Social Cognition Project

Abstract

Materials from a structured task for gathering enriched language data for descriptive, comparative and documentary purposes. The task involves collaborative narrative problem-solving and retelling by a pair or small group of language speakers, and was developed as an aid to investigating grammatical categories relevant to psychosocial cognition. The pictures set up a dramatic story where participants can feel empathetic involvement with the characters, and trace individual motivations, mental and physical states, and points of view. The data-gathering task allows different cultural groups to imbue the pictures with their own experiences, concerns, and conventions and stimulates the spontaneous use of previously under-recorded linguistic structures. Picture sets include "Family Problems" and "Crow and Jackal".