Social cognition, socioeconomic status and subjective well-being of Chinese migrant workers.

Subjective well-being is based on the unity of internal and external needs, as well as material and non-material needs. However, existing research lacks consideration of the impact of both objective material conditions and subjective psychological cognition on the subjective well-being of migrant workers. Thus, based on data from the 2017 China General Social Survey, this paper applies ordered logit models and OLS models to investigate the impact of social cognition and socioeconomic status on the subjective well-being of migrant workers and their intergenerational differences. The results indicate that: (1) Social cognition has a significant impact, and the impact of fairness perception is more pronounced than depression perception and class change perception; (2) among socioeconomic status, personal income did not have a significant effect as education level, car ownership and house property ownership; (3) there are intergenerational differences. The emotional state of the older generation is the most critical factor influencing their subjective well-being. In contrast, the new generation is more concerned with their feelings about future expectations. The older generation is more concerned with their house property ownership, while the increase in income, education and car ownership can significantly increase the subjective well-being of the new generation. For this reason, we believe that the Chinese government should gradually change the existing urban and rural management system to create a fair and just social environment; make migrant workers receive the same protection as urban residents and improve the income distribution mechanism; pay attention to the social security of the older generation of migrant workers and the development opportunities of the new generation of migrant workers and their ability to integrate into the city to improve their subjective well-being.

Social cognition in women with borderline personality disorder based on an exhaustive analysis of the Movie for Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC) categories.

A significant number of borderline personality disorder (BPD) symptoms are manifested in the interpersonal context. This can be explained by the difficulties in attributing the mental states of oneself and others, which constitutes social cognition. Errors in social cognition are interrelated with the affective, cognitive, impulsive, and interpersonal areas of the person with BPD. The aims of this study was to analyze social cognition in women with BPD compared with a control group and to analyze social cognition in BPD based on BPD symptoms and its severity. To assess social cognition, we used a full range of social cognition categories provided by the Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC): correct theory of mind (ToM); attribution of mental states (thoughts, emotions, or intentions); errors of mentalization; types of ToM; and attribution of mental states through perceptive or cognitive cues and through hot or cold emotions. The MASC has high ecological validity and has been validated in Spanish. The sample comprised 79 women, including 47 women with BPD and 32 healthy women. Worse social cognition performance was observed in women with BPD. More severe borderline symptoms were related to worse functioning in the correct ToM and to errors of no mentalization. Involvement of the cognitive area in borderline symptoms was associated with worse functioning in correct ToM and worse social cognition in cognitive areas as well as with hypermentalization. This is the first study that uses all the MASC categories and considers BPD heterogeneity and its severity to study social cognition.

Longitudinal assessment of social cognition in de novo Parkinson's disease patients and its relationship with dopaminergic innervation.

BACKGROUND: Social Cognition (SC) has been scarcely studied in Parkinson's disease (PD), and findings in early disease are controversial. SC encompasses different capacities such as facial emotion recognition (FER); Theory of Mind (ToM), the ability to understand other people's intentions (cognitive-ToM) and emotions (affective-ToM); and self-monitoring, the ability to regulate one's own behavior in social contexts. A relationship between dopaminergic deficit and SC in PD has been suggested. OBJECTIVES: To prospectively assess, over a two-year period, SC in newly diagnosed drug-naïve, cognitively normal and non-depressed PD patients. Furthermore, we aimed to evaluate the relationship between SC and Fluorodopa (Positron Emission Tomography) Ki uptake, which is a marker of dopaminergic depletion. METHODS: We compared SC performance between 25 de novo PD patients and 20 healthy controls (HC), and within-patients at baseline and two-year follow-up. The SC assessment included FER, ToM, as well as self-monitoring measures. The relationship between SC and dopaminergic innervation was also assessed in patients. RESULTS: SC scores did not differ between PD and HC groups at baseline, nor between baseline and follow-up evaluation in PD. A significant positive correlation between self-monitoring and Fluorodopa Ki uptake in the left pallidum in PD patients was found at baseline. At follow-up, ToM (stories) positively correlated with Fluorodopa Ki uptake in the right thalamus and the left putamen. CONCLUSION: SC appears to be preserved in de novo PD and remains stable in the short-term. Although more evidence is needed, our results support a relationship between dopamine innervation in subcortical regions and SC.

