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Social Cognition

Social Cognition. Social Cognition. Definition the study of how people form inferences and make judgments based on social information. History of Social Cognition. Brief and Oversimplified History Wundt’s lab in Leipzig, Germany introspection Psychoanalytic Theories drives and motives

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Social Cognition

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  1. Social Cognition

  2. Social Cognition • Definition • the study of how people form inferences and make judgments based on social information

  3. History of Social Cognition • Brief and Oversimplified History • Wundt’s lab in Leipzig, Germany • introspection • Psychoanalytic Theories • drives and motives • Behaviorist Backlash • observable behavior Stimulus Response (Input) (Output)

  4. History of Social Cognition • Cognitive revolution Stimulus “Mind” Response (Input) (Process) (Output)

  5. History of Social Cognition • Most contemporary social psychological research is cognitive to some extent • e.g., physiological measures of attitudes • Implicit Association Test (IAT) • https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/ • galvanic skin response • neuroimaging with MRI, fMRI, EEG

  6. Schemas • Schema • an organized, structured set of cognitions about some concept or stimulus which includes: • knowledge about the stimulus, • relations among those various cognitions, and • specific examples. • Can be about: • particular people, social roles, the self, attitudes, common events, stereotypes, etc.

  7. Schemas • Scripts • schemas about extremely common events • e.g., ordering fast food • Scripts and schemas are organized hierarchically • e.g., we may have separate schemas for different types of birds schemas, but they all fit within our “bird” schema

  8. Schemas Script Hierarchy of “Going Out to Eat”

  9. Schemas • Advantages • information processing aid • quick and efficient • information gaps filled • attention and memory guide • emotional guide • how to “feel” in a given situation • e.g., a funeral vs. football game

  10. Schemas • Disadvantages • stereotypes • incorrect information often filled in • e.g., eye-witness testimony

  11. Which Schemas Are Used? • Natural Contours • often, the environment determines which schema is used • Inappropriate behavior will be interpreted differently if viewed in a mental institution compared to a mall • Salience • what “sticks out”? • Primacy • the tendency for stimuli presented earlier to be more influential than those presented later

  12. Which Schemas Are Used? • Priming Effects • recently used schemas are used in unrelated subsequent situations • Importance • Trivial • More automatic inferences are made • Important • More controlled inferences are made • Individual Differences • e.g., hostile attribution bias • Goals

  13. Schemas in Action • Confirmatory Hypothesis Testing • gathering information that confirms an idea we have rather than even-handedly collecting information • Self-Fulfilling Prophecy • people’s expectations influence their attitudes and behavior • our expectations of others can influence their behavior

  14. Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

  15. Heuristics • Mental shortcut used to make judgments quickly and efficiently • Representativeness Heuristic • Availability Heuristic • Simulation Heuristic • Anchoring and Adjustment Heuristic

  16. Representativeness Heuristic • How similar is A to B? • how similar to the “typical” case is it? • often ignore more important information like base rates

  17. Representativeness Heuristic The Conjunction Error/Fallacy (Tversky & Kahneman) • occurs when people estimate that the odds of two uncertain events happening together are greater than the odds of either event happening alone

  18. Availability Heuristic • Using the ease of examples you can quickly remember as a guide

  19. Availability HeuristicSchwarz et al. (1991)

  20. Anchoring and Adjustment Heuristic • More or less than $400,000? • What’s its market value? ____________

  21. Anchoring and Adjustment Heuristic • More or less than $100,000? • What’s its market value? ____________

  22. Anchoring and Adjustment Heuristic • Using a number or value as a starting point, then adjusting the answer away from the anchor • answers generally not adjusted sufficiently

  23. Controlled vs. Automatic Thinking • Controlled Thinking • conscious, intentional, voluntary, effortful • automatic believing/controlled unbelieving • thought suppression • counterfactual thinking

  24. Automatic Believing Controlled Unbelieving • Gilbert (1991) • originally proposed by Spinoza

  25. Thought Suppression • For the next 60 seconds, try NOT to think of a white bear • whenever the image of a white bear appears in your thoughts, raise your hand

  26. Counterfactual Thinking • Mentally “undoing” the past to imagine what “might have been” • Medvec, Madey, & Gilovich (1995) • Olympic medallists • Gold -- happiest • Bronze -- second happiest • Silver -- least happy • Not always intentional or voluntary • can be hard to “turn off”

  27. Improving Human Cognition • Lord et al. (1984) • Consider the opposite • Nisbett et al. (1987) • Take more statistics courses!!

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