M2 social cognition Flashcards
social cognition
process by which ppl think about and make sense of others, themselves, and social situations
4 assumptions of social cognition
1) we’re motivated to make sense of the world by seeing ordered patterns
2) the social world has a lot of information
3) we have limited attention and info processing capacities
4) we are cognitive misers and use shortcuts to save energy/only process relevant info
3 broad types of simplification strategies we use as cognitive misers
1) dispositional inference bias
2) confirmatory bias
3) cognitive heuristics
what are dispositional inference biases
when we attribute one’s behavior to their personality, not the situation
2 types of dispositional inference biases
1) fundamental attribution error
2) actor-observer bias
experimental evidence for fundamental attribution error
dispositional method
- show ppl debaters’ essays (either pro or anti Castro)
- tell people the debater was either forced or chose to write that essay
- ppl rate what they think the debater’s true attitude toward Castro was (0-100; anti-pro)
result: people who were told the essay was forced pro rated the debater’s attitude similar to the people who were told that the essay was voluntary pro
- even though ppl were told it was forced, they still thought the debater genuinely liked Castro
what is the actor-observer bias
believing other people behave a certain way because of their personality; you behave in certain ways because of the situation
2 reasons for actor-observer bias
1) cognition; different perspectives
- when observing, the person you are watching is salient
- when you are the actor, the situation is salient
2) motivation; want to protect positive self view
what are confirmatory biases
interpreting, seeking and creating info to verify your pre-existing beliefs
experiment that showed we have interpretive confirmatory biases
- ppl asked to evaluate academic potential/school grade of child
- ppl told dif background info about child’s family –> leads to high or low expectations for academic performance
- some ppl watch child perform at average level –> rate
results: watching led to higher and lower expectations than not watching; ppl interpreted performance to support their expectations
experiment that showed we have seeking confirmatory biases
- ppl randomly assigned as interviewer or interviewee
- tell interviewers if interviewee is intro/extravert
- interviewers pick questions to ask
results: chose Qs to seek info that will confirm their expectation of the interviewee’s personality
experiment that showed we have creative confirmatory biases (self-fulfilling prophecy)
- have males call females on the phone
- males are shown picture of the woman (attractive or unattractive) –> halo effect where they assume other pos qualities
- experimenters coded females’ responses for warmth and openness
result: attractive females had more warm/open responses because those males’ expectations caused them to act differently, leading to different female responses
what are self fulfilling prophecies
when an inaccurate expectation leads to behavior/outcome that is consistent with the expectation
4 types of cognitive heuristics
1) anchoring and adjustment
2) representativeness
3) availability
4) straightness
what is the anchoring and adjustment heuristic
developing an initial expectation from some info you’re given/you have –> adjust your expectation based on other info from the situation
(Is the Mississippi River longer than 500 miles? How long is it? vs. Is the Mississippi River longer than 5000 miles? How long is it?)
what is the representativeness heuristic and 3 examples?
we base judgments of likelihood based on stereotypes
1) conjunction error
2) gambler’s fallacy
3) hot hand phenomenon
what’s the conjunction error
someone thinks the probability of 2 independent events happening together is more likely than either of the 2 events on their own
what’s the gambler’s fallacy
probability that one outcome is more likely than another for a random event given the outcome of a prior random event
- “The coin keeps landing on heads so it’s due for a tails” when in reality, heads and tails are always equally likely for a fair coin
what’s the hot hand phenomenon? does it exist?
getting on a role with something
- yes it exists but doesn’t appear in data because when people start to have success, they make riskier moves which they are more likely to miss
what’s the availability heuristic? what effect does it often lead to?
base judgment of likelihood based on how easily examples come to mind
- false consensus effect: overestimating the degree to which others agree with out beliefs
what is the straightness heuristic
tendency to tidy up untidy realities to align with the prettier picture in our minds
- trying to make thins easier/more natural to understand
(Which is further west–Reno, NV or San Jose, CA?)
what are affective forecasting errors? conscious or unconscious?
mispredicting the intensity/duration of emotional reactions to events (especially negative ones)
- unconscious bias
2 causes of affective forecasting errors
1) focalism: overestimating how much you will think about the event in the future or how long you think it will last
2) immune neglect: ignoring automatic psychological processes that help us cope with emotional events (our minds have immune systems/mechanisms for these events)
2 examples of affective forecasting errors
1) overestimating the emotional impact of a negative event
2) underestimating how happy/content/ok you will be after irreversible events/decisions
