SOCIAL COGNITION
Psychology 454, Spring 2009
T TH 10:00 to 11:50 AM
SGM 226
Instructor:
Dr. Stephen J. Read
821 Seeley G. Mudd Building
Phone: (213) 740-2291. email: read@usc.edu
Office Hours: MW 10-11:30AM
The way in which we think about our social worlds plays a major role in social behavior.
We are constantly making judgments about ourselves and other people. We want to know the
reasons why people do things, we want to know what other people are like, we want to know what
we are like. Thus, Social Cognition is the study of how people make sense of others and
themselves. It is the study of how people think about people and the effect this has on social
behavior.
Essentially, Social Cognition is the study of the role that cognitive processes play in social
behavior. Much social cognition research is based on the application of current work in cognitive
psychology on perception, memory and inference, to the understanding of how people think about
their social world.
The study of social cognition includes such topics as the following:
--- How do we explain our own and others' behavior? That is, how do we arrive at the causes and
reasons of our own and other's behavior? What are the social theories that seem to underlie these
explanations? What role do our explanations of our own and other's behavior play in such things as
academic achievement, the development of depression, and the maintenance and breakup of
interpersonal relations.
--- How do we develop and maintain our self-concepts of the kind of people we are? What role do
our self-concepts play in guiding our interpretations of the world and other people?
--- How do we make judgments about the characteristics of ourselves and other people? For
instance, how do we decide that Joe is friendly while Jane is hostile?
--- What are stereotypes? How do they affect our impressions and judgments of other people? How
are they learned and how might they be changed?
--- What role do unconscious cognitive processes play in such things as impression formation,
stereotyping, and attitudes?
--- Why do we do such a poor job of predicting how future events will make us feel? And what
impact does this have on the decisions we make?
--- How do we figure out what other people are thinking and feeling? How do we know that our
partner is feeling angry, sad, or joyful? What information do we use and how do we use it?
--- Why do we remember what we do about others and ourselves? How does social memory work?
--- What is the relationship between thinking and feeling? How are cognitive processes related to
emotion?
--- What role do cognitive processes play in social interaction? How do our impressions of others
guide our behavior in close relationships and other kinds of social interaction?
--- What role do our self-concepts and our various goals and motives play in guiding our behavior?
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Required Readings:
Text
Gordon B. Moskowitz (2004). Social Cognition: Understanding Self and Others. New
York: Guilford Press
Journal articles
Every week I will assign several journal articles, in addition to the chapters from
Moskowitz. These can be downloaded from the class Blackboard site.
Course Requirements
Class participation. The class is small enough that there will be considerable discussion of
the readings, in addition to lectures from me. Active participation in the class will count
towards your grade (and lack of participation will subtract from it). Among the things I
hope we can discuss are: (1) implications of the theories and finding for a variety of real
world phenomena, (2) adequacy of the theories we will cover for understanding human
social behavior, and (3) strengths and problems with the studies we will read about.
Tests. There will be a midterm and a final. These will be essay and short answer.
Paper. A 10 page, double spaced paper will be due by Wednesday May 6 at 5PM. The
paper should be on some aspect of social cognition. You should consult with me before
deciding on a topic.
Examples portfolio. Each student should collect examples of real-life illustrations of
phenomena learned about in the course. You may choose examples from TV,
newspapers, the Internet, or from your everyday interactions with others. In each case
be sure to briefly define the phenomenon and explain exactly how your example maps
onto it (do not exceed one typed double spaced page for each example).
Collection of examples should be an ongoing activity – do not wait until the due
date.
Your portfolio should include 8 examples, each illustrating a different phenomena.
Up to 4 of these may be based on everyday incidents from your own social life. At least
4 must be based on examples you have come across in the media, and must be
accompanied by copies of newspaper, magazine, or Internet articles. Examples found on
the World Wide Web must include a copy of the article and the address of the web site.
Examples coming from a movie or TV show must include a full citation of the source.
The portfolio is to be handed in, in two parts. The first part will be the first three
examples, due February 12, in class. The remainder of the portfolio is to be handed in
on April 16, in class.
Extra Credit. There will be opportunities for earning extra credit by participating in
psychology experiments. Details will be provided in class. If you do not wish to
participate in experiments then we can discuss alternative ways to earn extra credit.
Readings. The reading assignments are listed below.
Grading
Class participation
Midterm:
Final:
Paper:
Examples portfolio:
10% of the grade
20% of the grade
25% of the grade
25% of the grade
20% of the grade
Late Penalty
For both the final paper and the examples portfolio, I will subtract 5% of the points
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for that assignment for each day late.
Blackboard
I will use the University’s Blackboard system to post grades, to post weekly readings, and to
post copies of any assignments or announcements that I hand out in class. I will also use
your email address in the University system to send out last minute messages, if necessary.
