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Over the past 150 years of neuroscientific research, the field has undergone a tremendous evolution. Starting out with lesion-based inference of brain function, functional neuroimaging, introduced in the late 1980s, and increasingly fine-grained and sophisticated methods and analyses now allow us to study the live neural correlates of complex behaviors in individuals and multiple agents simultaneously. Classically, brain-behavior coupling has been studied as an association of a specific area in the brain and a certain behavioral outcome. This has been a crucial first step in understanding brain organization. Social cognitive processes, as well as their neural correlates, have typically been regarded and studied as isolated functions and blobs of neural activation. However, as our understanding of the social brain as an inherently dynamic organ grows, research in the field of social neuroscience is slowly undergoing the necessary evolution from studying individual elements to how these elements interact and their embedding within the overall brain architecture. In this article, we review recent studies that investigate the neural representation of social cognition as interacting, complex, and flexible networks. We discuss studies that identify individual brain networks associated with social affect and cognition, interaction of these networks, and their relevance for disorders of social affect and cognition. This perspective on social cognitive neuroscience can highlight how a more fine-grained understanding of complex network (re-)configurations could improve our understanding of social cognitive deficits in mental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia, thereby providing new impulses for methods of interventions.

Borderline-Persönlichkeitsstörung (BPS) ist eine schwere psychiatrische Störung, die durch tiefgreifende Probleme in Emotionsregulation und zwischenmenschlichen Beziehungen gekennzeichnet ist. Die gestörten Beziehungsmuster werden als ein Kernmerkmal von BPS betrachtet, obwohl die empirische Evidenz dafür weitestgehend fehlt. Bisherige Ergebnisse sind auf behavioraler und neuronaler Ebene bei BPS durch das häufig komorbide Auftreten einer posttraumatischen Belastungsstörung (PTBS) verzerrt. Eine vielversprechende Möglichkeit, die Beziehungsstörung von Patienten mit BPS näher zu untersuchen, bietet das multidimensionale Konzept der Empathie. Daher konzentriert sich die vorliegende Arbeit auf die Identifizierung behavioraler und neuronaler Korrelate kognitiver und emotionaler Empathie bei BPS Patienten und den Einfluss einer komorbiden PTBS auf diese. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Patienten mit BPS Einschränkungen in beiden Facetten von Empathie zeigen, aber komorbide PTBS, intrusive Symptomatik und sexuelle Traumatisierung in der Vergangenheit mit schlechterer kognitiver Empathie einhergehen. Außerdem ist unter kognitiver Empathie die neuronale Aktivität im linken superior temporal Sulcus/Gyrus (STS/STG) bei BPS Patienten reduziert und mit der Ausprägung ihrer intrusiven Symptomatik assoziiert. Während emotionaler Empathie zeigen Patienten mit BPS im rechten insulären Kortex mehr Aktivität, die mit dem Hautleitwiderstand der BPS Patienten assoziiert ist. Die hier dargestellten Ergebnisse unterstützen ein Bild von BPS als eine Störung der emotionalen und kognitiven Empathie. Eine komorbid diagnostizierte PTBS scheint sich dabei zusätzlich verschlechternd auf die Fähigkeit zur kognitiven Empathie auszuwirken. Die veränderte Funktion von STS/STG und Insula könnte einen pathophysiologischen Vermittlungsmechanismus auf neuronaler Ebene für BPS darstellen, dabei scheinen die intrusiver Symptomatik und dem Grad der Erregung der Patienten eine wesentliche Rolle zu spielen. / Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a severe psychiatric malfunction, which involves deficits in emotion regulation and interpersonal relationships. Especially the interpersonal problems are seen as a core feature in BPD, even if there is only weak empirical evidence. Furthermore, the current results on behavioral and functional alterations of patients with BPD are biased by the high rate of comorbidity with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The multidimensional concept of empathy seems to be an eligible framework for the interpersonal problems of patients with BPD. Hence, the present work focuses on the identification of behavioral and neural correlates of cognitive (i.e., social cognition) and emotional (i.e., empathic concern) empathy in patients with BPD. Moreover the influence of comorbidities (e.g., PTSD) on the behavioral and neural alterations of patients with BPD was explored. Patients with BPD showed impairments in both facets of empathy, but comorbid PTSD, intrusive symptoms, and history of sexual trauma were only associated with outcomes in cognitive empathy. In this condition the brain responses were significantly reduced in BPD patients compared to controls in the left superior temporal sulcus and gyrus (STS/STG), where this reduction was associated with levels of intrusive symptomatology in the BPD group. During emotional empathy, patients with BPD exhibited greater brain activation than controls in the right middle insular cortex, a response that was associated with skin conductance responses in the patients. Thus, these findings support a conceptualization of BPD as involving deficits in emotional as well as in cognitive empathy. A comorbid PTSD seems to impair the cognitive empathic outcome additionally. Findings at the neural level indicate that altered functioning of the STS/STG and insula represents pathophysiological mediators for BPD, with an important role for intrusive symptomatology and levels of arousal.

