Social Psychology- Social Cognition Charles de Menezes Case Essay

Social Psychology- Social Cognition Charles de Menezes Case - Essay Example The aim of social cognition is to study the specific aspects that create the mental structure and the process that leads to actions (Bodenhousen, Macrae & Hugenberg 2003, p.257). Man’s behavior towards other people depends on his internal cognitive structure about other people. Every action, whether it is planned or spontaneous, is driven by the social cognitive structure of mind. Hence, it won’t be wrong to say that the killing of Mr. Charles de Menezes, who was shot dead after being mistaken for a terrorist called Hussain Osman (Swaine 2008), was actually not a case of mistaken identity, but was a result of the distortion in the internal cognitive structure of people who were responsible for the killing. Mr. Charles de Menezes was shot seven times in his head by the plain clothes officers, without giving him warning or without making sure that he was the right person (Swaine 2008). The intention of the police operation was to keep a watch of the flats where Osman lived and stop anyone leaving the flats or arrest them quietly for investigation (Bailey 2008). When Mr. Charles de Menezes left the flat, he was folowed by differnt officers to the tube station where he boarded the subway car (Bailey 2008). During this whole process, officers ‘James’, ‘Frank’,‘Ivory’ and ‘Laurence’, who were following Mr. Menezes, were not sure if he was the man they were looking for. In fact ‘Laurence’ told the team that he did not believe the person was identical to the man they were looking for (Bailey 2008). After all these signals from the surveillance officers about Mr. Menezes not being ‘their’