Note that Blackboard relies on your University email account. You need that account to log
in and email will be sent to that address.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY STANDARDS
The rules governing dishonesty in the current University of Southern California Faculty Handbook
and also listed in the 2008-2009 SCAMPUS (online), under University Governance, will be
maintained and enforced. Information about academic integrity violations and recommended
penalties can be found in SCAMPUS.
The minimum penalty for cheating on an exam will be a score of zero on that exam.
Particularly gross academic dishonesty on an exam, such as obtaining a copy of the exam
beforehand, will result in an F for the course and may result in suspension or expulsion from the
University. Cheating on a homework assignment will result in a zero on that assignment and
repeated cheating on homework assignments will result in an F for the course.
Plagiarism on any of the class papers will result in a zero for the paper. Particularly gross
academic dishonesty, such as turning in a paper done by another (such as a purchased paper) will
result in an F for the course. According to the University guidelines plagiarism is defined as: (a)
The submission of material authored by another person but represented as the student’s work, (b)
the submission of material subjected to editorial revision by another person that results in
substantive changes in content or major alteration of writing style, (c) the improper
acknowledgement of sources in essays or papers. If you use the words or ideas of another you must
properly acknowledge the source. If you use a direct quote then you must indicate the source and
page number, using APA style. Even if you paraphrase someone’s ideas you must still
acknowledge the source, using APA style.
You should also be aware that it is considered academic dishonesty to use a paper or project in
more than one course without both instructor’s permission. The recommended penalty for this is an
F in the course.
This description is not intended to be exhaustive. You are expected to be familiar with the
relevant parts of the student conduct code.
Students with Disabilities
Students requesting academic accommodations based on a disability are required to register with
Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved
accommodations can be obtained from DSP when adequate documentation is filed. Please be sure
the letter is delivered to me as early in the semester as possible. DSP is open Monday-Friday, 8:305:00. The office is in Student Union 301 and their phone number is (213) 740-0776.
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Topics and Readings
Week 1:
1/13,1/15
Introduction: What is Social Cognition?
Readings: Introduction in Moskowitz: What does it mean to know something?
Week 2:
1/20,1/22
The Construction of Social Reality
Readings: Moskowitz: Chap. 1. Naive Realism: The Construction of Reality in the
Pursuit of Social Knowledge
Vallone, R.P., Ross, L., Lepper, M.R. (1985). The hostile media phenomenon: biased
perception and perceptions of media bias in coverage of the Beirut massacre Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 49, 577-585.
Friedman, H., & Zebrowitz, L. A. (1992). The Contribution of Typical Sex
Differences in Facial Maturity to Sex Role Stereotypes. Personality and Social
Psychology Bulletin, 18, 430-438
Week 3:
1/27,1/29
Automaticity and Control
Readings: Moskowitz: Chap. 2. Automaticity and Control
Bargh, J. A., & Chartrand, T. L. (1999). The unbearable automaticity of being.
American Psychologist, 54, 462-479.
Bechara, A., Damasio, H., Tranel, D., & Damasio, A. R. (1997). Deciding
advantageously before knowing the advantageous strategy. Science,
275(5304), 1293-1294.
Week 4:
2/3,2/5
Social Categories and Category Structure
Readings: Moskowitz: Chap. 3. Categories and Category Structure: Person Memory
Informs Impression Formation Processes
Srull, T. K. (1981). Person memory: Some tests of associative storage and retrieval
models. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 7,
440-463.
Loftus, E. F. (1997). Memory for a past that never was. Current Directions in
Psychological Science, 6, 60-65.
Schwartz, N., Bless, H., Strack F., Klumpp, G., Rittenauer-Schatka, H., & Simons,
A. (1991). Ease of retrieval as information: Another look at the availability
heuristic. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 195-202.
Week 5:
2/10,2/12
Schemas and Mental Representation
Readings: Moskowitz, Chap. 4. On Schemas and Cognitive Misers: Mental
Representation as the Building Blocks of Impressions
Niedenthal, P. M., Barsalou, L. W., Winkielman, P., Krauth-Gruber, S., & Ric, F.
(2005). Embodiment in attitudes, social perception, and emotion. Personality
and Social Psychology Review, 9(3) 184-211.
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White, J. D., & Carlston, D. E. (1983). Consequences of schemata for attention,
impression, and recall in complex social interactions. Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology, 45, 538-549.
Week 6:
2/17,2/19
Dual Process Models
Readings: Moskowitz, Chap. 5. Dual-Process Models
Neuberg, S.L., & Fiske, S.T. (1987). Motivational influences on impression
formation: Outcome dependency, accuracy-driven attention, and individuating
processes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 431-444.