Achtsamkeit wird mit vielen positiven Effekten für das psychische Wohlbefinden assoziiert, wobei Fähigkeiten wie Emotionsregulation (ER) und soziale Kognition (SC) zu den wichtigsten Mechanismen gehören. In der vorliegenden Doktorarbeit wurde die Beziehung zwischen Achtsamkeit, ER und SC mit verschiedenen methodischen Ansätzen untersucht. In Studie I wurde mithilfe von Literatur und empirischen Modellen die Beziehung zwischen Achtsamkeit und ER ausgearbeitet und verschiedene psychologische und neurokognitive Mechanismen diskutiert. Studie II zielte darauf ab den ER-Mechanismus bei „Trait-Achtsamkeit“ zu entschlüsseln. Hier zeigte sich, dass es sowohl bei Probanden mit einer Borderline-Persönlichkeitsstörung als auch bei gesunden Teilnehmern einen mediierenden Effekt von Selbstmitgefühl gab, der Achtsamkeit mit ER-Merkmalen verband. Studie III untersuchte den Zusammenhang zwischen ER und SC mit Hilfe von Verhaltens- und Neuroimaging-Experimenten, mit Fokus auf dem Konzept der sozialen ER (die Fähigkeit, die Emotionen anderer zu modulieren). Es zeigte sich, dass bei der Regulierung der Emotionen anderer der eigene Stress reduziert wird, wobei wichtige "soziokognitive" Hirnregionen (z.B. Precuneus) an der Vermittlung dieser Effekte beteiligt sind. Studie IV untersuchte im Rahmen einer Neuroimaging-basierten randomisierten Kontrollstudie ER-Mechanismen während einer achtsamkeitsbasierten Intervention (MBI). Die Studie zeigte eine durch die MBI induzierte ER-Verhaltensplastizität im Gehirn, sowohl für die Eigen- als auch für die soziale ER. Ein Effekt im Vergleich zu SC (kognitive und emotionale Empathie) wurde nicht gezeigt. Unter Einbezug aller Ergebnisse wurde ein Modell postuliert, das den Austausch und die Regulierung von Emotionen im Kontext von sozialen Interaktionen integriert. Die Dissertation bietet neue Einblicke in die ER-Mechanismen der Achtsamkeit und beleuchtet die individuellen Determinanten sozialer Prozesse durch das Zusammenbringen von ER und SC. / Mindfulness, the capacity to fully attend to the present experience, has been linked to a myriad of mental health benefits, being abilities such as emotion regulation (ER) and social cognition (SC) of the main potential active mechanisms. The current doctorate thesis investigated the relationship between mindfulness and ER and SC using a range of methodological approaches from trait level individual differences to behavioral and brain mechanisms. Study one explored the relationship between mindfulness and ER by examining the diverse literature and empirical models, discussing different psychological and neuro-cognitive mechanisms. Study two intended to unravel the ER mechanism of trait mindfulness, showing in both borderline personality and healthy subjects the mediating effect of self-compassion linking mindfulness and ER traits. Study three further investigated the link between ER and SC using behavioral and neuro-imaging experiments, addressing the notion of social ER (the capacity to modulate others’ emotions). It showed that when regulating others’ emotions, an individual’s own distress is reduced, being key ‘sociocognitive’ brain regions (i.e. precuneus) engaged in mediating these effects. Study four investigated the fine-grained ER mechanisms of a mindfulness-based intervention (MBI), comparing the MBI with a reading group (READ), in the context of a neuroimaging-based randomized controlled trial. This study revealed ER brain behavioral plasticity induced by the MBI, for both self and social ER. It also showed a lack of effect over SC (cognitive and emotional empathy). Articulating overall findings, a model that integrates exchanges and regulation of emotions in the context of social interactions is proposed. The dissertation offers new insights into mindfulness’ ER mechanisms, from dispositions to neuro-behavioral levels, and also sheds light onto individual level determinants of social processes, linking ER and SC.

