Doctor Thomas Insel defines social cognition as the way we process information about recognition, social memory, social motivation, and language.

So what is social cognition? We usually think about social cognition (let’s say social neuroscience) as breaking down into cognition, which would have everything to do with recognition, social memory, social motivation and even the way in which we process social information; who are you, how do I value you, that kind of information about others. And we contrast that to some extent with social behavior; parental care, reproductive behaviors, aggression, the whole range of social behaviors and perhaps the one that is studied the most and the one that becomes really complicated here between cognition and behavior is language, which tends to bridge the two of them together.

social cognition, social neuroscience, recognition, social memory, social motivation, and language, thomas, insel