I access social networks nearly everyday, but I haven’t aware that social psychology is inside it before. After taking lecture 3&4, I know social networking more theoretical and in-depth. To some extent, social networking brings old-days’ face-to-face social psychology to the Internet. Which enable people from different region, stratum and background can interact with each other with no block. So I think that the social psychology in the Internet Age is more complicated and diversified.
An interesting point taught in the lecture is the hierarchy of cognition. A three-level model of cognitive processing to account for complex monitoring when individuals are faced with ill-structured problems, i.e., problems on which opposing or contradictory evidence and opinion exists, is proposed. Each level provides a foundation for the next one but is not subsumed by it.
- At the first level of cognition, individuals enter into cognitive tasks such as computing, memorizing, reading, etc. These are the pre-monitored cognitive processes on which the knowledge of the world is built.
- The second level, metacognition, is defined as the processes which are invoked to monitor cognitive progress when an individual is engaged in level 1 cognitive tasks or goals such as those listed above.
- The third level, epistemic cognition is characterized as the processes an individual invoke to monitor the epistemic nature of problems and the truth-value of alternative solutions. It includes the individual’s knowledge about the limits of knowing (e.g., some things can be known and others can not), the certainty of knowing (e.g., some things can only be known probabilistically), and the criteria for knowing (e.g., one knows the answer to a question if it can be conclusively verified scientifically). It also includes the strategies used to identify and choose between the form of solution required for different problem types.
We can find a simple example of the model talked above from Douban Movie as followed.
Level 1: Cognition, (Data)
Level 2: Metacognition, (Information)
After we have finished watching the movie, we can add it to our favorite list, and add tags to the movie.
Level 3: Epistemic Cognition, (Knowledge)
We can then, write a review of the movie, share our ideas, and discuss with each other.
This kind of example helps me learn the theories better, as I haven’t learnt psychology before.
We are not alone, and we’re all in the society, so, of course, we have to study Social Cognition. Social cognition is the encoding, storage, retrieval, and processing, of information in the brain, which relates to conspecifics (members of the same species). Also, Social cognitive theory, posits that portions of an individual's knowledge acquisition can be directly related to observing others within the context of social interactions, experiences, and outside media influences. In other words, people do not learn new behaviors solely by trying them and either succeeding or failing, but rather, the survival of humanity is dependent upon the replication of the actions of others. Depending on whether people are rewarded or punished for their behavior and the outcome of the behavior, that behavior may be modeled. Further, media provide models for a vast array of people in many different environmental settings. Such as the results of the famous Bandura’s Bobo Doll Experiment showed to us. Therefore, we should use the social networking properly and set right models.
After taking Lecture 3&4, I know that the base of social networking is not computing or codes, but psychology; it’s just a show perform at another stage.
REFERENCES
Karen Strohm Kitchner, Cognition, Metacognition, and Epistemic Cognition: A Three-Level Model of Cognitive Processing, S. Karger AG, Basel, 1983
Social Cognition: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_cognition
Social Cognitive Theory: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_cognitive_theory
Your examples of Douban Movie help me understand the three levels of Cognitions better.And I agree with "the base of social networking is not computing or codes, but psychology" very much in your last paragraph.
回复删除It's very pleasure to see the simple example helping better understanding the social cognition model. The SCT theory proposed in your blog illustrates the connection between cognition, behaviors and environment involving both cognition structure and social psychology.
回复删除Your article is great and it simplify the understanding of the hierarchy of cognition by the DouBan Movie. Your words and pictures are very helpful for me to know clearly how social network can involve the psychology and let users perform it in a simple way. I think it is good to cover all three level of cognition in the social networking because it expends users' knowledge and provides better using experience than newspaper.
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