The Cognitive–Affective Social Processing and Emotion Regulation (CASPER) model

Humans are intensely social creatures. It is therefore not surprising that many psychiatric disorder criteria include social dysfunctions; however, overlapping presentations and diverse, complex etiologies make treating social dysfunctions difficult. Here, we introduce the Cognitive Affective Social Processing and Emotion Regulation (CASPER) model. CASPER integrates research from social psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and developmental science to describe how real-world social processing unfolds and is associated with differing psychiatric social cognitive neurophenotypes. Briefly, social processing can be broken down into the following cognitive steps: identifying relevant social cues, attending to related cues, interpreting cues, and adjusting behavior appropriately. Each of these steps is influenced by the individual’s affect and goals in the moment, which in turn influence which social concept or schema is activated for that interaction. Concepts are formed across development as we learn social skills and gain life experience. This model therefore links early experiences to social dysfunction “in the moment”. The goal of this model is to provide a testable scientific framework for psychiatric research into social dysfunctions, as well as provide a model that generates new treatment targets for improving interventions and reinterpreting differences based on the extant research.