Theory of mind, the ability to attribute mental states to oneself and others, has traditionally been investigated in humans and nonhuman primates. However, non-primate species, such as domestic dogs, may also be potential candidates for such a faculty. Domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) evolved from a social-living, wolf-like ancestor, and were the first species to be domesticated, with likely selection for sensitivity to human cues and human-like cognitive abilities. Dogs typically spend their lives in the rich social environment of human families, and thus dogs are naturally enculturated. The combination of these factors make dogs an excellent candidate for having a functional theory of mind. Yet perhaps surprisingly, prior research on theory of mind in dogs is limited, with inconclusive and contradictory results. The research described in this thesis is a systematic investigation of dogs' potential to demonstrate a functional theory of mind in their interactions with humans. Four experiments are presented, based on the Knower-Guesser paradigm (Povinelli et al., 1990), in which a knowledgeable and an ignorant human informant indicated the location of hidden food to the dog. In Experiment 1, one informant was absent (Guesser) and one present (Knower) during the food-hiding, and the dogs chose the Knower. However, when both informants were present, the dogs chose the informant that did the baiting, but this preference was less than when the Guesser was absent. In Experiments 2 and 3, a third experimenter hid the food while the informants covered their cheeks (Knower) or eyes (Guesser) with their hands, or were attentive (Knower) or inattentive (Guesser) to the food-hiding. In both cases, the dogs showed a significant preference for the Knower. In Experiment 4, the dogs showed no preference between the informants when they had equal perceptual access to the baiting, and were unsuccessful at selecting any container when the informants did not provide communicative cues. Overall, the present research provides the most definitive evidence yet that domestic dogs may be able to attribute differential states of knowledge to human observers, and thus may possess a functional theory of mind.

Infants' characteristics, including temperament and cognitive ability, contribute to individual differences in language development. However, the process through which such traits influence language learning remains unclear. One possibility is that temperament and cognitive capacities affect the way in which infants learn words by influencing their ability to successfully use contextual referential cues. Social cues, such as eyegaze, pointing and gesturing, and emotional expressions, are one important type of referential cue. The present study explored the role of such social cues in the relation between infant characteristics and vocabulary in 71 18-month-olds. It was hypothesized that infants' characteristics would be associated with both their vocabulary and their use of such social cues, and that social cue use would be related to overall vocabulary. Further, it was predicted that infants' ability to use social cues effectively would mediate the relation between infants' temperament and cognitive ability, and their vocabulary. Participants watched six word-learning videos on a Tobii 1760 Eyetracker. In each video, a speaker labeled a novel object using one social referential cue. Infants' ability to use that cue to learn the object label was assessed by tracking the time spent looking toward the target object. Infants' cognitive and language abilities were assessed using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, 3rd edition. Both parents and observers provided ratings of child temperament, and parents also completed the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory: Words and Sentences form. Both correlation and bias-corrected bootstrap mediation analyses were conducted. Temperament did not make a unique contribution to infants' vocabulary, but both cognitive ability and social cue use did. Mediation analyses indicated that social cue use did mediate the relation between early cognitive ability and vocabulary, but only for infants with lower than average cognitive ability. These results indicate that social cues may be especially important for language development in infants and young children with low IQ, possibly because they provide additional supports for word learning. This has important implications for both typically developing infants as well as young children with language disorders.

Introduction: Impaired neurocognition, especially social cognition, predicts disability in schizophrenia. Early intervention to target impairment is theoretically attractive as a means to minimise chronic disability. Many trials confirm that Cognitive Remediation (CR) produces meaningful, durable improvements in cognition and functioning but few interventions remediate social cognition or focus on the early stages of schizophrenia. Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis of 11 randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of CR in first episode psychosis (FEP) was completed. A randomised controlled pilot trial was then conducted to investigate a combined CR and social cognition training (CR+SCT) intervention in FEP compared to CR alone, assessing cognition, functioning and symptoms at baseline and follow-up. Qualitative feedback was also obtained in a nested feasibility and acceptability study to assess engagement, intervention suitability and attrition. Results: In the systematic review and meta-analysis, random effects models revealed a non-significant effect of CR on global cognition in FEP. However, there was a significant effect on functioning and symptoms, which was larger in trials with adjunctive psychiatric rehabilitation and small group interventions. In the pilot trial, the CR+SCT group had significantly better social functioning scores post-treatment, especially on the interpersonal relationships scale, however there was no significant effect on social cognition. CR+SCT also improved visual learning and set-shifting. There was no specific effect on symptoms. The nested feasibility and acceptability study found CR and CR+SCT to be acceptable and feasible for early intervention in psychosis service users, with high engagement rates and high user-reported satisfaction. Users perceived improvements in neurocognition and reported using strategies learnt during CR in daily life. Conclusions: Meta-analysis suggests that CR is beneficial in FEP. Evidence from the pilot trial shows that a CR intervention enhanced with SCT can improve functioning more than CR alone and that such an intervention is feasible and acceptable. A larger RCT is required to explore the full benefits of a CR+SCT intervention compared to CR and treatment as usual.

