Table 1.
Nominated Domains of Social Cognition and Ratings from the Second Expert Survey
| Mean (SD) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Domain (Number of Nominations) | Definition | Valid | Important | Definition |
| Emotion processing (36) | This domain is broadly defined as perceiving and using emotions.1 It subsumes 3 subdomains that represent both lower level and higher level processes. At a lower perceptual level is the first subdomain emotion perception/recognition (identifying and recognizing emotional displays from facial expressions and/or nonface cues such as voice), and at a higher level are the 2 subdomains of understanding emotions and managing emotions | 7.63 (1.70) | 7.51 (1.87) | 6.77 (2.16) |
| Social perception (25) | Social perception refers to decoding and interpreting social cues in others.42–44 It includes social context processing and social knowledge, which can be defined as knowing social rules, roles, and goals (RRGs), utilizing those RRGs, and understanding how such RRGs may influence others’ behaviors25,45 | 7.63 (1.61) | 7.06 (1.51) | 6.77 (1.70) |
| Theory of mind/mental state attribution (42) | This domain is defined as the ability to represent the mental states of others including the inference of intentions, dispositions, and/or beliefs.46,47 Theory of mind is also referred to as mentalizing, mental state attribution, or cognitive empathy48 | 7.63 (1.61) | 7.20 (1.84) | 6.46 (2.12) |
| Attributional style/bias (14) | Attributional style describes the way in which individuals explain the causes, or make sense, of social events or interactions1,46 | 6.85 (1.91) | 5.74 (2.29) | 6.40 (1.70) |
| Social metacognition (9) | Social metacognition refers to the ability to evaluate thinking, including both one’s own thoughts and those of others. This allows for the formation and modification of ideas about oneself in the present and about one’s identity and characteristics over time.49 Self-perception, including agency and self-knowledge is included as a subdomain | 6.24 (1.58) | 5.57 (2.13) | 5.91 (1.85) |
| Social reciprocity (3) | This domain is defined as engaging in emotionally and socially appropriate turn-taking interactions with others (even if the interaction is only 1 turn each). Social reciprocity requires awareness of the interpersonal cues of others, appropriate responding to those cues, awareness of others’ reactions to themselves and their behaviors, and emotional engagement50 | 5.83 (1.90) | 5.49 (2.17) | 5.57 (1.61) |
Note: Domains presented in bold font were supported in the second round survey and were identified as the current primary domains of social cognition. Ratings were provided on a scale from 1 to 9. For the first 2 questions about the validity and importance of the domain, 1 = not at all valid/important, 5 = moderately valid/important, and 9 = extremely valid/important. For the last question inquiring about the degree to which one agreed with the definition of each domain, 1 = disagree, 5 = neither agree nor disagree, and 9 = agree. Overall mean ratings for retained domains were significantly higher than those for the dropped domains [t(4) = 3.56, P = .02].