Social Cognition
[How individuals select, interpret, remember, and use social information to form
impressions of others and process information to make judgments/decisions]
Overlaps with other “core” areas of social psychology (e.g., attribution
theories, impression formation, attitude formation/change, stereotypes, the
self)
Common thread is the focus on the social implications of people’s thoughts
and subjective perceptions of reality
Heavily influenced by the field of cognitive psychology
Two Basic Types of Thinking
Automatic Thinking (An analysis of our environment based on past experience
and knowledge we have accumulated)
• Quick, effortless
• Limited conscious deliberation of
thoughts, perceptions, assumptions
Controlled Thinking
• Effortful, deliberate
• Thinking about ourselves and our environment
• Carefully selecting the right course of action
Fallacies/Biases
False Consensus Effect:
The tendency to overestimate the degree of agreement between one’s own
beliefs, behaviors, and characteristics (especially if they are negative)
(“Everyone does it”)
False Uniqueness Effect (Better Than Average Effect)
• More likely regarding positive behaviors (e.g., exercise regularly, eat a healthy
diet)
Illusion of control: The concept that people are in control over chance
events (e.g., choice to throw dice oneself; throw the dice harder …)
Cognitive Schemas:
Hypothetical cognitive structures that consist of
prior knowledge which affects how we categorize and interpret incoming
information.
• Can lead to very efficient processing of information (assist in organizing
information and analysis of situations
• Can lead to stereotypes and bias
Various types of schemas exist (people, places, roles, events)
Effects how we --• Attend
• Encode
• Retrieve information
Schemas and Behavior
Physical attractiveness
of female described to
males
Females did not know
how they were
described to males
Unattractive
Attractive
Phone conversation
with males
Males were
warmer, more
friendly, and used
more humor when
talking to the
“attractive” female
Females behavior was
warmer and more
friendly when they were
described to the male as
“attractive”
Schemas & Stereotypes
[Race and Weapons]
White participants were showed pictures of white and black individuals in a variety of
settings (e.g., in a park, train station, sidewalk). Half of the people in the pictures were
holding a gun, other half holding non-threatening objects (wallet, cell phone, camera). Press
one button to shoot or another button to not shoot. Little tine to decide. Gained points. Not
shooting someone without a gun (5 points); shooting someone with a gun (10 points); shot
someone without a gun (lose 20 points); not shoot someone with a gun (lose 40 points)
Source: Correll, Park, Judd,
& Wittenbrink (2002)
Heuristics: Cognitive shortcuts
Availability heuristic: What information is most available (seen, noticed);
what to comes to mind quickly (media influence)
Representative heuristic: Classifying things (objects, people) based on how
similar it is to a typical (average) member of a group
Availability Heuristic
• Substituting ease of access for data on frequency of
occurrence
• Factors that increase availability
–
–
–
–
Emotionality of events
Recency of events
Ease of visualization, imagining events
Vividness of events or testimonials
Examples?
Death by plane crashes, shark attacks, terrorism
Availability Heuristic and Self-Judgments
Individuals asked to think of times
they acted assertively
List 6
examples
(easy; most
did this)
List 12
examples
(very hard
time doing so)
Professor
example: Asked
students for 2
versus 10 ways to
improve course.
Then, give overall
course rating.
10 ways group
gave better
ratings!!!
Impression Formation [Role of “Central” Traits]
Message prior to hearing a speaker talk for about 20 minutes – one of two conditions
(randomly assigned):
1)“People who know him consider him to be a very warm person,
industrious, critical, practical, and determined”
Warm-Cold (Social
axis)
Intellective (axis)
or
2) “People who know him consider him to be a very cold person,
industrious, critical, practical, and determined”
Student ratings followed ---
How funny was he?
How sociable?
How considerate?
Implications?
Those who expected the
speaker to be warm gave
higher ratings
Also, asked the “warm” person
more questions and participate
in class discussions
Job interviews & prior information, evaluations of debate
performance (politics), dating ...
