PSY 450 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Social Cognition, Empathic Accuracy, Autism-Spectrum Quotient

• School: University of Oregon
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY 450
• Professor: Pranjal Mehta

Document Summary

Social cognition focuses on how people process, store, and apply information about other people and social situations. Cognitive empathy the a(cid:271)ility to re(cid:272)og(cid:374)ize a(cid:374)d u(cid:374)dersta(cid:374)d a(cid:374)other perso(cid:374)"s e(cid:373)otio(cid:374)al state. Autism-spectrum disorders are associated with impairments in social cognition. Reading the mind in the eyes test (rmet) adults with autism performed lower on average on this test. The sex difference was found primarily in non-autistic adults (women before better on average) Those who received testosterone performed lower on the rmet test. Driven by women with low 2d:4d ratio higher prenatal testosterone levels. Intranasal oxytocin may improve social cognition in those with social deficits.