Online Assessment of Social Cognition in a Population of Gamers and Gamblers: Results of the eSMILE Study.

The purpose of the eSMILE study was to explore social cognition (SC) in the two behavioural addictions (BAs) included in international classifications: gaming disorder and gambling disorder. In these disorders, cognitive functioning is involved in the development and maintenance of addiction. Nevertheless, SC have received less attention than other cognitive functions. The eSMILE study was conducted online and included 105 participants (gamers and gamblers). This study included: the Penn emotion recognition task, the Condensed and Revised Multifaced Empathy Test, the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, the Chicken Game, social metacognition questions, and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale. We analysed the relationships among SC measures, addiction levels, and behaviour frequency. For gamers, we showed that the higher their level of addiction was, the lower their self-confidence following the identification of basic emotions, although the more frequently they played, the better their performance on this task. Additionally, we found lower performance on the identification of more complex emotions by gamblers, which seems to be the result of their levels of addiction rather than the frequency of their gambling behaviour. This study contributes to our understanding of the cognitive processes underlying BAs. Additionally, working on SC abilities may be an additional management mode for BAs that could be added to existing treatments.

Mentalizing in a movie for the assessment of social cognition (MASC): the validation in a taiwanese sample.

BACKGROUND: The present study evaluated the psychometrics properties of a sensitive video-based test used in the evaluation of mentalizing skills, that is, the Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition-Taiwanese version (MASC-TW). METHODS: We recruited two independent samples of nonclinical participants (N = 167) and adult patients with schizophrenia (N = 41). The MASC-TW and two other social cognition measures, namely the Chinese version of Theory of Mind task (ToM) and the Taiwanese version of the Diagnostic Analysis of Nonverbal Accuracy-2 (DANAV-TW-2), and an executive function measure of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), were administered to both groups. RESULTS: The MASC proved to be a reliable measure of mentalizing capacity, high Cronbach's α value of 0.87. The intraclass correlation coefficient for the MASC-TW total correct scores was 0.85 across three waves of data collection. Across the entire sample, the scores on the MASC-TW were significantly correlated with verbal and nonverbal scores for the ToM task and recognition of facial and prosodic emotion on the DANAV-TW-2. Both executive function and emotion recognition emerged as noteworthy predictors of mentalizing, indicating that these two variables might play crucial roles in the development of mentalizing capacities. Finally, a receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed that in patients with schizophrenia, the MASC was the most accurate discriminator of diagnostic groups, highlighting the validity of the MASC. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the MASC-TW is an ecologically valid and useful tool for assessing mentalizing abilities in a Taiwanese population.

Association of Functional Status, Cognition, Social Support, and Geriatric Syndrome With Admission From the Emergency Department.

