Cognitive Representations of Social Structure in a Tongan Village

This paper examines the correlation between measures of cognitive saliency of villagers held in memory with measures of centrality of network positions. Using data collected during extensive field work in Tonga, we show that the cognitive saliency of any villager for other villagers is correlated with centrality aspects derived from four villager networks: social support, political influence, dispute resolution influence, and daily activity patterns. Cognitive saliency measures were obtained by asking villagers to perceive associations of other villagers, to recall all villagers from memory, and to construct narratives about village life. Indegree measures across all three activities give indicators of each villager’s cognitive saliency in the mental representations of other villagers. A regression analysis shows that the varying level of cognitive saliency is associated more strongly with a villager’s centrality in influence and dispute resolution networks than in support networks, net of age and sex effects. The results support a conclusion that social networks are cross-represented in the mental salience of actors embedded in those networks. The findings also lend support to Bennardo’s concept of ‘cognitive radiality’ proposed as a cognitive mental form of representation in Tongan culture that orients attention to external referential nodes rather than to oneself. We acknowledge research support from NSF # 0349011 and NSF # 0650458.