Poster #195 - Social Cognition in Adolescents and Young Adults: Executive Function and Figurative Language

• In Event: 2-055 - Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Section - Social Cognition

Integrative Statement

Social cognition includes the ability to identify emotions, understand and coordinate social perspectives, and negotiate social conflict (or social problem solving). Of the three aspects of social cognition, social problem solving has been the least studied, particularly in adolescents and young adults. Social problem solving is a complex skill, which involves aspects of problem recognition, emotion identification and perspective taking; attempts at creating effective solutions; and considering possible obstacles for successful resolution (D’Zurilla & Goldfried, 1971). The literature indicates that social problem solving skills improve with age, but we know little else about this ability. Moreover, few studies have specifically examined whether different cognitive processes are associated with different aspects of social problem solving. Both figurative language (Im-Bolter et al., 2013) and executive function (skills that manage cognitive processes to accomplish tasks; Pennington & Ozonoff, 1996) contribute to overall social problem solving skill. However, figurative (nonliteral) language features prominently in communicative exchanges in adolescence (Nippold, 2007). Since the production and comprehension of figurative language requires an understanding of speaker intention, which may not match the literal utterance, it could have a significant impact on an adolescent’s ability to resolve social conflict. Adolescence is also a time when both peer and romantic relationships gain increasing importance and likely bring with them different degrees of personal communicative difficulty (Christoff et al., 1985).
In the current study, our sample included 52 adolescents and young adults (aged 18 to 24 years, mean age = 19.60), who were given measures of IQ, figurative language, and executive function (shifting, updating, and inhibition) and Selman’s Interpersonal Negotiation Strategies (INS) interview (Selman et al., 1986). The INS interview assesses coordination of social perspective taking during four different stages of social problem solving. Our sample had IQ and figurative language scores within the average range (mean = 103.00, S.D. = 12.38; mean = 10.29, S.D. = 2.12, respectively), and a skewed gender distribution (17% identifying as male). As expected, figurative language and updating were related to the coordination of social perspective taking during two stages of the social problem solving process (problem identification and problem resolution), as well as to the overall INS interview score. A standard multiple regression analysis indicated that figurative language continued to predict coordination of social perspectives during the problem identification and problem resolution stages of the INS, as well as overall INS interview score after taking updating skills into account.
Our results extend previous findings with younger adolescents (Im-Bolter et al., 2013) and highlight the importance of figurative language in the social problem solving process. In the context of a social conflict, adolescents and young adults who struggle with “reading between the lines” or nonliteral language are more likely to have problems incorporating the other person’s perspective with their own. This difficulty is not explained by the ability to update information within working memory.

Authors

• Keely Owens-Jaffray, Trent University
  Presenting Author

• Nancie Im-Bolter, Trent University
  Non-Presenting Author