Social Cognition

Social Cognition [How individuals select, interpret, remember, and use social information to form impressions of others and process information to make judgments/decisions] Overlaps with other “core” areas of social psychology (e.g., attribution theories, impression formation, attitude formation/change, stereotypes, the self) Common thread is the focus on the social implications of people’s thoughts and subjective perceptions of reality Heavily influenced by the field of cognitive psychology

Two Basic Types of Thinking • Automatic Thinking (An analysis of our environment based on past experience and knowledge we have accumulated) • Quick, effortless • Limitedconscious deliberation of thoughts, perceptions, assumptions • Controlled Thinking • Effortful, deliberate • Thinking about ourselves and our environment • Carefully selecting the right course of action

Fallacies/Biases • False Consensus Effect: • The tendency to overestimate the degree of agreement between one’s own beliefs, behaviors, and characteristics (especially if they are negative) • (“Everyone does it”) • False Uniqueness Effect (Better Than Average Effect) • More likely regarding positive behaviors (e.g., exercise regularly, eat a healthy diet) • Illusion of control: The concept that people are in control over chance events (e.g., choice to throw dice oneself; throw the dice harder …)

Cognitive Schemas: Hypothetical cognitive structures that consist of prior knowledge which affects how we categorize and interpret incoming information. • Can lead to very efficient processing of information (assist in organizing information and analysis of situations • Can lead to stereotypes and bias Various types of schemas exist (people, places, roles, events) • Effects how we --- • Attend • Encode • Retrieve information

Schemas and Behavior Physical attractiveness of female described to males Females did not know how they were described to males Unattractive Attractive Phone conversation with males Males were warmer, more friendly, and used more humor when talking to the “attractive” female Females behavior was warmer and more friendly when they were described to the male as “attractive”

Schemas & Stereotypes [Race and Weapons] White participants were showed pictures of white and black individuals in a variety of settings (e.g., in a park, train station, sidewalk). Half of the people in the pictures were holding a gun, other half holding non-threatening objects (wallet, cell phone, camera). Press one button to shoot or another button to not shoot. Little tine to decide. Gained points. Not shooting someone without a gun (5 points); shooting someone with a gun (10 points); shot someone without a gun (lose 20 points); not shoot someone with a gun (lose 40 points) Source: Correll, Park, Judd, & Wittenbrink (2002)

Heuristics: Cognitive shortcuts Availabilityheuristic: What information is most available (seen, noticed); what to comes to mind quickly (media influence) Representative heuristic: Classifying things (objects, people) based on how similar it is to a typical (average) member of a group

Availability Heuristic • Substituting ease of access for data on frequency of occurrence • Factors that increase availability • Emotionality of events • Recency of events • Ease of visualization, imagining events • Vividness of events or testimonials Examples? Death by plane crashes, shark attacks, terrorism

Availability Heuristic and Self-Judgments Individuals asked to think of times they acted assertively List 6 examples (easy; most did this) List 12 examples (very hard time doing so) Professor example: Asked students for 2 versus 10 ways to improve course. Then, give overall course rating. 10 ways group gave better ratings!!!

Impression Formation [Role of “Central” Traits] • Message prior to hearing a speaker talk for about 20 minutes – one of two conditions (randomly assigned): • “People who know him consider him to be a very warm person, • industrious, critical, practical, and determined” • or • 2) “People who know him consider him to be a very cold person, • industrious, critical, practical, and determined” • Student ratings followed --- Warm-Cold (Social axis) Intellective (axis) How funny was he? How sociable? How considerate? Those who expected the speaker to be warm gave higher ratings Also, asked the “warm” person more questions and participate in class discussions Job interviews & prior information, evaluations of debate performance (politics), dating ... Implications?

Accuracy of Impression Formation [Confirmation Bias] Interview (Told that candidates possessed certain traits before interview) “Introverted” candidate Asked questions related to being shy “Extraverted” candidate Asked questions related to being outgoing • Some Confounds: • Similarity between each other • How to determine accuracy? • Dimension being assessed Observers rated the personality of the candidates as consistent with the focus of the questions (I vs. E)

Holistic Process Organization of Impressions Traits Occupational Labels (schemas) Behaviors Waitress Librarian Consistentand inconsistentdescriptive information given about the traits, interests, etc. of a waitress and librarian Job title (schema) given beforeor afterdescriptive information Memory of facts Overall, best when information is inconsistentand schemas activated beforedescriptive information

Priming and Accessibility Priming:Process where recent experience increases the use of a concept, trait, or schema Study 1: Identify colors and memorize a list of positive words (adventurous, confident, ambitious) or negative words (reckless, conceited, self-absorbed) Study 2: Read a description of ‘Donald” and assess him on a variety of characteristics

~ Priming and Accessibility ~

Making Schemas Come True: The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy Elementary school children administered a test Teachers told that certain students had scored so highly that they would be sure to “bloom” academically during the next year (“so-called “bloomers” assigned these labels at random) Administered an IO test at the end of the year

The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy (cont.) From: Rosenthal & Jacobson (1968)

The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy (cont.) • Based on classroom observations, bloomers were: • Treated more warmly (e.g., received more personal attention, encouragement, and support • Given more challenging material to work on • Given more feedback • Given more chances to respond in class and longer time to respond

Impression Formation and Role of Negative Information Jackie is a junior at a university – a biology major with an A- GPA. She hopes to enter medical school after graduation. She is a warm, friendly person, so most people who know her think she’ll make an excellent doctor. Jackie’s hobby is music and she has a large CD collection. She works part time to pay for her education and to cover the insurance on her car, which is high because of several speeding tickets in the last year. Jackie grew up in a medium-sized town and has one brother, Jason, who is in high school. She is fairly neat and easy going; she never has any trouble getting roommates. She is currently living with three other women in an apartment complex.* Freon Baron & Byrne (1997) Face-in-the-Crowd Effect: Tendency to readily notice a negative face in a crowd of neutral and happy ones.

Priming and Bias in Decision Making Observed Behavior – Coughing, Sneezing Recent/current training in medical school Interpretation of behavior = disease diagnosis; specific treatment recommended

Priming and Bias in Decision Making Experimental drug for cancer treatment 50% success 50% failure Significantly more people in this group recommend the drug be approved

Social Cognition & Biases in Decision Making [Psychological Accounting] • You are on vacation and want to go to the theater. Do you spend $30 on a theater ticket if you • Discover that you lost the $30 ticket you purchased earlier in the day? • Discover that you lost $30 from your wallet while touring earlier in the day?

Social Cognition & Biases in Decision Making [Psychological Accounting] • You are going to buy a jacket and a calculator. The jacket costs $125 and the calculator costs $15 at the store. You learn that you can buy the calculator at a different store (20 minute drive away) for $10. Do you drive to the other store to get the calculator? • You are going to buy a jacket and a calculator. The jacket costs $125 and the calculator costs $15 at the store. You learn that you can buy the jacket at a different store (20 minute drive away) for $120. Do you drive to the other store to get the jacket?

Sensitivity to the ratio of costs • Size of the ratio of the high cost to the lower cost influences the decision more than the absolute size of the savings • Calculator example $15/$10 – ratio is 1.5 (drive seems worthwhile!) • Jacket example $125/$120 – ratio is 1.04 (prices seem nearly identical)

Can We Think Too Much??? Rate variety of jams • Reasons given may be the: • Most clear and accessible (the easiest to recall and come to mind) • Easiest to verbalize • These reason may not be the best to use and be misleading Taste & rate Taste, analyze their reactions to the jams (how they felt a certain way), & rate Consistent with expert views on jam qualities

Social Cognition