Social cognition, at times referred to as social thinking, is the myriad skills we intuitively apply during interpersonal communications and for personal problem solving.  How we process and react to information affects our ability to build relationships, maintain friendships, and manage school or work.  While social cognition proficiency is not related to intelligence, the lack of it can affect our ability to learn and take a heavy toll on emotional health.

Most children build social cognition at developmentally appropriate stages. Those who cannot naturally absorb social information, such as children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), are said to have a social learning disability.

Michelle Garcia Winner, MA, CCC-SLP, explains that social thinking is required prior to the development of social skills.  She further clarifies that successful social thinkers consider the points of view, emotions, thoughts, beliefs, prior knowledge and intentions of others.  Primarily referenced as Theory of Mind, Winner believes this set of skills is more easily understood when termed perspective taking.

For children, adolescents, and adults with a social learning disability, there’s good news. Perspective taking can be taught by using strategies such as Winner’s ILAUGH Model of Social Cognition, Carol Gray’s Social Stories, or Kari Dunn Buron and Mitzi Curtis’ The Incredible 5-Point Scale.