Accuracy of Impression Formation
[Confirmation Bias]
Interview (Told that candidates possessed certain traits before interview)
“Introverted” candidate
Asked questions related to being shy
“Extraverted” candidate
Asked questions related to being outgoing
Some Confounds:
• Similarity between each other
• How to determine accuracy?
• Dimension being assessed
Observers rated the personality of the
candidates as consistent with the focus of the
questions (I vs. E)
Organization of Impressions
Occupational Labels (schemas)
Holistic
Process
Traits
Behaviors
Waitress
Librarian
Consistent and inconsistent descriptive
information given about the traits, interests,
etc. of a waitress and librarian
Job title (schema) given before or
after descriptive information
Memory of facts
Overall, best when information is inconsistent and schemas activated before descriptive
information
Priming and Accessibility
Priming: Process where recent experience increases the use
of a concept, trait, or schema
Study 1: Identify colors and memorize a list of positive words (adventurous, confident,
ambitious) or negative words (reckless, conceited, self-absorbed)
Study 2: Read a description of ‘Donald” and assess him on a variety of characteristics
~ Priming and Accessibility ~
Making Schemas Come True:
The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
Elementary school children
administered a test
Teachers told that certain students had
scored so highly that they would be sure to
“bloom” academically during the next year
(“so-called “bloomers” assigned these labels
at random)
Administered an IO test at the end
of the year
The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy (cont.)
From: Rosenthal & Jacobson (1968)
The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy (cont.)
Based on classroom observations, bloomers were:
•Treated more warmly (e.g., received more personal attention, encouragement,
and support
•Given more challenging material to work on
•Given more feedback
•Given more chances to respond in class and longer time to respond
Impression Formation and Role of Negative Information
Jackie is a junior at a university – a biology major with an A- GPA. She hopes to enter medical
school after graduation. She is a warm, friendly person, so most people who know her think
she’ll make an excellent doctor. Jackie’s hobby is music and she has a large CD collection. She
works part time to pay for her education and to cover the insurance on her car, which is high
because of several speeding tickets in the last year. Jackie grew up in a medium-sized town and
has one brother, Jason, who is in high school. She is fairly neat and easy going; she never has
any trouble getting roommates. She is currently living with three other women in an apartment
complex.* Freon Baron & Byrne (1997)
Face-in-the-Crowd Effect:
Tendency to readily notice a negative face in a crowd of neutral and happy ones.
Priming and Bias in Decision Making
Observed Behavior – Coughing, Sneezing
Recent/current training in medical school
Interpretation of behavior = disease diagnosis;
specific treatment recommended
Priming and Bias in Decision Making
Experimental
drug for cancer
treatment
50% success
Significantly
more people
in this group
recommend
the drug be
approved
50% failure
Social Cognition & Biases in Decision Making
[Psychological Accounting]
• You are on vacation and want to go to the theater. Do you spend
$30 on a theater ticket if you
– Discover that you lost the $30 ticket you purchased earlier in
the day?
– Discover that you lost $30 from your wallet while touring
earlier in the day?
Social Cognition & Biases in Decision Making
[Psychological Accounting]
• You are going to buy a jacket and a calculator. The jacket costs $125 and
the calculator costs $15 at the store. You learn that you can buy the
calculator at a different store (20 minute drive away) for $10. Do you
drive to the other store to get the calculator?
• You are going to buy a jacket and a calculator. The jacket costs $125 and
the calculator costs $15 at the store. You learn that you can buy the
jacket at a different store (20 minute drive away) for $120. Do you drive
to the other store to get the jacket?
Sensitivity to the ratio of costs
• Size of the ratio of the high cost to the lower cost influences
the decision more than the absolute size of the savings
• Calculator example
$15/$10 – ratio is 1.5 (drive seems worthwhile!)
• Jacket example
$125/$120 – ratio is 1.04 (prices seem nearly identical)
Can We Think Too Much???
Rate variety of jams
Reasons given may be the:
Taste & rate
Consistent with expert
views on jam qualities
Taste, analyze their
reactions to the jams
(how they felt a certain
way), & rate
• Most clear and accessible
(the easiest to recall and
come to mind)
• Easiest to verbalize
These reason may not be
the best to use and be
misleading