Social cognition and research methods Flashcards
Social psychology is the scientific study of
the way people’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior are influenced by real or imagined presence of other people (or by the social situation).
Social psychologists have to make the assumption that
people are the same
Situations are better predictors than
perceived personality
Attribution
deciding what explains behavior
Fundamental attribution error
makes us think that people will always act the same (because of personality) - bias towards internal attribution
Construal Definition and importance
The way in which people perceive, comprehend, and interpret the social world. Is especially important when making sense of social behavior
Naive realism
we are overconfident in our interpretations
Why do we interpret?
evolution!
- We need accuracy and fast. We need to behave in an adaptive, predictive way
- Need for self-esteem/ self-worth.
- Need for closure fast: because uncertainty is unpleasant.
Human-computer analogy is
not accurate, but it is useful
Step wise model - 5 steps
Step wise model Attention Interpretation (biased) Rehearsal Storage Utilization/Retrieva
Step wise model
Attention
To respond to situations we need attention. Our social brains become habituated to knowing what is important and what can be ignored.
Information overload and solutions while staying efficient
Humans have limited capacity per time, but we need to get accurate, self-esteem preserving, quick decisions
Solution: Automation, Schemas/chunking and Heuristics - are not always accurate
Information overload and solutions - Automation
predict likely next inputs and processing requests
Automation allows information to be processed using nonconscious resource stores
Information overload and solutions - Schemas/Chunking
Combining bits of information together. When we remember one of them, then all of them are subsequently retrieved. allows for efficiency
Information overload and solutions - Heuristics
Are very simple rules that allow us to make decisions without considering all of the info that we could have access to. These are simple rules that guide decision-making. Usually accurate
Schema (or schemata) meaning
Mental structures which chunk information together . Activating a concept will activate concepts that are associated with it
We expect schemas to be accurate although they are not
Types of schema
Script - prediction of event/ event sequence
Self - predictions of our own behavior.
Role - Prediction of the appropriate social role
Stereotype
Trait: What is this person usually like (over time - prediction)?
Types of heuristics
“take-the-best” heuristic for voting - 1 trait is needed
Status quo heuristic
Availability heuristic (+False consensus effect)
Representative heuristics
Availability heuristic
basing judgment on how easily we can think of information. We see an event as more likely to happen based on how easy it is to bring it to mind.
False consensus effect
an example of availability heuristic. Result: we overestimate the similarity of others’ attitudes/values to our own(because similar people are available to us)
Automatic thinking
Automation, schemas and heuristics in decision making
We rely on automatic thinking when
under time pressure, accuracy is not paramount, we’re not paying attention (unaware of bias), expending effort is too painful or when situation/judgment is ambiguous.
Controlled thinking
Often effortful, conscious, intentional
We use controlled thinking when
Time is available, accuracy is critical, we are consciously aware of potential biases or we feel expending effort is worth the pain/discomfort
Why is the distinction between automatic thinking and controlled thinking too simplified?
it is NOT accurate because our cognition is more of a mixture of both, and “automatic” can mean different things
The 4 horsemen (or facets) of automaticity - Bargh 1994
Automatic processes possess at least one of the following
Unconscious Unintentional - The brain activates schemas related to concept without trying Uncontrollable - we can't change Efficient (multitask) Fast
Distinguish social psychology from other disciplines
Social psychologists develop explanations of social influence through empirical methods. The goal is to discover universal laws of human behavior. it adopts the approach of evolutionary psychology