Importance: The role of patient-level factors that are unrelated to the specific clinical condition leading to an emergency department (ED) visit, such as functional status, cognitive status, social supports, and geriatric syndromes, in admission decisions is not well understood, partly because these data are not available in administrative databases. Objective: To determine the extent to which patient-level factors are associated with rates of hospital admission from the ED. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cohort study analyzed survey data collected from participants (or their proxies, such as family members) enrolled in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) from January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2018. These HRS data were linked to Medicare fee-for-service claims data from January 1, 1999, to December 31, 2018. Information on functional status, cognitive status, social supports, and geriatric syndromes was obtained from the HRS data, whereas ED visits, subsequent hospital admission or ED discharge, and other claims-derived comorbidities and sociodemographic characteristics were obtained from Medicare data. Data were analyzed from September 2021 to April 2023. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome measure was hospital admission after an ED visit. A baseline logistic regression model was estimated, with a binary indicator of admission as the dependent variable of interest. For each primary variable of interest derived from the HRS data, the model was reestimated, including the HRS variable of interest as an independent variable. For each of these models, the odds ratio (OR) and average marginal effect (AME) of changing the value of the variable of interest were calculated. Results: A total of 42 392 ED visits by 11 783 unique patients were included. At the time of the ED visit, patients had a mean (SD) age of 77.4 (9.6) years, and visits were predominantly for female (25 719 visits [60.7%]) and White (32 148 visits [75.8%]) individuals. The overall percentage of patients admitted was 42.5%. After controlling for ED diagnosis and demographic characteristics, functional status, cognition status, and social supports all were associated with the likelihood of admission. For instance, difficulty performing 5 activities of daily living was associated with an 8.5-percentage point (OR, 1.47; 95% CI, 1.29-1.66) AME increase in the likelihood of admission. Having dementia was associated with an AME increase in the likelihood of admission of 4.6 percentage points (OR, 1.23; 95% CI, 1.14-1.33). Living with a spouse was associated with an AME decrease in the likelihood of admission of 3.9 percentage points (OR, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.79-0.89), and having children living within 10 miles was associated with an AME decrease in the likelihood of admission of 5.0 percentage points (OR, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.71-0.89). Other common geriatric syndromes, including trouble falling asleep, waking early, trouble with vision, glaucoma or cataract, use of hearing aids or trouble with hearing, falls in past 2 years, incontinence, depression, and polypharmacy, were not meaningfully associated with the likelihood of admission. Conclusion and Relevance: Results of this cohort study suggest that the key patient-level characteristics, including social supports, cognitive status, and functional status, were associated with the decision to admit older patients to the hospital from the ED. These factors are critical to consider when devising strategies to reduce low-value admissions among older adult patients from the ED.

Beyond cognitive deficits: how social class shapes social cognition.

Lower social class is thought to contribute to poorer executive functioning and working memory. Nevertheless, lower social class individuals consistently outperform their higher-class counterparts on social cognitive tasks that rely on similar underlying cognitive processes (e.g., working memory and executive functioning). Why would lower social class inhibit such processes in one domain, but promote them in another? We argue that features of lower-class communities (e.g., resource scarcity) promote social cognition via cultural processes. We then argue that social cognition involves partially unique task and neural demands that are separate from nonsocial cognition. We conclude that unique task and neural demands, together with the distinctive cognitive proclivities of lower- and higher-class cultures, can explain variable associations between social class and cognitive functioning.

Health literacy, social cognition constructs, and health behaviors and outcomes: A meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Observed disparities in health behaviors and outcomes may be associated with socio-structural variables and individuals' beliefs concerning health behaviors. We proposed and tested a model in which the effects of health literacy, an independent predictor, on two target outcomes, health behavior participation and health-related outcomes, were mediated by belief-based constructs from social cognition theories. METHOD: Studies (k = 203, N = 210,622) reporting relations between health literacy, social cognition constructs (attitudes, self-efficacy, knowledge, risk perceptions), and health behaviors and outcomes were identified in a systematic database search. Relations among proposed model variables, including indirect effects of health literacy on health behavior and outcomes mediated by social cognition constructs, were tested using random effects multilevel meta-analysis and meta-analytic structural equation modeling. RESULTS: The analysis revealed nonzero averaged correlations between health literacy, social cognition constructs, and health behavior and outcomes with small-to-medium effect sizes. Structural equation modeling indicated that self-efficacy and attitudes partially mediated the relationship between health literacy and health behavior and outcomes. Sensitivity analyses revealed that model effects did not vary substantively when omitting studies targeting health-risk behavior, studies using comprehension measures of health literacy, and studies in countries with high education provision. CONCLUSION: Findings indicate that relations between health literacy and health behavior and outcomes are partly accounted for by health behavior beliefs suggesting a potential mechanism by which health literacy may relate to health behavior and outcomes. Given these findings are based on correlational data, further corroboration is needed in studies adopting longitudinal or experimental designs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Mentalizing ability, mentalizing impairments, and anorexia nervosa: Validation of the Hebrew version of the Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC).

