Social Cognition Seminar 2 What is social cognition

Social Cognition Seminar 2

What is social cognition? Social psychology + cognitive psychology? Yes, but not quite. A liberal definition Using concepts and methods of cognitive psychology to understand social behavior

Concepts & methods of cognitive psychology • Concepts – Memory – Construals – Information processing – Etc… • Methods – Reaction time – Signal detection – Etc… Example How are these involved in stereotypes? Example What do reaction times to in/outgroup faces tell us about the nature of stereotypes?

Two modes of social cognition Automatic Controlled • Fast—rapid processing of information • Relatively effortless • Unintentional • Difficult to “stop” • Slow to change • Often reflects associative connections • Doesn’t necessarily conform to logical, rational thinking • Relatively slow • Often guided by logical, propositional thought • Effortful • Reason-based

Part 1 THE AUTOMATIC PILOT

Mental representations (schemas) Cognitive psychology Social psychology Fur Meow Cat X Cow X Poor Dog Beggar Smelly Help organize knowledge about the world Makes the world predictable Guides behavior Lazy

My schema-less Las Vegas Experience…

My Las Vegas Experience…

Riddle • A finger goes in me. You • Wedding ring fiddle with me when you're bored. The best man always has me first. What am I? • I go in hard. I come out soft. You blow me hard. • Chewing gum What am I? Do you think seeing the bikini girls influenced your answers above?

Accessibility and Priming Schemas and categories can become more accessible if they have been recently “primed” (“used” or “triggered”) Especially when the situation is ambiguous

Who committed the crime? A laptop was stolen Student Farmer Beggar Driver

The famous “Donald” study Participants memorized either negative (reckless) or positive (adventurous) trait words An ambiguous description of “Donald” was given: “Crave excitement…” “Sailed across Atlantic…” The logic behind the experiment The same description was given to all participants! Any differences between groups must be due to _______

Bargh, Chen, & Burrows (1996) But even without social information, behaviors can be affected by primes The “walking” study • Participants unscrambled words relating to the elderly (losw = slow) or neutral (hairc) • Experiment “ended” participants walked down hallway

Priming even affects your intelligence! Dijksterhuis & van Knippenberg (1998): The trivial pursuit study Describe the daily life of a…

Implications for social psychology “Direct” priming • E. g. prime “hostility” consequences for your behavior Violent computer games and real violence? “Indirect” priming • E. g. Black stereotypical trait of hostility consequences for your behavior

Why automatic priming effects are important • Lack of awareness. • Dissociation between intention and behavior. • Difficult to correct for “bias. ”

People fill in schemas too Alarm a. m. ? ? ? Bed Sun And sometimes this affects how we treat others

Self-fulfilling prohecy Students were described as… Bloomers Non-bloomers Teacher: Just another kid… Teacher: Must be inherently smart! ___ “bloomers” ___ ___ “nonbloomers” ___ IQ was assessed at the end of the year. Guess which group had higher IQ? ___

Part 2 HEURISTICS (MENTAL SHORTCUTS)

Classic 1970’s heuristics • Availability Heuristic • Representativeness • Anchoring and adjustment

Availability heuristic • Basing judgments on how easy things “come to mind” (how “available” they are)

Demonstration Which is more common? Words with the letter "r" as the first letter vs. Words with the letter "r" as the third letter

Demonstration First Letter Third Letter Rare Round Rage Read Red Rise Raise Rich Dare Hire Dark Merry In reality, there are more words with "r" as the third letter

Representative heuristic • Mental shortcut where people classify something according to how similar it seems to a typical case

Example “Tom is of high intelligence, although lacking in true creativity. He has a need for order and clarity, and for neat and tidy systems in which every detail finds its appropriate place. His writing is rather dull and mechanical, occasionally enlivened by somewhat corny puns and by flashes of imagination of the sci-fi type. He has a strong drive for competence. He seems to feel little sympathy for other people and does not enjoy interacting with others. Self-centered, he nonetheless has a deep moral sense. ” How likely is Tom an engineering major? Note: In the university this study was conducted,

Anchoring and adjustment heuristic Task: Estimate the length of the Ganges river. Condition A: (Fill in the blanks) Condition B: Is it more or less than 800 km? (Fill in the blanks) Condition C: Is it more or less than 200 km? (Fill in the blanks) Can you think of situations where you have used this on someone or vice versa?

“Modern” heuristics • What-is-beautiful-is-good • Familiarity heuristics

N = normative model D = descriptive model (what people should do, if they were flawless) (what people actually do) Assumed rationality position—dominant in social psychology through early 1970’s D N Less good reasoning The “prone to errors” position: (e. g. , Kahneman & Tversky)— 1970’s through mid-1990 s. D N Modern: 1990’s to present D The ideal? Is it achievable? N D N

Automaticity vs. Controlled processing An old idea in new clothes?

Why this distinction is important Explains several interesting aspects of social behavior We often think that we are rational beings – – – We can control our behavior We are aware of why we did what we did We can correct our behaviors Our legal system is built around conscious behavior – Free will? Intent? Automaticity plays a large role when the available information is scarce and/or ambiguous – Schemas – Heuristics

Can you give me a personal example? Stimulus Automatic process triggered If no… Perceiver Aware of automatic process? If yes… Motivated to “correct”? If no… If yes… Ability to “correct”? If yes… Potential for controlled processing If no… Automatic processing likely to dominate

Part 3 THE CONTROLLED PILOT

Mental Undoing: Counterfactual thinking • Generating alternative accounts of reality – If X hadn’t happened, then…. . – If X had happened, then…. • Implications for emotional reactions – Near-misses elicit more extreme reactions – E. g. grades • Medvec, Madey, and Gilovich (1995)

Controlled processing is necessary! Surely you need consciousness to make good decisions? Apartment A B C Attributes + - - + + + + - - - + - - D E F G - - + - + - - + + + - - Dijksterhuis. (2006). A theory of unconscious thought. Perspective in Psychological Science.

Controlled processing is necessary? Participants were divided into two groups Which apartment would you rent? Dijksterhuis. (2006). A theory of unconscious thought. Perspective in Psychological Science.

Controlled processing is necessary? Apartment A B C Attributes + - - + + + + - - - + - - D E F G - - + - + - - + + + - - Dijksterhuis. (2006). A theory of unconscious thought. Perspective in Psychological Science.

Controlled processing is necessary! Mathematics & reading are extraordinary human achievements They rely on the manipulation of abstract symbols

Take home messages • Automaticity plays a large role when the available information is scarce and/or ambiguous • Schemas often work quite well for us, but sometimes they lead us astray, leading to various biases • Conscious processing is important, but how important is it?

For Friday’s reading • Understand theory • Understand the logic of each experiments – don’t neglect the details • Understand how each experiment is related to the other • Use the graphs to help you; don’t be overwhelmed by the statistics • Identify any weak points in the article.