lesson 13 social cognition and influence groups Flashcards
what makes us different from primates
tool use, language, ways we interact with other members of our species
why is pointing interesting
other apes dont point (especially in the wild)
they dont know what that means (cant make inferential thought but can learn through conditioning)
things we do that apes dont
pointing (dont know what it means)
teaching (breaking down into steps, tie shoes)
cooperation
share resources (very selfish, only share due to begging, only share the worst part of food)
how to build a social being
motivation
capacity
default
social motivation
donating money, time
maybe people are generous because we’re selfish but dont want to look like it (enculturated)
social motivation experiment
ask person to make financial choices about money after they meet someone and have a conversation with them
tend to give more money to the other person
if people make decisions about this fast, they tend to be more generous
early emergence of prosocial behavior
species typical behavior- little kids tend to pick up things that fall
study with chimps to see if theyll be helpful
two trays, chimp can pull a toward him but if he does other chimp will get food, if he chooses b other chimp wont
they’re indifferent to whether other chimp (someone they know) gets food or not, not inherently helpful
why is social exclusion painful
many words we use for physical pain can also be used in social world
anterior cingulate cortex (engaged in physical pain) also lights up when someone feels social pain
solitary confinement considered extreme mental torture
social capacity
humans are able to explain other humans’ behavior
theory of mind (mentalizing, mind reading)
we believe people’s behavior is fundamentally animated by the thoughts, feelings, goals, and personality
young kids social capacity experiment
kids have difficulty realizing other people have different minds and that mental states that can be manipulated (childish innocence, cant deceive)
the monkey will take the sticker you like, so tell the monkey. you like a different one and trick it so you can keep the one you like. they dont know how to deceive
false belief test
failures of egocentricity, sally ann test
example of black panther
we can represent all of tchalla’s emotions after his father’s death: anger, shame, vengeful even though he’s a fictional character
autism spectrum disorder
deficit in the way individuals understand the social world:
social-emotional reciprocity
nonverbal communicative
behaviors used for social interaction
developing maintaining and understanding relationships
example with love on the spectrum, asd
individuals looking for romantic relationships but interact atypically with others
autism
leo kanner, said people with autism were auto (wanted to be alone, show behaviors that make them seem unusual socially like treating people like objects, savant like abilities, obsessive behaviors)
social cognition by default
we tend to impose social interpretations on all kinds of stimuli, even objects
in addition to seeing action, also perceiving thoughts feelings emotions and desires
geometric shape video, autistic people freed from tendency to say something about mental state
autism and the social brain
humans have modules specialized for theory of mind
brain regions most hungry for nutrients are front and parietal (important for social world, primed social awareness)
without brain primed for social thought, hard to engage in typical social interactions, but more energy to be put toward savant like nonsocial things
what do people tend to think about other people
explanations are inside head, but tend to ignore external factors that also guide people’s behavior
attribution
process of making inferences about the causes of another person’s behavior
internal causes: otto warmbier doesnt like the US
external causes: he’s in a coercive situation
Correspondence bias/fundamental attribution error
human tendency to assume a person’s behavior is due to internal beliefs or goals instead of external factors
tendency to make a dispositional attribution when
we should instead make a situational attribution
Correspondence bias experiment
pro castro essay, say some are assigned essay but people still have correspondence bias
aggression
behavior whose purpose is to
harm another
frustration–aggression hypothesis
suggests that animals aggress when their goals are frustrated
reactive vs proactive aggression
aggression that is planned and
purposeful
aggression that occurs spontaneously in response to a
negative affective state
aggression is associated with the presence of a hormone called
testosterone
social loafing
the tendency of people to
expend less effort when they are in a group than when they are alone
social loafing
the tendency of people to
expend less effort when they are in a group than when they are alone
situational attributions
when we decide that a person’s behavior was caused by some temporary aspect of the situation in which it
happened (“He was lucky that the wind carried the ball into the stands”)
dispositional attributions
when we decide that a person’s behavior was caused by a relatively enduring tendency to think, feel, or act in a
particular way (“He’s got a great eye and a powerful swing”).
dispositional vs situational
(1) consistent (does he usually wear a cheese hat?); (2) consensual (are other
people wearing cheese hats?); and (3) distinctive (is this the only goofy thing the man does?)
actor–observer effect
the tendency to make situational attributions for our own behaviors while making dispositional attributions for
the identical behavior of others
Social influence
the ability to change or direct another person’s behavior
People have three basic motivations that turn out to be the levers of almost all attempts at social
influence
First, people are motivated to experience pleasure
and to avoid experiencing pain (the hedonic motive). Second, people are motivated to be accepted and to avoid
being rejected (the approval motive). Third, people are motivated to believe what is right and to avoid believing
what is wrong (the accuracy motive)
the Hedonic Motive
Pleasure seeking is the most basic of all motives, and social influence often involves creating situations in which
others can achieve more pleasure by doing what we want them to do than by doing something else. Parents,
teachers, governments, and businesses influence our behavior by offering rewards and threatening punishment
overjustification effect
when a reward decreases a person’s intrinsic motivation to perform a behavior
Reactance
an unpleasant feeling that arises when people feel they are being coerced, and when people experience reactance, they often try to alleviate it by doing the very thing they were being coerced not to do—just
to prove to themselves that they can
norm of reciprocity
the unwritten rule
that people should benefit those who have benefited them
Normative influence
conformity based on one’s desire to fulfill others’ expectations and gain acceptance
Williams Syndrome
a rare genetic disorder characterized by mild to moderate delays in cognitive development or learning difficulties, a distinctive facial appearance, and a unique personality that combines over-friendliness and high levels of empathy with anxiety.Jul 25, 2022