The goal of this study was to validate the Hebrew version of the Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC)-an ecological measure for assessing mentalizing ability-among patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) and healthy individuals. We examined the validity of the MASC's general mentalizing ability scale and of its mentalizing impairments subscales using validated measures of mentalizing ability (Reading the Mind in the Eyes test, Cambridge Mindreading Face-Voice Battery, and Reflective Function questionnaire) among female patients with AN (N = 35) and control participants (N = 42). ED symptoms were assessed via self-report questionnaires. The MASCHeb correlated with measures of mentalizing ability and was found to significantly differentiate patients with AN from controls. In addition to differing on general mental ability, the groups differed on hypomentalizing (but not hypermentalizing). Based on our findings, the MASCHeb proved to be an ecologically valid tool for assessing mentalizing ability and impairments among patients with AN. Moreover, our findings demonstrated the role played by general mentalizing ability in EDs and specifically pointed to the importance of hypomentalization in EDs. These findings have therapeutic implications, as outlined in the Discussion section.

Maternal executive function, authoritarian attitudes, and hostile attribution bias as interacting predictors of harsh parenting.

Executive function (EF) plays a key role in healthy development and human functioning across multiple domains, including socially, behaviorally, and in the self-regulation of cognition and emotion. Prior research has associated lower levels of maternal EF with harsher and more reactive parenting, and mothers' social cognitive attributes like authoritarian child-rearing attitudes and hostile attribution biases also contribute to harsh parenting practices. There have been few studies that explore the intersection of maternal EF and social cognitions. The present study addresses this gap by testing whether the relationship between individual differences in maternal EF and harsh parenting behaviors is statistically moderated separately by maternal authoritarian attitudes and hostile attribution bias. Participants were 156 mothers in a socioeconomically diverse sample. Multi-informant and multimethod assessments of harsh parenting and EF were utilized, and mothers self-reported on their child-rearing attitudes and attribution bias. Harsh parenting was negatively associated with maternal EF and hostile attribution bias. Authoritarian attitudes significantly interacted with EF (and the attribution bias interaction was marginally significant) in prediction of variance in harsh parenting behaviors. Commensurate with social information processing theory, EF and social cognitive attributes play critical and distinct roles in the causes of harsh caregiving practices. Findings elucidate that reforming parental social cognitions, in addition to targeting EF, may be effective prevention and intervention methods for yielding more positive parenting behaviors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Mechanisms of alignment: shared control, social cognition and metacognition.

In dialogue, speakers process a great deal of information, take and give the floor to each other, and plan and adjust their contributions on the fly. Despite the level of coordination and control that it requires, dialogue is the easiest way speakers possess to come to similar conceptualizations of the world. In this paper, we show how speakers align with each other by mutually controlling the flow of the dialogue and constantly monitoring their own and their interlocutors' way of representing information. Through examples of conversation, we introduce the notions of shared control, meta-representations of alignment and commentaries on alignment, and show how they support mutual understanding and the collaborative creation of abstract concepts. Indeed, whereas speakers can share similar representations of concrete concepts just by mutually attending to a tangible referent or by recalling it, they are likely to need more negotiation and mutual monitoring to build similar representations of abstract concepts. This article is part of the theme issue 'Concepts in interaction: social engagement and inner experiences'.

Current Potential for Clinical Optimization of Social Cognition Assessment for Frontotemporal Dementia and Primary Psychiatric Disorders.

Dodich and colleagues recently reviewed the evidence supporting clinical use of social cognition assessment in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (Dodich et al., 2021). Here, we comment on their methods and present an initiative to address some of the limitations that emerged from their study. In particular, we established the social cognition workgroup within the Neuropsychiatric International Consortium Frontotemporal dementia (scNIC-FTD), aiming to validate social cognition assessment for diagnostic purposes and tracking of change across clinical situations.

