LECTURE 2 SOCIAL COGNITION Chapter 3

LECTURE 2SOCIAL COGNITION

Chapter 3

1) Administration2) Social Cognition

- Schemas

3) Break4) Dual Processes

1) Automatic Processes2) Controlled Processes 3) Gut Feelings versus Analyses

5) Next Class

Questions?

Memory Test

Memory Test

ADVENTUROUS

SELF-CONFIDENT

INDEPENDENT

PERSISTENT

Memory Test

Memory Test

RECKLESS

CONCEITED

ALOOF

STUBBORN

What is Social Cognition?

SOCIAL COGNITION: Social cognition studies how people think about themselves and the social world – how they select, interpret, remember and use social information to make judgments and decisions

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

Social Cognition is

Related to process Related to what is in our head

Our cognitive representations or schemas About people (it is social)

Social Cognition strives to examine

how we take information from the outside world and encode it (select)

how this interpretation of the information is stored in memory (interpret)

how this information is retrieved from memory and used (remember and use)

In general, social cognition is the use of cognitive methodologies (and theories) to understand people and social situations.

Memory Test

Donald – the story

Memory Test

ADVENTUROUS RECKLESS

SELF-CONFIDENT CONCEITED

INDEPENDENT ALOOF

PERSISTENT STUBBORN

Schemas

Schemas are mental structures that represent knowledge about a concept or type of stimuli, they often include attributes and the relationship among those attributes

Types of Schemas

Role Schemas: expectations about people in particular roles and social categories (e.g., the role of a social psychologist, student, doctor, Blacks)

Self-Schemas: expectations about the self that organize and guide the processing of self-relevant information

Person Schemas: expectations based on personality traits. What we associate with a certain type of person (e.g., introvert, warm person)

Event Schemas: expectations about sequences of events in social situations. What we associate with certain situations (e.g., restaurant schemas)

Why are schemas important?

They reduce the amount of information to process They reduce ambiguity They guide our:

Attention and encoding How quick we notice What we notice How we interpret what we notice

Schemas Influence Attention and Encoding/Categorization

• http://boingboing.net/2009/12/14/change-blindness-exp.html

• http://viscog.beckman.uiuc.edu/grafs/demos/15.html

http://boingboing.net/2009/12/14/change-blindness-exp.html

http://boingboing.net/2009/12/14/change-blindness-exp.html

http://viscog.beckman.uiuc.edu/grafs/demos/15.html

http://viscog.beckman.uiuc.edu/grafs/demos/15.html

Why are schemas important?

They reduce the amount of information to process They reduce ambiguity They guide our:

Attention and encoding How quick we notice What we notice How we interpret what we notice

Our memory Our judgments

When do we use schemas?

Accessibility X Fit (Higgins, Rholes, & Jones, 1977)

Accessibility– the extent to which schemas and concepts are at the forefront

of people’s minds (and therefore are likely to be used when making judgments about the social world) So how available the schema is in our head.

Fit (applicable, representative, similar)– the degree to which the accessible construct fits the

object/person under judgment.

When do we use schemas?

Applicable NonapplicableADVENTUROUS OBEDIENT

SELF-CONFIDENT NEAT

INDEPENDENT SATIRICAL

PERSISTENT GRATEFUL

RECKLESS DISRESPECTFUL

CONCEITED LISTLESS

ALOOF CLUMSY

STUBBORN SHY

The problem with schemas…

1. Schemas can distort reality and memories2. Schemas can persist, even when discredited

- Belief perseverance

3. Schemas can be self-fulfilling- People often live up to our expectations because we treat

them in ways that make them act in accordance with these expectations

Self-fulfilling Prophecies

1. We have expectations (schemas) about other people.

2. These expectations can influence how we act toward these people.

3. These actions can cause these people to act in ways that are consistent with our expectations.

Self-fulfilling Prophecies

Academic Success: Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) - Pygmalion effect

Teenage Drinking Behavior:Madon, Willard, Guyl, Trudeau, and Spoth (2006)

Teenage Drinking Behavior:

Asked mothers to rate the likelihood that their child would drink at 4 different times - when the same child was in grade 6, grade 7, grade 8, grade 10, and grade 12.

