Social cue

A social cue is a means of communicating that does not rely on words, rather it involves using non-verbal signals including facial expressions, voice tone, and body movements and placement. Although display of social cues is universal among all humans, the meaning behind specific cues can vary among cultures. Personality, neurological health, and comfort level around other people also affect an individual’s display and interpretation of a social cue. Because humans rely on them to understand other people and predict future interactions, social cues are a critical part of communication. Social cues guide a person’s impressions, interactions, and overall understanding and belonging in a society, so in some ways, they may be as or more important than verbal communication.

Background

Evolutionary science has theorized that social cue use is an adaptive mechanism that evolved to further the progress of humans. People use social cues to communicate with other humans but also with other species, such as with pets. Researchers believe these cues help them in social situations, but also help them to predict potential threats or opportunities. Many researchers feel that some social cues are universal and people perform them automatically. However, other social cues have evolved over time to have cultural implications.

Babies begin to rely on social cues very soon after birth, and by six months of age, infants can recognize people they know based on certain social cues being displayed. Even before they can understand speech, babies are able to interpret gazes, facial expressions, and tone of voice and respond to these cues accordingly. The skill of communicating emotions is learned more quickly than verbal communication, and rapid social and emotional growth occurs during a child’s first eighteen months.

Toddlers are able to use the social cues of parents or caregivers to learn how to solve problems and can often be seen imitating adults in their display of social cues. Watching and imitating is part of the process of a child’s growing social understanding and sense of belonging. Once of school age, most children further develop social skills during interactions with teachers and other students. Researchers have found that children use and rely on social cues much more than adults do as they learn to understand the world around them.

Because several parts of the brain are responsible for social cognition, the brain must coordinate much information to successfully receive and produce social cues. For example, the amygdala is a key part of the brain used in regulating emotional response, the fusiform gyrus helps recognize faces, the right superior temporal sulcus interprets eye gazes, and part of the occipital cortex processes observations of other people. The brain also has a neural network to produce and process language, including tone that adds to the meaning of words.

Human senses such as touch and smell also can produce an emotional response or affect the limbic system. This complex system helps to regulate emotional sensations and spatial awareness of the physical placement of a person’s own self and others around them. The brain can filter information to determine which is important and requires an emotional response as well as which is unnecessary to process and can be ignored. Information can also be assigned a value, such as deciding when something is humorous or socially unacceptable. This value then is related and applied to inherent and learned social norms of appropriate behavior and, if correctly interpreted, can allow a person to react appropriately to another person’s social cue, for example by smiling or laughing at a joke or turning away in disgust.

Overview

Social cues fall under the branch of the psychology of social cognition, which studies how people understand, store, and then apply gathered information about social interactions. It allows people to process meanings and intentions to respond in an appropriate manner, as well as anticipate how their social cues will be received by another person. Being able to display and interpret social cues properly promotes social inclusion and gives a person a sense of belonging and an overall feeling of emotional well-being.

Physical social cues, which are related to how a person holds and positions their body, can be used to express feelings. Posture can indicate if a person is feeling comfortable or interested through open and relaxed arms and legs, or it can demonstrate a person is uncomfortable or disinterested, for example when a person crosses their arms and legs. Angling of the body can also show a level of interest and engagement in a person or a situation, and gesturing with the hands can be used to provide meaning behind the words being said or to emphasize what is being said.

Proxemics, or how close a person is standing to another person, is used to provide a social cue as to the comfort level or intimacy of the interaction between people. Norms about proxemics vary among cultures, with some cultures requiring more personal space when in casual social situations or public spaces. When it comes to proxemics, people usually obey unwritten rules of spacing without thinking much about it. However, when a person gets closer than what is regarded as socially acceptable to others, it may cause individuals to feel threatened or uncomfortable.

Touching can be used to convey intimacy or establish dominance, depending on the context of a situation. The way a person responds to a socially appropriate touch, such as a soft tap on the shoulder, can also provide input to the feelings and intentions of a person. Shaking hands is often done as a culturally appropriate greeting or sign of agreement, and the way a person does so can indicate how they feel about themselves or the other person. Fidgeting by nervously tapping, shifting position, or playing with hair is often interpreted as a cue of boredom or disengagement.

Facial expressions are used to convey six basic emotions: anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise. Facial expressions may be dramatic such as smiling, or subtle such as moving the position of the eyes. Some cues, such as dilated pupils showing interest, are unconscious, while others, such as clenching teeth in frustration, may be consciously done.

Vocal inflection or intonation provides information about the words being spoken. Slight changes in pitch and tone can add an expression or clarity to verbal communication. This can also be used to capture others’ attention or provide a signal of the importance of what is being said through an emphasis on particular words. Volume and clarity of pronunciation can be used to express fear, anger, enthusiasm, or nervousness.

Mirroring uses several features of social cueing and can help another person feel comfortable in a social interaction. It involves slightly mimicking movements, positioning, tone, or facial expression of another person and is a sign of engagement or interest. This is often done subconsciously and helps people to build a rapport with each other and promote empathy and understanding.

Another aspect of human behavior that can be considered a social cue includes the clothing a person wears. This can identify a person in a certain social class, occupation, or another social group. For example, a person in a uniform is cueing others about their profession. People tend to match the clothing styles and level of formality of their peers to show belonging but may deliberately flout the norms of a social situation to convey dissatisfaction or other messages.

Social skills are primarily learned traits that can be improved through active feedback from others, personal observations, and practice. Many self-help resources provide information to help people learn about the importance of social cues and how they can be improved in various situations, such as intimate settings or business relationships. Poor social skills or an underdeveloped cognition of social cues can make social interaction difficult or unpleasant for some people. Physical disabilities related to hearing, seeing, or spatial understanding can also make noticing or displaying social cues challenging, although many people with disabilities find ways to compensate. As people age, social cues may also become more difficult due to conditions associated with aging and lack of mobility.

Medical conditions related to mental health possibly can affect the display or interpretation of social cues. Social anxiety disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), schizophrenia, non-verbal learning disorder, dementia, and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) will change not only the way a person displays social cues but also how an individual interprets them. For example, people with ASD may struggle with making eye contact or matching gestures, facial expressions, or tone of voice to what they are saying or feeling. People with dementia may have lesions on parts of the brain that regulate social behavior and may engage in socially inappropriate actions. A condition that negatively affects social cues can lead to further inhibition of social skills and interactions.

Bibliography

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Malik, Fatima, and Raman Marwaha. “Developmental Stages of Social Emotional Development in Children.” StatPearls, 18 Sept. 2022, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK534819/. Accessed 12 Dec. 2022.

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