The purpose of the present study was to explore a theoretically based social-cognitive model of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by investigating attachment-related and social-cognitive predictors of PTSD in a sample of 125 post-9/11 U.S. combat veterans. Subjects completed an online survey assessing PTSD symptomology, attachment-related internal working models, perceived social support, and mentalizing capacity. Path analysis provided empirical support for a respecified version of the model. More negative internal working model of self and poorer mentalizing capacity predicted higher PTSD symptom levels. Contrary to previous findings, greater perceived social support predicted higher, not lower, PTSD symptom levels. Mentalizing capacity mediated the relationship between internal working model of self and PTSD symptoms in a complementary manner, whereas perceived social support as a mediator was dampening. The relationship between internal working model of others and PTSD symptom levels was fully mediated by perceived social support, which buffered the effect of negative working model of others on PTSD symptom levels. These findings underscore the importance of social-cognitive processing, rooted in early attachment experiences, in the development and symptomology of PTSD in trauma-exposed veterans. In preparing clients for trauma work, clinicians may consider employing modalities that promote earned secure attachment and highlight mentalization in the therapeutic change process.

Dès les premières années de vie, l’enfant doit être en mesure de comprendre le monde social complexe qui l’entoure afin de s’y intégrer adéquatement. Au quotidien, l’aisance avec laquelle il parvient à naviguer cet environnement et à s’engager efficacement dans ses interactions avec autrui dépend de sa compétence sociale. Une bonne compétence sociale repose, entre autres, sur un ensemble d’habiletés sophistiquées nommé « cognition sociale », qui regroupe diverses fonctions permettant de traiter, comprendre et évaluer les situations sociales ainsi que d’y répondre. Le traitement des normes sociales et le raisonnement sociomoral (RSM) font partie des fonctions sociocognitives les plus complexes et sont reconnus comme étant essentiels au déploiement de comportements sociaux appropriés. Ces deux fonctions distinctes, mais complémentaires, permettent à l’enfant d’analyser les situations de la vie quotidienne sur la base de normes sociales et de critères moraux afin d’offrir une réponse comportementale appropriée à chaque interaction sociale. Selon plusieurs modèles théoriques, bien que l’émergence de ces deux fonctions sociocognitives s’observe dès les premières années de vie, la complexification et le raffinement de ces dernières se poursuivent tout au long de la période développementale. Cette évolution progressive serait soutenue, en partie, par la maturation cérébrale, le développement cognitif et affectif, ainsi que la quantité et de la qualité des expériences sociales. À ce jour, bien que la littérature regorge d’études s’intéressant à la compétence sociale et, plus spécifiquement, au traitement des normes sociales et au RSM, plusieurs questions subsistent concernant les éléments permettant leur recrutement optimal au cours de l’enfance. La difficulté à établir un portrait exhaustif et approfondi des différents facteurs contribuant à ces deux fonctions sociocognitives découle, en partie, de la diversité des approches théoriques, méthodologiques et statistiques utilisées, ainsi que du peu de méthodes objectives permettant d’évaluer ces processus chez les enfants. Ainsi, en s’ancrant dans des cadres théoriques et expérimentaux appartenant aux neurosciences sociales et computationnelles ainsi qu’à la neuropsychologique développementale, cette thèse vise globalement à mieux comprendre les éléments favorisant la compétence sociale durant l’enfance. En s’intéressant plus spécifiquement au traitement des normes sociales et au RSM, les articles de la présente thèse ont pour objectif d’identifier les facteurs contribuant à ces deux habiletés et préciser leur rôle chez les enfants. Le premier article de cette thèse s’appuie sur une méthode novatrice de modélisation comportementale afin d’explorer la capacité d’adaptation aux normes sociales chez des enfants âgés entre 7 et 11 ans et identifier le mécanisme cognitif qui sous-tend cette dernière. Pour ce faire, une tâche de prise de décisions en lien avec la norme d’équité permettant de manipuler les informations sociales auxquelles les enfants sont exposées a été utilisée. Les résultats ont confirmé que les enfants possèdent un mécanisme d’adaptation aux normes sociales qui leur permet de modifier leurs attentes en fonction de l’information implicitement présente dans l’environnement social. L’analyse subséquente des données à travers différents modèles computationnels a révélé que, ces enfants ajustent la norme d’équité de façon dynamique selon l’apport combiné de l’erreur de prédiction (c.