Social Cognition, Person Perception, and Social Categorisation as Building Blocks of the Theory of Mind

Abstract

Day-to-day life presents us with numerous new experiences and exposure to different people, with social functioning being a major portion of one's living days. The theory of mind, a mental map of an individual in automating behaviour, is a process and product of one's social cognitions. There are evident changes across generations in terms of these cognitions and social processing, hence showing need for understanding the theory of mind of different generations, breaking it down into its component parts. The present study was conducted to understand the components of the theory of mind in relation to social functioning. Sixty-three participants across three different generations, Generation X, Millennials, and Generation Z, were subjected to focused group discussions and the collected data analysed using a grounded theory approach. The analysis identified five components of the theory of mind applicable to all generations: social perception, social judgment, people perception, people preference, and social categorisation.