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Technology-Free Zone

Reminder: Please sit according to your choice of technology zone

(Seats not highlighted are part of the Technology-Friendly Zone)

The Social Animal (P104S) Week 2

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Announcements

• Check updated syllabus online – Do this regularly! – Social Psychology in Action 1–3 = Chapters 14, 15,

and 16 • Need to drop this course?

– This Friday, Jan16th, is the last day to drop this course without deans’ approval and service charge

– Feb 13th is the last day to drop this course without receive a W grade; deans’ approval and service charge required

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Syllabus Quiz

1. How is learning assessed in this course?

A. Two in-class midterms and one final exam B. Participation, two in-class midterms, and one final

exam C. Participation, a midterm outside of class time, and

a final exam D. Participation, an in-class midterm, and a final

exam E. The instructor’s extrasensory perception (ESP) W2.4

Syllabus Quiz

1. How is learning assessed in this course?

A. Two in-class midterms and one final exam B. Participation, two in-class midterms, and one final

exam C. Participation, a midterm outside of class time, and

a final exam D. Participation, an in-class midterm, and a final

exam E. The instructor’s extrasensory perception (ESP) W2.5

Syllabus Quiz

2. Which of the following accurately describes the respective weighting of participation, midterm exam, and final exam in your overall grade?

A. 0%; 50%; 50% B. 50%; 25%; 25% C. 30%; 35%; 35% D. 10%; 40%; 50% E. None of the above W2.6

Syllabus Quiz

2. Which of the following accurately describes the respective weighting of participation, midterm exam, and final exam in your overall grade?

A. 0%; 50%; 50% B. 50%; 25%; 25% C. 30%; 35%; 35% D. 10%; 40%; 50% E. None of the above W2.7

Syllabus Quiz

3. What should you do if you miss a class?

A. Email one of the TAs B. Email the instructor C. Get in touch with a classmate and ask for notes

and missed announcements D. Download the lecture slides and review them E. C and D

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Syllabus Quiz

3. What should you do if you miss a class?

A. Email one of the TAs B. Email the instructor C. Get in touch with a classmate and ask for notes

and missed announcements D. Download the lecture slides and review them E. C and D

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Syllabus Quiz 4. Which of the following accurately describes the communication and email policy in this course?

A. You may ask the instructor questions during office hours, before/after lectures, or during lecture breaks

B. Questions pertaining to information already in the syllabus or course website will not be addressed over email

C. Email questions must demand only brief responses (2-3 sentences)

D. All email questions not address in the syllabus or course website should be emailed to the appropriate person (instructor or 1 of the 3 TAs)

E. All of the above

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Syllabus Quiz 4. Which of the following accurately describes the communication and email policy in this course?

A. You may ask the instructor questions during office hours, before/after lectures, or during lecture breaks

B. Questions pertaining to information already in the syllabus or course website will not be addressed over email

C. Email questions must demand only brief responses (2-3 sentences)

D. All email questions not address in the syllabus or course website should be emailed to the appropriate person (instructor or 1 of the 3 TAs)

E. All of the above

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Chapter 3: Social Cognition

Week 2

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The Cognitive Revolution • An intellectual movement in the 1950s that

began the emphasis on cognition • Followed and replaced the behaviorism

movement, which in contrast… – Was concerned with external and observable behavior,

as opposed to internal and unobservable events – Assumed tabula rasa (blank slate; the mind has no

innate traits) – Viewed behavior as the result of stimulus and response

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The Cognitive Revolution • Pinker (2002): 5 Key principles of

the cognitive revolution 1. “The mind cannot be a blank slate

because blank slates don’t do anything.”

2. “The mental world can be grounded in the physical world by the concepts of information, computation, and feedback.”

3. “An infinite range of behavior can be generated by finite combinatorial programs in the mind.”

4. “Universal mental mechanisms can underlie superficial variation across cultures.”

5. “The mind is a complex system composed of many interacting parts.”

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What is Social Cognition?

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Social Psychology The scientific study of how people think and feel about, influence, and relate to one

another

Cognitive Psychology The scientific study of basic

mental abilities such as perception, learning, and

memory

What is Social Cognition?

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Social Cognition

The scientific study of how people think about themselves and the social world – how they select, interpret, remember and use social

information to make judgments & decisions

What is Social Cognition?

Questions such as…

How do we make sense of other people and of ourselves?

What do we know about people that we encounter?

Are our social judgments determined by our social knowledge or feelings?

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What is Social Cognition?