-à-d., l’écart entre ce qui est attendu et ce qui se produit réellement) et d’un paramètre individuel d’apprentissage. Le deuxième article de cette thèse visait à identifier les facteurs contributifs précoces du RSM chez les enfants d’âge scolaire. Pour répondre à certaines limites identifiées dans les études précédentes, une approche longitudinale et compréhensive a été privilégiée afin de déterminer comment différents facteurs internes (c.-à-d., inhérent à l’enfant: âge, sexe, tendances comportementales), externes (c.-à-d., provenant de l’environnement : éducation et stress parental, interactions parent-enfant) et cognitifs (c.-à-d., processus mentaux : fonctions exécutives et sociocognitives) présents entre l’âge de 3 à 5 ans contribuaient à la maturité du RSM quatre ans plus tard. Les résultats d’une analyse de régression hiérarchique en quatre étapes ont révélé que les fonctions exécutives et les problèmes de comportement internalisés étaient des prédicteurs indépendants du SMR à l’âge scolaire. Ensemble, les travaux de cette thèse s’ajoutent à une vaste littérature visant à mieux comprendre les éléments qui permettent aux enfants d’être compétents lors de leurs interactions sociales. En explorant plus spécifiquement le traitement des normes sociales et le RSM, les études ont permis d’apporter certaines précisions et nuances concernant les différents facteurs concomitants et prédictifs contribuant au déploiement d’une bonne compétence sociale durant l’enfance. / From the very first years of life, children must understand the complex social world around them in order to adequately participate in it. In everyday life, the ease with which they navigate this environment and effectively engage in interactions with others depends on their social competence. Good social competence relies, among other things, on a set of sophisticated cognitive skills known as "social cognition", which encompasses several abilities that allow the individual to process, understand, evaluate, and respond to social situations. Processing of social norms and sociomoral reasoning (SMR) are among the most complex sociocognitive functions and are recognized as essential to the implementation of appropriate social behaviors. These two distinct but complementary functions allow children to analyze various situations based on social norms and moral criteria, in order to provide appropriate behavioral responses to social interactions. According to several theoretical models, although the emergence of these two sociocognitive functions can be observed from the early years of life, their refinement and complexification continue throughout the developmental period. This progressive evolution is partly supported by brain maturation, cognitive and affective development, as well as the quantity and quality of social experiences. To date, although there is a wealth of studies on social competence and, more specifically, on social norms processing and SMR, several questions remain regarding the underlying factors that enable their optimal recruitment during childhood. One of the biggest issues in establishing a comprehensive and in-depth portrait of the factors contributing to these two sociocognitive functions stems, in part, from the diversity of theoretical, methodological, and statistical approaches used, as well as the limited number of objective methods available for assessing these processes in children. By drawing on theoretical and experimental frameworks belonging to social and computational neurosciences as well as developmental neuropsychology, this thesis globally aims to better understand what promotes social competence during childhood. The articles in this thesis specifically aim to identify the factors that contribute to the adequate recruitment of these two abilities and to clarify their role in school-aged children by focusing on social norms processing and SMR. The first article of this thesis relies on an innovative behavioral modeling method to explore social norms adaptation in children aged 7 to 11 and to identify the cognitive mechanism underlying this process. To achieve this, a fairness-based decision-making task that manipulated the social information to which children were exposed was used. The results confirmed that children rely on an adaptation mechanism to social norms that allows them to adjust their expectations based on the implicit information present in the social environment. Subsequent analyses of the data through different computational models revealed that, children adjust their equity norm dynamically according to the combined contribution of a prediction error (i.e., the discrepancy between what is expected and what actually occurs) and an individual learning rate parameter. The second article of this thesis aimed to identify what factord contribute to SMR in school- aged children. To address some of the limitations identified in previous studies, a longitudinal and comprehensive approach was adopted to determine how different internal factors (i.e., inherent to the child: age, sex, behavioral tendencies), external factors (i.e., from the environment: parental education and stress, parent-child interactions), and cognitive factors (i.e., mental processes: executive and sociocognitive functions) between the ages of 3 and 5 years contribute to SMR maturity four years later. A four-step hierarchical regression analysis revealed that executive functions and internalized behavior problems were independent predictors of SMR. Taken together, the work stemming from this thesis adds to an extensive literature focused on understanding the factors that enable children to be competent in their social interactions. By specifically exploring the processing of social norms and SMR, the two studies provide a more nuanced portrait of the various concomitant and predictive factors that contribute to good social competence in children.

