ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the nature of social cognition, describe how the manifests in different populations and focuses on assessment instruments and remediation research to date. Across the research, emotion perception, Theory of Mind and empathy are probably the three most well-established and commonly examined components of social cognition. There are a number of distinct facets to social cognition including so called 'hot' processes and 'cold' processes, a construct commonly known as having a Theory of Mind (ToM). Social cognition deficits are common in a range of clinical conditions including acquired brain impairments, such as traumatic brain injuries, unilateral stroke or dementias, especially frontotemporal dementias (FTD). In schizophrenia this has been attributed to reduced data gathering and inflexible beliefs. Because attribution bias forms a major feature of social cognition impairment in people with schizophrenia, it has also been one of the important targets for remediation.