This study examined the development of social cognition in children with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD), as well as the influence of behavioral and molecular genetics on these higher-order cognitive abilities. Specifically, it was hypothesized that children with ASD would perform more poorly on all social cognitive tasks compared with typically developing peers. In addition, it was hypothesized that typically developing children who performed better on a simpler social cognitive task at ages 3 or 4 would perform better at follow-up (i.e., one time between the ages of 6-10). Lastly, it was hypothesized that children who had at least one risk allele in both the DRD4 and the 5-HTTLPR polymorphisms would perform worse than those who had at least one risk allele in either polymorphism, who, in turn, would perform worse than children without any risk alleles. The twin sample included 62 families of multiples (twins, triplets, or quadruplets) who were recruited through the Southern Illinois Twins and Siblings Study (SITSS), and the ASD sample included 25 children who were recruited from the Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders at SIU. Significant group differences were found for children's performance on all of the social cognitive tasks. Furthermore, results showed that some areas of social cognition (theory of mind and the understanding of non-literal language) are more influenced by genetic factors than are other cognitive skills. Lastly, results from the molecular genetic analyses suggest that basic social cognitive skills (e.g., theory of mind) may be influenced by underlying biological factors in the serotonergic and dopaminergic pathways. The present study provided useful information on how psychological and genetic factors influence the development of social cognitive abilities in children with and without ASD.

Theory of Mind (ToM), the ability to accurately predict and reason about the mental states and beliefs of others, has yet to be explored in Emerging Adulthood, the 18-25 age range characterized by variability and developing a flexible worldview. The current study attempts to predict accuracy and response time on two ToM tasks, The Mind in the Eyes task (MiE), and the Empathetic Accuracy Paradigm (EAP) task by acting experience (whether the participant has acted in a live theater performance) and college experience (freshmen, sophomore, etc.) in 116 college participants. It was hypothesized that regression models including acting experience and college experience will account for more variance than models including only demographic variables and that the models including acting and college experience will significantly predict accuracy and response time on all ToM tasks. All such models predicting accuracy were significant, while only a model predicting response time on the EAP task was significantly predictive. It was hypothesized that acting experience will enable participants to use Theory of Mind skills faster and more accurately (Goldstein & Winner, 2012). Multiple regression analyses confirmed that acting experience is a significant predictor in all models predicting accuracy on Theory of Mind tasks, however response time was a significant predictor in only one of two tasks. It was also hypothesized that college experience will result in a more flexible worldview, open to multiple viewpoints and opinions, significantly influencing response time and accuracy. Multiple regression analyses revealed college experience approached significance in a model predicting accuracy on the MiE task, but no other significant contributions. Implications for the benefits of acting and college experience, the study of Theory of Mind in Emerging Adulthood, and practical applications of the findings in academia and therapeutic settings are discussed.

For children, high quality friendships are associated with adaptive social, emotional and academic functioning. There is also evidence that children experience real and imaginary friendships in similar ways, and that imagined relationships could have an impact on development. However, less is known about the relationships made possible by virtual agents in digital media. This dissertation research was designed to provide preliminary data about children’s concepts of virtual agents, and the social opportunities they attribute to such entities. In Studies 1 and 2 (combined N = 48), preschool aged children differentiated the social affordances of a stuffed dog and a virtual dog. Participants played a game in which they guessed whether a child in a video was referring to a stuffed dog or a virtual dog in a series of statements. Items designed to assess high quality friendships, such as comfort, protection and love, were attributed more to the stuffed dog than the virtual dog. Studies 3 and 4 examined adult and child concepts of a virtual child, and how concepts of this entity might differ from a real child, a child on a video chat program (e.g., Skype™) and an inanimate doll. Adults and children attributed a range of properties to each child agent, including biological, psychological and social properties, as well as opportunities for relationships. In Study 3 (N = 144), adults did not differentiate between the virtual child and the doll on the social property; however, they favored the doll on opportunities for unilateral relationships. In Study 4 (N = 30), five to eight-year-old children indicated an overall preference for the doll on the social property, as well as on opportunities for reciprocal relationships. Children also favored the doll on opportunities for love, companionship, and intimate disclosure. Altogether, these findings suggest that virtual agents afford more limited social opportunities than inanimate artifacts, and they are less likely to be loved by children and adults alike. These results raise important questions about the design goals for virtual agents, and the functions they are intended to serve in our everyday lives. This dissertation includes both previously published and co-authored material.

Oxytocin (OT) plays a key role in the mediation of social and stress behaviors across many species; however, the mechanism is still unclear. The present study investigated the influence of prenatal levels of mesotocin (MT; avian homologue of OT) on postnatal social and stress behavior in Northern bobwhite quail. Experiment one determined endogenous levels of MT during prenatal development using an enzyme-linked immunoassay kit. Experiment two examined the influence of increased MT during prenatal development on chicks' individual recognition ability and stress response to a novel environment. Experiment one showed MT levels increased significantly throughout embryonic development. Experiment two showed significant differences in stress behavior for chicks with increased MT during prenatal development; however, no significant differences were found for social behavior. This study suggests MT serves different functions depending on the stage of embryonic development and that increasing MT levels affects postnatal stress behavior, but not social behavior.