The objective of the research was to investigate an improvement in job performance when role-play is used as a training and assessment tool in a sales call centre environment. The research was conducted by means of a competence assessment used at different stages (Quality Assurance Performance Management Questionnaire). The final stage was two weeks after the learners who had qualified to be sales agents had entered a real working environment. At this final stage, calls were retrieved and rated against the Quality Assurance Performance Management Questionnaire (QAPMQ). A sample of 40 novice sales agents (learners) were selected and randomly divided into the control and experimental groups. The research findings indicated that if planned well, role-play can be an effective training and assessment tool. / Industrial & Organisational Psychology / M.Comm. (Industrial & Organisational Psychology)

The theories of social cognition and personal constructs compose the theoretical backdrop to this dissertation which deals with people's expectations regarding romantic partners and relationships.Five women were interviewed and a qualitative analysis undertaken and discussed with a view to elucidating the influence of one's parents, cultural background and individual identity on the development and functioning of expectations. These expectation are based on beliefs about men and relationships in general and about healthy and unhealthy relationships in particular. Attension is given to the role of relationship beliefs and expectations in evaluations of romantic relationships and the consequences of such evaluations for relationship satisfaction and commitment. It is concluded that expectations play an important role in the process of partner and relationship eva,uation and thus, in the outcome of relationships. Parental and cultural influences are found to play an important part in shaping individual values and expetations, albeit in an indirect manner. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

The centralised control over curriculum framing and pedagogy, the generally poor quality of teaching with little sensitivity to children’s sociocultural environment; and very high drop out rates, even at the primary school level, are some of the challenges facing school education in many of the regions of India. However, one of the successful approaches to these challenges has been the Digantar school system, working in rural communities. The study is based in one Digantar School in Rajasthan and employs concepts derived from the Vygotskian tradition to interrogate the methods employed in Digantar school system. The study took Edwards’ (2010a, 2011, 2012) idea of common knowledge and Hedegaard’s (2008, 2012, 2013) idea of institutional demand in practices as conceptual lenses through which to investigate the components of the pedagogical practices that help Digantar teachers to align the motives of the school with those of the child in classroom activities. In doing so it analyses the institutional practices that lead to the development of common knowledge that in turn facilitates how teachers engage pupils as learners. Data were gathered over six months and comprised around 120 hours of school-based video data together with interviews and detailed observations with teachers and community members. Data were gathered in classrooms, teacher meetings, meetings between parents and teachers and at school-community meetings. Analyses focused on the construction of common knowledge and the use made of it by the school to achieve a mutual alignment of motives between the practices of the school with the community and the families. The study has revealed that teachers’ engagement with the knowledge and motives of other teachers and community members helped to create common knowledge, i.e. an understanding of what mattered for each participating group, which facilitated teaching-learning in the school. The analysis also points towards a form of democracy, which enhances children’s participation in their learning. It was found that building and sharing of common knowledge and creating a socially articulated ‘space of reasons’ (Derry 2008) produced a pedagogical model that engaged children in creating their social situation of development, seeking and recognising the curriculum demands being placed on them.