Sociocognição e saúde mental: a 'leitura do outro' no cuidado em saúde / Cognición social y salud mental: la 'lectura de la mente' en la assistencia a salud / Social cognition and mental health: the mindreading in the healthcare work

RESUMO. Teoria da mente é a habilidade sociocognitiva de inferir pensamentos, sentimentos e intenções. É uma habilidade que sustenta as relações sociais e parece particularmente relevante para o exercício de certas atividades que estão ligadas à 'leitura do outro', como a prática de profissionais que exercem o cuidado em equipamentos de saúde, como ocorre nos Centros de Atenção Psicossocial. Este estudo teórico teve o objetivo de analisar a importância das habilidades sociocognitivas para o trabalho em saúde, especialmente na saúde mental, a fim de identificar e discutir possíveis fatores que podem ter impacto na inferência que os profissionais fazem a respeito do que os usuários do serviço estão pensando, sentindo ou querendo. A análise permitiu observar as formas pelas quais a teoria da mente pode se tornar importante ferramenta para o profissional no processo terapêutico. Além disso, foi possível identificar que, no formato em que tem funcionado atualmente, o trabalho em Centros de Atenção Psicossocial tem exposto o profissional a diversos estressores que parecem produzir efeitos em suas habilidades sociocognitivas, podendo prejudicar não apenas sua saúde como também o exercício do cuidado.

RESUMEN. Teoría de la mente es la capacidad sociocognitiva de inferir pensamientos, sentimientos e intenciones. Es una habilidad que apoya las relaciones sociales y parece particularmente relevante para el ejercicio de determinadas actividades que están vinculadas a 'leer al otro', como la práctica de los profesionales que brindan atención en equipos de salud, como ocurre en los Centros de Atención Psicosocial. Este estudio teórico tuvo como objetivo analizar la importancia de las habilidades socio-cognitivas para el trabajo en salud, especialmente en salud mental, buscando identificar y discutir posibles factores que pueden incidir en la inferencia que hacen los profesionales sobre lo que piensan, sienten o sienten los usuarios del servicio. El análisis permitió observar las formas en que la teoría de la mente puede convertirse en una herramienta importante para los profesionales en el proceso terapéutico. Además, se pudo identificar que, en el formato en el que se ha operado actualmente, el trabajo en Centros de Atención Psicosocial ha expuesto a los profesionales a diversos estresores que parecen afectar sus habilidades sociocognitivas, los cuales pueden perjudicar no solo su salud sino también el ejercicio del cuidado.

ABSTRACT. Theory of mind is a social cognition ability to infer thoughts, feelings and intentions. It is a skill that underpins social relationships and seems particularly relevant to the exercise of certain activities linked to mindreading, such as healthcare practice, for example, in Psychosocial Care Centers. This theoretical study aims to analyze the importance of social cognition skills for mental health practitioners, seeking to identify and discuss possible factors that impact how these professionals infer what service users are thinking, feeling or wanting. The analysis allowed us to observe how the theory of mind can become an important tool for professionals in the therapeutic process. In particular, the study concludes that work in Psychosocial Care Centers has exposed professionals to various stressors that seem to have an effect on their social cognition skills, which can harm not only their health but also their ability to attend to the needs of service users.

Psychometric assessment of social cognitive tasks.

Although there has been a marked increase in interest in social cognition (SC) in recent years, psychometric data relating to many tasks used to measure its components remain limited in healthy populations with only five articles published to date. It is accordingly premature to speak of a consensus concerning the specific components, or best tests of the components, and possible cultural differences. The present study sought to partially fill that gap, examining the psychometric properties of a battery of SC tasks in a sample of 100 healthy adults aged 18-85 years old. Initially, nine tasks assessing four SC components were selected: emotion recognition, theory of mind, attributional bias, and social judgment. Construct validity and criterion-related validity were assessed using factor and correlational analyses. Performance across age and sex groups was also investigated. Reliability was assessed through internal consistency, interrater and intercoder agreement. Results indicated satisfactory properties for the Ambiguous Intentions Hostility Questionnaire-blame score, the Social Judgment Task, the Facial Emotions Recognition Test, and a modified version of the Strange Stories Task. Statistically significant differences were found between the groups with regard to age and sex after accounting for demographic and cognitive factors. However, the correlations of these measures with relationship quality were mostly very low, raising questions about their concomitant validity. Other tasks showed sub-optimal properties, suggesting that some frequently used tests require further validation or modifications to ensure the quality of research findings. Based on the results, recommended measures for future studies and limitations are discussed.

