Social Sciences in China, 2022

Vol. 43, No. 4, 2022

A Theory of a Human-Centered Social Cognitive Chain

Yu Feng, Xu Liying and Peng Kaiping

Abstract：The absence of anthropology from cognitive science may be related to the fact that the Western-dominated cognitive approach is not human-centered. From an anthropological perspective, we propose a possible social cognitive model—the human-centered social cognitive chain. It is a theory of the human cognitive process that includes two phenomena—anthropomorphism and dehumanization; has two directions—upward and downward; involves two dimensions—morality and competence; and produces two results—cuteness and coolness. It is a way for humans to understand the whole world with themselves as starting point and end point, governing social cognition. The human-centered social cognitive chain involves gods, humans, animals, plants, artificial objects, pure objects, and even abstract concepts, on the basis of which upward and downward anthropomorphism and upward and downward dehumanization arise. The existing research on anthropomorphism and dehumanization is slightly biased in that it only emphasizes upward anthropomorphism and downward dehumanization. Theoretically, both anthropomorphism and dehumanization should be twostage processes based on essentialism, but humans engaged in cognition tend to adopt a dimensional view that simplifies them. The morality-competence dichotomy reflects this tendency and results in the cognitive outcomes of cuteness, where morality is valued higher than competence and coolness, where competence is valued higher than morality. The humancentered social cognitive chain is the paradigm by which humans understand themselves, their culture, and the world.

Keywords: dehumanization, anthropomorphism, morality, human nature, mind perception, artificial intelligence