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What is Social Cognition?

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Yes?

No?

What is Social Cognition?

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Social Psychologist

Social Cognitive Processes • 4 key social cognitive processes:

1. Attention • What information is selected? What do you focus on?

2. Interpretation • What does the information mean? How do you personally

make sense of the information? 3. Memory

• Are the information and judgments stored for future use? Can the stored information be retrieved?

4. Judgment • What impressions and decisions do you make, based on the

available information?

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These processes can occur both consciously and/or unconsciously

Social Cognitive Processes • Examples of the 4 social cognitive processes, in

the context of a female deciding whether to date a particular male:

1. Attention • E.g., Focusing on facial attractiveness, dress, scent, etc.

2. Interpretation • E.g., Interpreting the attractiveness of these cues

3. Memory • E.g., Storing judgments of attractiveness in memory for

future 4. Judgment

• E.g., Decision on whether she is interested in dating this male

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Two Kinds of Cognitive Processes

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Automatic Process

Unconscious Implicit

Uncontrollable Spontaneous

Efficient Fast

Controlled Process

Conscious Explicit

Controllable Deliberate

Less efficient Generally slower

W2.24 René Descartes (1594-1660)

Descartes & Interactive Dualism

• Proposed that human behavior is “dualistic”: 1. The spirit

• The mind, a non-physical thinking substance

• Responsible for judgments, decisions, voluntary actions

2. The machine • The body, unable to think • Responds to the spirit • Also responds to physical,

mechanistic principles, in order to produce ‘reflex action’

W2.25 René Descartes (1594-1660)

Descartes & the Concept of the Reflex

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• Proposed that reflex mechanisms occur when… – Certain stimuli cause vibrations

in various sense organs – Vibrations tugged on tiny fibers

that run through nerves connecting the sensory organ to the brain

– In the brain, the tugging of the fibers opened small values

– “Animal spirits” (cerebral-spinal fluid) in the brain drains down hollow tubes of nerves running to the muscles

– Fluid enters muscles and causes bodily movement

Descartes & the Concept of the Reflex

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• (Con’t) • Descartes made

important contributions to the understanding of human behavior: – Some behavior are

controlled – Other behaviors are

automatic and involuntary (like a reflex)

Focus of this section

Two Kinds of Cognitive Processes

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System 1: Fast, automatic, frequent, emotional, stereotypic, subconscious System 2: Slow, effortful, infrequent, logical, calculating, conscious

AUTOMATIC PROCESSES

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A Demonstration

DO NOT

…think about a big white bear!

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A Demonstration…

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Were you able to NOT think about a

bear? • ‘A’ = Yes • ‘B’ = No

Another Demonstration…

• Name the color of the word shown here…

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Blue

Red Green

Black Red

Green

Blue Black

Blue

Black Red Red

Green Green

Blue Black

Was it difficult to name the color of the last set of words?

• ‘A’ = Yes; ‘B’ = No

Yet Another Demonstration…

I can’t bvleiee taht I culod aulaclty uesdtannrd waht I am rdnaieg!

Unisg the icndeblire pweor of the hmuan mnid,

aocdcrnig to rseecrah at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mttaer in waht oderr the lterets in a wrod are, the olny irpoamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer

be in the rhgit pclae.

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Were you able read the passage above?

• ‘A’ = Yes; ‘B’ = No

• Read the text below…

What is Automaticity?

• The perspective that most human behavior is the result of automatic, non-conscious processes that operate outside of awareness

• 4 key characteristics of an automatic process: 1. Non-conscious 2. Unintentional 3. Involuntary 4. Effortless

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How do Behaviors become Automatic?

• Learning

• Repetition • Practice

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Priming

• To make a schema, trait, or concept more salient and accessible – Exposure to one stimulus influences a response to

another stimulus – An automatic cognitive process – Can be both subliminal or supraliminal

• Subliminal: Activating schema outside a person’s awareness

• Supraliminal: Activating schema within a person’s awareness, but without the person knowing its possible influence on behavior

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Priming

• Bargh, Chen, and Burrows (1996) – Explored the effects of “priming” on behavior – Used “supraliminal priming”

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Priming • Bargh, Chen, and Burrows (1996) • Study 1: Primed politeness or rudeness

using a “scrambled sentence task” • Form a 4-word sentence out of 5 given words

– 3 conditions (IV): Words manipulated to either prime rudeness, politeness, or neutral

• Rude condition: “they her bother see usually” – Other words: aggressively, bold, rude, bother, disturb, interrupt,

infringe, etc. • Polite condition: “they her respect see usually”

– Other words: respect, honor, discretely, courteous, behaved, polite, etc.