Relationship between psychopathic traits and performance on the Mini Social Cognition and Emotional Assessment in incarcerated males.

Psychopathy is a constellation of personality traits such as callousness, manipulativeness, and impulsivity, and these traits often co-occur with antisocial behavior. Researchers and clinicians have posited that these traits may be associated with impairments in orbitofrontal cortex functioning, but researchers have rarely assessed this using clinical neuropsychological assessments. In a sample of 87 male inmates in a county jail, this study examined the relationship between psychopathic traits and performance on the Mini Social Cognition and Emotional Assessment (Mini-SEA), an assessment of orbitofrontal cortex functioning. Psychopathy scores (total or factor) were not correlated with Mini-SEA performance. Potential reasons for our null findings and study limitations are discussed. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Psychopathic traits were not associated with performance on a neuropsychological measure assessing orbitofrontal cortex functioning. Deficits in OFC functioning observed in psychopathy may be different in nature, or less severe, than those observed in patients with frontotemporal dementia, who perform poorly on this measure.

Awareness, social cognition, and commitment: Developing a social justice orientation in psychology training programs.

This study investigates how the awareness of social inequities and racism may serve as a foundation for psychology trainees' social justice self-efficacy beliefs, outcome expectations, interests, and commitment. Using the social-cognitive justice developmental framework proposed by Miller et al. (2009), a total of 222 participants were recruited from accredited applied psychology programs across the United States. Participants completed measures assessing their levels of two dimensions of critical consciousness: Egalitarianism and awareness of inequality (Diemer et al., 2017), their colorblind racial attitudes (Neville et al., 2000), and their social justice self-efficacy, outcome expectations, interests, and commitment (Miller et al., 2009). A hypothesized path model was fit to the data. Alternative models were also considered. Results indicated that participants who endorsed egalitarianism and were more aware of social inequities showed greater awareness of racism and, in turn, were more likely to endorse a higher orientation and commitment to social justice. Limitations and implications for future research and training are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

[Spanish Norms for Mini-SEA (Mini Social Cognition and Emotional Assessment) in adults in Buenos Aires]. / Baremos en español del Mini-SEA (Mini Social Cognition and Emotional Assessment) en adultos normales de Buenos Aires.

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: The Mini-SEA is a quick and brief cognitive assessment test developed to study social cognition. It consists of a modified version of the faux pas Test and an emotional recognition test based on Ekman's faces. The objective of this work was to obtain the first Spanish Speaking norms for the Mini-SEA test. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 64 healthy volunteers, between 35 and 80 years old, were recruited and evaluated with the Mini-SEA by specialized neuropsychologists from the Cities of Buenos Aires and La Plata, both in the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. RESULTS: The total mean (M) of the Mini-SEA was 25 +/- 4. The M of the faux pas Score was 12.5 +/- 2.4 and the M of the Emotional Recognition Score was 12.8 +/- 1.5. The sample was divided into 4 age groups: Group 1 (<50 years), Group 2 (50-59 years), Group 3 (60-69 years) and Group 4 (more than 70 years). Differences were found in the age continuum in the Emotional Recognition score between group 1 and 4 (p <0.05) and between group 3 and 4 (p <0.01), but not in the Faux Pas Score. CONCLUSION: This study presents the first normative values of the Mini-SEA Social Cognition test for a Spanish-speaking population. The Mini-SEA, being a quick and easy to administer test, allows the study of social cognition in an adequate and precise way, especially in prodromal stages of neurodegenerative diseases.