Déterminer si quelqu’un est digne de confiance constitue, tout au long de notre vie, une décision à la base de nos interactions sociales quotidiennes. Des études récentes chez les jeunes adultes ont proposé que le jugement de confiance basé sur un visage constituerait une extension des processus de reconnaissance des expressions faciales, particulièrement de la colère et de la joie (Todorov, 2008). Bien que le jugement de confiance soit d’une grande importance tout au long de notre vie, à notre connaissance, aucune étude n’a tenté d’explorer l’évolution de ce processus au cours du vieillissement. Pourtant, sachant que les personnes âgées saines sont moins efficaces que les jeunes adultes pour reconnaître les expressions faciales émotionnelles (Ruffman et al., 2008; Calder et al., 2003), des différences pourraient exister dans les capacités de ces deux groupes d’âge à poser un jugement de confiance. Le présent travail a permis d’explorer, pour une première fois, les processus perceptifs sous-jacents au jugement de confiance chez une population âgée saine ainsi que chez une population présentant une démence fronto-temporale. Les résultats démontrent que les représentations de colère, de joie et de confiance sont similaires chez les jeunes et les âgés sains et suggèrent qu’il existe bel et bien un lien entre le jugement de confiance et les jugements de joie et de colère. De plus, ils révèlent que ce lien persiste au cours vieillissement, mais que les adultes âgés sains se fient davantage à leur représentation de la colère que les jeunes adultes pour déterminer si un visage est digne de confiance ou non. Enfin, les patients présentant une démence fronto-temporale possèdent des représentations différentes des âgés sains en ce qui concerne la colère, la joie et la confiance, et ils semblent se fier davantage à leur représentation de la joie que les âgés sains pour déterminer le niveau de confiance d’un visage. / To determine whether someone looks trustworthy or not is, throughout our lives, a basic decision in our social interactions. Recent studies have suggested that this type of judgment may be an extension of facial expression judgments, more specifically of anger and happiness judgments (Todorov, 2008). Even though trustworthiness judgments play a great role in our social interactions throughout our lives, little is known about the evolution of this process through aging. However, knowing that older adults are less efficient than younger adults in identifying facial expressions (Ruffman et al., 2008; Calder et al., 2003), one could expect to find differences between young and older adults in the way they judge trustworthiness. This work aimed to explore, for the first time, perceptual processes underlying trustworthiness judgments in a healthy older adult population as well as in a population of fronto-temporal dementia (FTD) patients. Results show that anger, happiness and trustworthiness representations are similar between young and older adults, and they suggest that a relationship does exist between emotional judgments and trustworthiness judgments. Moreover, results show that this relationship persists throughout aging, but that older adults rely more on their representation of anger than younger in adults while judging trustworthiness. Finally, patients with fronto-temporal dementia show different representations of anger, happiness and trustworthiness than that of the controls. Also, for trustworthiness judgments, they rely more on their representation of happiness than controls.