How likely do you think that your child will drink alcohol regularly as a teenager?

Certain this will Certain this will

not happen happen 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

If your child was at a party and one of his or her friends offered him/her an alcoholic beverage, how likely would your child be to drink? Certain this will Certain this will not happen happen

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Teenage Drinking Behavior:

They also measured the child’s alcohol use in grade 7, grade 8, grade 10 and grade 12 with open-ended questions.

During the past month, how many times have you had beer, wine, wine coolers, or other liquor?

During the past month, how many times have you had three or more drinks?

They also controlled for important predictors such as: • Parents drinking • Accessibility to alcohol• Perceived norms about teenage drinking• Attitudes toward alcohol use

00.5

11.5

22.5

33.5

4

Grade 7 Grade 8 Grade 10 Grade 12

Chi

ldre

n’s A

lcoh

ol U

se

The process of accumulation of expectations over time for mothers who consistently overestimated their child’s alcohol use.

00.5

11.5

22.5

33.5

4

Grade 7 Grade 8 Grade 10 Grade 12

OverestimatingMothersUnderestimatingMothers

Chi

ldre

n’s A

lcoh

ol U

se

The additive effects of expectations over time worsen an initial difference in alcohol use between mothers who overestimate and underestimate their child’s alcohol use.

Schemas influence

Our attention and encoding Our memory Our judgments Our behaviour

which can in turn influence our social environment

Questions?

Dual Processes – Automatic vs. Controlled Processing

An Automatic Process is: unintentional/spontaneous efficient fast implicit/nonconscious uncontrollable

2. How do we measure this type of process?

Automatic/Implicit Measures

Reaction Time Tasks Lexical Decision Task/Sequential Priming Task Stroop Task Implicit Association Test - IAT

Physiological/Social Cognitive Neuroscience Measures ECG (heart rate) Cortisol Levels FMRI, EEG (brain activity)

Subtle and Nonverbal Behaviours

Name Letter Task

How much do you like this letter?

___ really dislike really like

1 2 3 4 5 6 7___ really dislike really like





1 2 3 4 5 6 7

How much they like each letter of the alphabet

F really dislike really like

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

C really dislike really like

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Compare mean ratings of own first and last initials to overall liking across all subjects of those first and last initials

Name Letter Task

Self-Esteem

A person’s overall self-evaluation or sense of self-worth.

How is the Name Letter Task Automatic?


pleasantor

SELFunpleasa

ntor

OTHER

THEM

SELF-ESTEEM IAT

pleasantor

SELFunpleasa

ntor

OTHER

love

SELF-ESTEEM IAT

unpleasantor

SELFpleasant

orOTHER

ME

SELF-ESTEEM IAT

unpleasantor

SELFpleasant

orOTHER

war

SELF-ESTEEM IAT

How is the IAT Automatic?


Subtle and Nonverbal Behaviours

What are subtle and nonverbal behaviors? What is an example of this type of behaviour related to self-

esteem? How are these effects automatic?Are they intentional?

Controlled? Are participants aware that they are making these types of responses?

Nonverbal “leakage” Definition: the unintentional transmission of information through

nonverbal channels of communication. Might occur because

(a) don’t think to control nonverbals(b) aren’t able to control nonverbals

Dual Processes – Automatic vs Controlled Processing

A Controlled Process is intentional/deliberative capacity consuming/inefficient generally slower explicit/conscious controllable

2. How do I measure this type of process?

Controlled/Explicit Measures

Self-Report Measures Standard Personality Measures/Attitude Measures

(e.g., surveys, questionnaires, interviews)

Explicit Behaviours What say, how act, who choose, etc. when able to

deliberate and control responses

Self-Esteem


Examples of Explicit Measures of Self-Esteem

Self-Esteem overall self-evaluation or sense of self-worth

Rosenberg (1965) Trait Self-Esteem Scale

Pennebaker (1997) Writing Task

Rosenberg (1965) Trait Self-Esteem Scale

10 items

I feel that I am a person of worth, at least on an equal plane with others.