Wegener, D. T., Kerr, N. L., Fleming, M. A., & Petty, R. E. (2000). Flexible
corrections of juror judgments: Implications for jury instructions. Psychology,
Public Policy, and Law, 6(3), 629-654.
Week 7:
2/24,2/26
Attribution Theory
Readings: Moskowitz, Chap. 6. Attribution
Read, S. J. (1987). Constructing causal scenarios: A knowledge structure approach
to causal reasoning. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 288-302.
Pennington, N. & Hastie, R. (1986). Evidence evaluation in complex decision
making. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 242-258.
Week 8:
Tuesday: Review
3/3,3/5 Thursday: MIDTERM
Week 9:
3/10,3/12
Trait Inferences in Social Perception
Readings: Moskowitz: Chap. 7. Correspondence Bias and Spontaneous Trait
Inference
Carlston, D.E., & Skowronski, J.J. (1994). Savings in the relearning of trait
information as evidence for spontaneous inference generation. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 840-856.
Read, S. J., & Miller, L. C. (1993). Rapist or "regular guy": Explanatory coherence
in the construction of mental models of others. Personality and Social
Psychology Bulletin, 19, 526-540.
SPRING BREAK!!!!! MARCH 16-21
Week 10:
3/24,3/26
Shortcoming and Biases in Person Perception
Readings: Moskowitz: Chap. 8. Shortcoming and Biases in Person Perception
Kunda, Z. (1987). Self-serving generation and evaluation of causal theories. Journal
of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 636-647.
Wilson, T. D., & Gilbert, D. T. (2005). Affective forecasting: Knowing what to
want. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14(3) 131-134.
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Week 11:
3/31,4/2
Perceptual Readiness
Readings: Moskowitz: Chap. 9. On Perceptual Readiness: Chronic Sources of
Judgmental Influence
Kunda, Z., Sinclair, L., & Griffin, (1997). Equal ratings but separate meanings:
Stereotypes and the construal of traits. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 72, 720-734.
Bargh, J. A., & Tota, M. E. (1988). Context-dependent processing in depression:
Accessibility of negative constructs with regard to self but not others. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 924-939.
Maner, J. K., Kenrick, D. T., Neuberg, S. L., Becker, D. V., Butner, J., & Schaller,
M. (2005). Functional projection: How fundamental social motives can bias
interpersonal Perception. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88, 6378.
Week 12:
4/7,4/9
Accessibility and Priming Effects
Readings: Moskowitz: Chap. 10. Temporary Accessibility/Priming Effects:
Assimilation and Contrast in Impression Formation
Srull, T. K., & Wyer, R. S., Jr. (1979). The role of category accessibility in the
interpretation of information about persons: Some determinants and implications.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 1660-1672.
Jacoby, L. L., Kelley, C., Brown, J., & Jasechko, J. (1989). Becoming famous
overnight: limits on the ability to avoid unconscious influences of the past.
Journal of personality and social psychology, 56, 326-338.
Week 13:
4/14,4/16
Stereotypes
Readings: Moskowitz: Chap. 11. Stereotypes and Expectancies
Correll, J., Park, B., Judd, C. M., & Wittenbrink, B. (2002). The Police Officer’s
dilemma: Using ethnicity to disambiguate potentially threatening individuals.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 1314-1329.
Olson, M. A. & Fazio, R. H. (2006). Reducing Automatically Activated Racial
Prejudice Through Implicit Evaluative Conditioning. Personality and Social
Psychology Bulletin, 32, 421-433
Week 14:
4/21,4/23
Control of Stereotypes
Readings: Moskowitz: Chaps. 12. Control of Stereotypes and Expectancies
Spencer, S. J., Steele, C. M., & Quinn, D. M. (1999). Stereotype threat and women’s
math performance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 35, 4-28.
Schmader, T., & Johns, M. (2003). Converging evidence that stereotype threat
reduces working memory capacity. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 85, 440-452.
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Week 15:
4/28,4/30
From the Intra- to the Interpersonal
Readings: Moskowitz: Chapter 13. From the Intra- to the Interpersonal: Bridging the
Gap from Cognition to Behavior
Snyder, M., Tanke, E. D., & Berscheid, E. (1977). Social perception and
interpersonal behavior: On the self-fulfilling nature of social stereotypes. Journal
of Personality and Social Psychology, 35, 656-666.
Murray, S. L., Holmes, J. G.; Griffin, D. W (1996). The benefits of positive illusions:
Idealization and the construction of satisfaction in close relationships. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 70(1), 79-98
PAPER DUE: Wednesday May 6, 5:00PM.
FINAL EXAM: Tuesday, May 12, 11-1 p.m.
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