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Developmental Trends in Flexibility and Automaticity of Social Cognition
Author(s) -
Hayward Elizabeth O.,
Homer Bruce D.,
Sprung Manuel
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/cdev.12705
Subject(s) - automaticity , psychology , cognitive psychology , automatism (medicine) , cognition , flexibility (engineering) , social cognition , developmental psychology , cognitive science , neuroscience , statistics , mathematics
Age‐related changes in flexibility and automaticity of reasoning about social situations were investigated. Children ( N = 101; age range = 7;8–17;7) were presented with the flexibility and automaticity of social cognition (FASC), a new measure of social cognition in which cartoon vignettes of social situations are presented and participants explain what is happening and why. Scenarios vary on whether the scenario is socially ambiguous and whether or not language is used. Flexibility is determined by the number of unique, plausible explanations, and automaticity is indicated by speed of response. Overall, both flexibility and automaticity increased significantly with age. Language and social ambiguity influenced performance. Future work should investigate differences in FASC in older populations and clinical groups.