Strongly disagree Strongly agree1 2 3 4

Pennebaker (1997) Writing Task

Instruct participants to write about their deepest thoughts and feelings about themselves.

Explicit and Deliberative Behaviours

What are explicit, controlled, deliberative behaviors? What is an example of this type of behaviour related

to self-esteem? How are these effects controlled/explicit?Are they

intentional? Are participants aware that they are making these types of responses? Are they controlled?

Self-Esteem


Is high self-esteem good or bad?

good – it protects us from depression, drug abuse, some types of delinquency

bad – terrorists and gang leaders have high self-esteem,if we reject people with high self-esteem they can

become ugly and abusive

The answer may be related to dual processing theories.

Jordan, Spencer, Zanna, Hoshino-Browne, & Correll (2003)

Measured Explicit Self-Esteem (Rosenberg scale) conscious and deliberately reasoned evaluations of self

Measured Implicit Self-Esteem (IAT) automatic evaluations of self that occur unintentionally and outside of awareness


Examined relationship of Implicit and Explicit Self-Esteem with Narcissism

Narcissists have grandiose self-views (potentially concealing unacknowledged self-doubt) “I really like to be the center of attention.” “I like to look at myself in the mirror.” “I am more capable than other people.”


Real low Self-esteem

Defensive Self-Esteem

? Real high (secure)

Self-esteem

Explicit Self-Esteem Low High

ImplicitSelf-Esteem

Low

High

So which group would be high in narcissism (i.e., Who would have a grandiose self-view (potentially concealing unacknowledged self-doubt)?


These findings suggest that we may need to re-conceptualize the way we think about and measure self-esteem and the importance of taking these dual processes into account.

High levels of Narcissism -

Low levels of Narcissism

Explicit Self-Esteem Low High

ImplicitSelf-Esteem

Low

High

Gut Feelings vs. Analysis:Dual Attitudes

Wilson (1989) - dating

Attitudes Behaviors?

How happy are you in your relationship?

This predicts (in general)

whether a couple will be dating a few months later.


Dijksterhuis (2004) – Apartment Study Information about 4 apartments in Amsterdam

Described each with 12 different attributes Apt. A: sizeable, bad neighbourhood, cheap, bay window, etc **** Apt. B: nice area, far from stores, expensive, subway, etc Apt. C: cheap, nice neighbours, ugly, small bedrooms, etc Apt D: unfriendly landlord, no fireplace, small kitchen, poor condition, etc *

One apartment was more desirable and one less desirable than others.


Dijksterhuis (2004) All subjects asked to evaluate each apartment

1/3 did so immediately 1/3 given 3 minutes to think about it consciously 1/3 told that they would have to choose later but they were

distracted for 3 minutes to prevent them from conscious thought (2-back task)


Dijksterhuis & van Olden (2006) - Poster Study Subjects were allowed to choose 1 of 5 poster to take

home 1/3 look briefly at poster and choose 1/3 look at poster briefly and allowed to think about choice for

9 minutes 1/3 look briefly at poster and then distracted for 9 minutes


Dijksterhuis & van Olden (2006) - Poster Study Experimenter called them a few weeks later

Guess who was happiest with their poster? Also asked how much money they needed to sell the poster

back

Questions?

Next Class

Class 3: Social Perception and Self-Perceptions

Reading material:Chapter 4: Social Perception: How We Come to Understand Other People, pp. 88-123.

Chapter 5: Self-Knowledge and the Need to Maintain Self-Esteem,

pp. 124-151.

Documents

LECTURE 2 SOCIAL COGNITION Chapter 3