• Neutral condition: “they her send see usually” – Other words: send, watches, prepares, etc.

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Priming

• Bargh, Chen, and Burrows (1996): Priming & behavior – Study 1 (con’t) – After “scrambled sentence task”, turn in test to

experimenter – Experimenter was in another room, talking to another

confused participant (confederate) for up to 10 mins – Would people who’ve been primed with politeness (vs.

rudeness) wait more patiently before interrupting? – DV: How many minutes before participant interrupts

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Priming

• Bargh, Chen, and Burrows (1996): Priming & behavior – Study 1 (con’t)

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– Results: • Polite condition: 558 secs • Neutral condition: 519 secs • Rude prime: 326 secs

Priming

• Bargh, Chen, and Burrows (1996): Priming & behavior – Study 2a: Primed stereotype of the elderly using a

“scrambled sentence task” – 2 conditions (IV): Words manipulated to either

prime elderly or neutral • Elderly words: Florida, grey, lonely, wise, sentimental,

gullible, wrinkle, retired, etc. – Words are based on previous research on stereotypes of the

elderly

• Neutral words: thirsty, clean, private, etc. W2.41

Priming

• Bargh, Chen, and Burrows (1996): Priming & behavior – Study 2a (con’t) – Participants led to think that the study is over after

the scrambled sentence task – Confederate in hallway actually timed participant

leaving the study – Would people who’ve been primed with elderly

concept (vs. neutral) walk slower? – DV: The time it took a participant to walk to end of

hallway W2.42

Priming

• Bargh, Chen, and Burrows (1996): Priming & behavior – Study 2a (con’t) – Results:

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Study 2b was a direct replication

Priming

• Other research on priming... – Shariff & Norenzayan (2007)

• Priming god concepts increases generosity towards anonymous strangers

– Niedenthal, Brauer, Halberstadt, and Innes-Ker (2001)

• Priming positive emotion via mimicking a smile (with a pencil in your mouth) leads to rating a cartoon as more amusing

• Priming negative emotion via mimicking a frown leads to rating a cartoon as less amusing

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Priming

• Other research on priming (con‘t)... – Carney, Cuddy, & Yap (2010)

• Priming power via expansive postures increases testosterone, decreases cortisol, and increases feelings of power and risk-taking

– Vohs, Mead, & Goode (2006) • Priming money led to reduced requests for help and

reduced helpfulness towards others

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Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

• When an initially inaccurate or baseless expectation leads to actions that cause the expectations to come true – The prophecy directly or indirectly causes itself

to become true

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Self-Fulfilling Prophecy • Snyder, Tanke, & Berscheid (1977)

– A male and a female participant in pairs – They arrived the lab at different times and did not

meet each other on the way in – The male participant was ostensibly shown a photo

of the female partner • In actuality, photo shown is selected from a finite set • IV: Photo of female partner shown is either one rated as

most attractive or least attractive – The pair completed a “getting-acquainted

interaction” over the phone for 10 minutes – Conversations were recorded (audio only)

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Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

• Snyder, Tanke, & Berscheid (1977; con’t)

– DV #1: Before and after the conversation, participants rated each other on…

• Intelligence, physical attractiveness, social adeptness, friendliness, enthusiasm, trustworthiness, successfulness

– DV #2: Outside judges listened to 4 minutes of the female’s recorded conversations and rated their impressions of her on…

• Enthusiasm, intimacy, etc.

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Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

• Snyder, Tanke, & Berscheid (1977; con’t) – Results: – Before the interaction (after viewing photo)…

• Men in the attractive condition rated female partner as more sociable, poised, humorous, & socially adept

• Men in the unattractive condition rated female partner as unsociable, awkward, serious, and socially inept

– Observers’ ratings (from audio-recordings)… • More positive in interactions in which the male was

assigned to see an attractive female photo, than a less attractive female photo

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Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

• Snyder, Tanke, & Berscheid (1977; con’t) – Interpretation of results:

• People form impressions of their partners on the basis of their stereotyped intuitions about beauty and goodness of character

• These impressions initiated chain of events that resulted in the behavioral confirmation of these initially erroneous inferences

• What had initially been reality in the minds of the men had now become reality in the behavior of the women

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Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

• Other research on the self-fulfilling prophecy… – Rosenthal & Jacobson (1968)

• Teacher attitudes and beliefs – Schopler & Insko (1992)

• Intergroup hostility and self-fulfilling spiral of competition

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A Demonstration… Twice divorced, Frank spends most of his free time

hanging around the country club. His clubhouse bar conversations often center around his regrets at having tried to follow his esteemed father’s footsteps. The long

hours he had spent at academic drudgery would have been better invested in learning how to be less quarrelsome in his relations with other people.