Prisoners have high rates of physical and mental morbidity and of re-offending. There have been concerns that autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) may be overrepresented and under-diagnosed in this population. The aims of this study were to examine the effectiveness of an instrument which was developed to screen for ASDs in prisons and to establish whether male Scottish prisoners differ from community controls with respect to facial emotion recognition, as measured by behavioural testing, and differ on a neural basis while performing complex social judgements, as measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). A total of 2458 prisoners (approximately 40% of the convicted prison population) were examined using the screening tool, of whom a further 127 were interviewed in depth and were assessed for facial emotion recognition ability. FMRI was used to examine haemodynamic changes in a small sample of liberated prisoners (9) during a social judgement (approachability) versus control (gender judgments) task. The screening tool had poor sensitivity (28.6%) and specificity (75.6%) and was not effective or useful in screening for ASDs in this population. Significant deficits in negative facial emotion recognition were found in the prisoner group in comparison with age- and sex-matched community controls. Region of interest analysis of fMRI data in the bilateral amygdala revealed significantly greater activation in the left amygdala in ex-prisoners versus controls during the social judgement task. The identification of these abnormalities in facial emotion recognition and social judgement are in keeping with current literature on antisocial populations. They may offer the opportunity for development of interventions aimed at reducing re-offending in the future.

Formålet med dette studie var at undersøge, hvordan nye veganere oplevede deres ændring fra et ikke-vegansk liv. Målet var at få indsigt i, hvordan nye veganere oplevede at engagere sig i sociale interaktioner med andre mennesker, når de vidste, at de kunne opfattes som en ekstrem gruppe. Hensigten var at få et indblik i, hvordan de oplevede at håndtere deres ønskede selv, når de skulle inkludere andre mennesker i deres nye veganske livsstil. Samtidig handlede det også om,  hvordan de planlagde deres sociale interaktioner for at undgå konflikter eller fordømmelser fra andre mennesker. Gennem semistrukturerede interviews med 8 nye veganere blev der gennemført data som basis for analysen. Deltagerne blev valgt målrettet ud fra at de var nye veganere i en overgang fra en ikke-vegansk livsstil. En fortolkende fænomenologisk analyse blev foretaget som den metodologiske tilgang og der blev fundet 3 temaer "Transformation of wanted self in social interactions", "Social distancing from friends and family in the transformation" og "Et stærkere ønsket selv i sociale interaktioner". Deltagerne udtrykte, hvordan de oplevede at skulle forberede sig på at kunne spise ude med andre og hvordan, de håndterede at afvise animalske fødevarer der også kunne resultere i  konflikter med andre mennesker. De oplevede at de var nødt til at forberede fortællinger for at undgå disse konflikter og fordomme fra deres omgivelser. Samtidig måtte de også tænke på andres tanker og sætte sig ind i andres sted for at forstå, hvordan de tænkte. De var opmærksomme på, hvordan de præsenterede deres veganske livsstil, og det endte i en social afstand fra de mennesker de normalt var sammen med. Det viste sig, at nogle af deltagerne med tiden fik erfaring med sociale interaktioner, der førte til et stærkere ønsket sig selv som veganer. Fund blev diskuteret i forhold til eksisterende litteratur, psykologisk teori og andre studier om emnet. Konklusionerne i undersøgelsen førte til refleksioner om, hvordan forståelsen af ​​sociale interaktioner for fremtidige studier af stigmatiserede eller stereotype grupper kan forstås, ikke kun i forskellige kostvaner, men også i andre former for grupper, hvor folk kan føle sig ekskluderede på grund af deres beslutninger eller ændringer af livsstil. / The purpose of this study was to investigate how new vegans experienced their transformation from a non-vegan life. The aim was to gain insight into how new vegans experienced engaging in social interactions with other people, when they knew they could be perceived as an extreme group . The intention was to get an insight into how they experienced dealing with their wanted self when they included people in their new vegan diet and how they planned their social interactions to avoid conflicts or judgments. Through semi-structured interviews with 8 new vegans, data were conducted as a basis for the analysis. Participants were selected purposefully, according to the research study, and here it was important that they were new vegans in a transformation from a non-vegan life. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was adopted as the methodological approach and 3 themes “Transformation of wanted self in social interactions”, ``Social distancing from friends and family in the transformation “ and “A stronger wanted self in social interactions” were found. Participants expressed how they experienced having to prepare themselves to be able to eat out with others and how they handled rejecting certain animal based food could result in judgments from other people. They experienced that they had to prepare narratives to avoid conflicts and judgment from their surroundings, but at the same time they also had to think about others thoughts and understand how they might react. They were aware of how they presented their vegan lifestyle and it ended up in social distancing, but also over time they had enough experience with social interactions that led to a stronger wanted self as a vegan. Findings were discussed in relation to existing literature and psychological theory and other studies upon the topic. The conclusions in the study led to reflections on how the understanding of social interactions for future studies of stigmatized or stereotyped groups can be understood, not only in different diets but also in other forms of groups where people might feel excluded because of their decisions or change of lifestyle.

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