causes and consequences of individual differences in cognitive abilities’

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