Thinking Socially About the Nonsocial World

Abstract

Abstract Social cognition has historically focused exclusively on how individuals think about themselves, other people, and groups. More recently, research has explored the possibility that social cognitive processes are implicated in thinking about a broad set of nonhuman entities, ranging from basic perceptual stimuli to animals to robots. Emerging research on anthropomorphism, the tendency to attribute uniquely human characteristics to nonhuman animals and nonliving objects, is reviewed. Research on the central influence of social category associations (particularly gender associations) in anthropomorphism is discussed. The chapter concludes with a consideration of social cognitive phenomena in human–robotic interaction. This review shows that people regularly think socially about the nonsocial world, dramatically expanding the potential reach and influence of the discipline of social cognition.