This description is drawn randomly from a pool with 70

engineers & 30 lawyers.

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Is Frank a lawyer or an engineer? • ‘A’ = lawyer; ‘B’ = engineer

Another Demonstration…

Linda, who is 31, single, outspoken, and very bright. She majored in philosophy in college. As

a student she was deeply concerned with discrimination and other social issues, and she

participated in anti-nuclear demonstrations.

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Is Linda… • ‘A’ = A bank teller; or • ‘B’ = A bank teller and active in the feminist movement

Representativeness Heuristic

• A mental shortcut through which people classify something as belonging to a certain category depending on whether it is similar to a typical case from that category

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A Demonstration…

____ Diabetes ____ Cancer ____ Liver disease ____ Stroke ____ Heart disease ____ Chronic lower respiratory disease ____ Homicide ____ Unintentional injury (accident) ____ Alzheimer’s disease ____ Pneumonia & influenza

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• Rank and identify these top ten leading causes of death in L.A. County:

• Now, turn to the person to your right, explain to him/her how you arrived at your rankings

A Demonstration…

_7_ Diabetes _2_ Cancer _9_ Liver disease _3_ Stroke _1_ Heart disease _4_ Chronic lower respiratory disease _8_ Homicide _6_ Unintentional injury (accident)

_10_ Alzheimer’s disease _5_ Pneumonia & influenza

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• The answers: Top ten leading causes of death in L.A. County:

Information from County of L.A., Dept. of Health Services

• Our guesses tend to be based on the ease with which we can bring to mind particular instances of each of these fatal events (e.g., from media, personal lives, occupational environment)

Availability Heuristic

• A mental shortcut through which one estimates the likelihood of an event by the ease with which instances of that event comes to mind – We tend to infer general truth from a vivid

instance or example – Explains why anecdotes are often more

powerful than statistical information

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Availability Heuristic

• Other examples… – Media coverage leads to the overestimation of

the probability of an unusual but recently reported event (e.g., child abduction, homicides, shark attacks)

– Health concerns – Ethical decision making – Etc…

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CONTROLLED PROCESSES

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Mr. Crane and Mr. Tees were scheduled to leave the airport on different flights, at the same time.

They traveled from town in the same limousine, were caught in a traffic jam, and arrived at the airport 30

minutes after scheduled departure time of their flights.

Mr. Crane is told that his flight left on time. Mr. Tees is told that his flight was delayed, and just left five

minutes ago.

Who is more upset, Mr. Crane or Mr. Tees?

• ‘A’ = Mr. Crane; ‘B’ = Mr. Tees W2.60

Counterfactual Reasoning • Mentally changing some aspect of the past

as a way of imagining what might have been – Mental time travel – “What might have been” – “If I had only…” – Imagined alternatives can be better or worse than

the actual situation • “If Dave had driven home by his usual route, then he

would not have been in the accident.” – Imagined alternatives that are better than reality

lead to greater distress • E.g., Silver medalists are less happy than bronze medalist

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Summary: Social Cognition • Social cognition is the scientific study of how

people think about themselves and the social world – how they select, interpret, remember, and use social information to make judgments & decisions – The contents of the “black box” that mediate the effects

of the “input” on the “output”

• Our cognition contains two kinds of processes – automatic vs. controlled

• Cognitive processes have profound effects on

human behavior

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To-Do List for Next Two Weeks…

• Check updated syllabus • Review Chapter 3 (covered today)

– Download these lecture slides from course website – Review lecture slides and notes

• Check i-Clicker participation points on MyEEE – Contact TA Jake By Thursday Jan 22nd if your responses were not

registered, or for other i-Clicker-related questions • No class next week! • But still have readings

– Social Psychology in Action 1 Making a Difference with Social Psychology: Attaining a Sustainable Future (pp. 396–413; labeled ‘Chapter 14’ in syllabus)

– Social Psychology in Action 2 Social Psychology and Health (pp. 414-431; labeled ‘Chapter 15’ in syllabus)

• Prepare for next class (Jan 26th) – Read Chapters 5 & 6

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