Uncertainty in the Social World and its Interdependence

Anonymous

Abstract: This research investigates the variety of social behaviours that we engage in on a daily basis. There are several unknown factors in each scenario, reflecting the many sources of uncertainty inherent in social judgement. We illustrate how uncertainty emerges in social situations (the thoughts and intentions of others are generally hidden, making predicting a person's behaviour difficult) and why people are driven to reduce the aversive feelings created by uncertainty. We propose a model in which social uncertainty is mitigated first through automatic modes of inference (such as impression generation), before more control-demanding modes of inference (such as perspective-taking) are used to narrow one's expectations even further. Finally, social uncertainty is reduced further by allocating resources to update these predictions based on newer inputs. We propose a novel quantitative framework to provide an account of the mechanisms underlying social cognition and action, by integrating studies from multiple disciplines.