The Role of Social Cognition and Person Perception in Economic Social Decision-Making

Social decision-making is often complex, requiring the decision-maker to make social inferences about another person in addition to engaging traditional decision-making processes. However, until recently, much research in neuroeconomics and behavioral economics has examined social decision-making while failing to take into account the importance of the social context and social cognitive processes that are engaged when viewing another person. Using social psychological theory to guide our hypotheses, four research studies investigate the role of social cognition and person perception in guiding economic decisions made in social contexts. The first study (Chapter 2) demonstrates that only specific types of social information engage brain regions implicated in social cognition and hinder learning in social contexts. Study 2 (Chapter 3) extends these findings and examines contexts in which this social information is used to generalize across contexts to form predictions about another person’s behavior. Study 3 (Chapter 4) demonstrates that under certain contexts these social cognitive processes may be withheld in order to more effectively complete the task at hand. Last, Study 4 (Chapter 5) examines how this knowledge of social cognitive processing can be used to change behavior in a prosocial group context. Taken together, these studies add to the growing body of literature examining decision-making in social contexts and highlight the importance of social cognitive processing in guiding these decisions. Although social cognitive processing typically facilitates social interactions, these processes may alter economic decision-making in social contexts.

The Role of Home Practice Engagement in a Mindfulness-Based Intervention

Over the last three decades, there has been a precipitous rise in curiosity regarding the clinical use of mindfulness meditation for the self-management of a broad range of chronic health conditions. Despite the ever-growing body of evidence supporting the use of mindfulness-based therapies for both medical and psychological concerns, data on the active ingredients of these mind-body interventions are relatively scarce. Regular engagement in formal mindfulness practice is considered by many to be requisite for generating therapeutic change; however, previous investigations of at-home practice in MBIs have produced mixed results. The equivocal nature of these findings has been attributed to significant methodological limitations, including the lack of standardized, systematic practice monitoring tools, and a singular focus on practice time, with little attention paid to the nature and quality of one’s practice. The present study used a prospective, observational design to assess the effects of home-based practice on dispositional mindfulness, self-compassion, and psychological functioning in twenty-eight people enrolled in an MBSR or MBCT program. To address some of the aforementioned limitations, the present study collected detailed weekly accounts of participants’ home-based practice engagement, including information about practice time (i.e., frequency and duration), exercise type, perceived effort and barriers to participation, and practice quality. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to examine the relative contribution of practice time and practice quality on treatment outcomes, and to explore possible predictors of adherence to at-home practice recommendations. As anticipated, practice quality and perceived effort improved with time; however, rather unexpectedly, practice quality was not a significant predictor of treatment-related improvements in psychological health. Home practice engagement, however, was predictive of change in dispositional mindfulness, in the expected direction. Results of our secondary analyses demonstrated that employment status was predictive of home practice engagement, with those who were unemployed completing more at-home practice on average. Mindfulness self-efficacy at baseline and previous experience with meditation or other contemplative practices were independently predictive of mean practice quality. The results of this study suggest that home practice helps generate meaningful change in dispositional mindfulness, which is purportedly a key mechanism of action in mindfulness-based interventions.