Social Psychology PDF

Orientation & Thinking about the Social World By Suman Sajnani  Unit 1 : Syllabus Social Psychology: Origins and Contemporary Relevance Social Cognition - Automatic & Deliberate Thinking (Schemas & Heuristics) - Errors and biases Social Perception - Attribution th...

Orientation & Thinking about the Social World By Suman Sajnani  Unit 1 : Syllabus Social Psychology: Origins and Contemporary Relevance Social Cognition - Automatic & Deliberate Thinking (Schemas & Heuristics) - Errors and biases Social Perception - Attribution theories and errors - First impressions Application: Techniques in reducing cognitive errors https://youtube.com/shorts/mNhx4nnuaM4 ?si=zfMb9CwI0zmAI_Ml - singing in train https://youtu.be/vITeVsOr6O4?si=eUdh7UN 9KxyzI8WY - Attack and saving https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJofDn UYPhw Most interesting observations in society or relationships? Dressing, language, decision making etc. Why did somebody attack? Why did someone else help? Why did some people openly sing while others quietly witnessed? Why do mobs of 1000s get violent sometimes? (Eg. Hitler) How do cult leaders get people do to do most kind and most atrocious things? Is it all just personality? Are we as people same in every situation, every relationship?  Social Psychology and its Neighbours For biologists, the level of analysis might be genes, hormones, or neurotransmitters. For personality and clinical psychologists - analysis of the individual. For Sociologist - analysis of group, institution, or society at large For the social psychologist- analysis of individual in the context of a social situation.  Social psychology is the scientific study of the way in which people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people: parents, friends, employers, teachers, strangers—indeed, by the entire social situation (Allport, 1985)  Why Study Social Psychology? Goal - identify properties of human nature that make almost everyone susceptible to social influence, regardless of social class or culture. Also, to find out the facts, to establish relation between cause and effect, to make laws on the basis of these relations and to use them in solving concrete social problems. Eg. how to get people to buy a product, follow traffic rules, be regular with commitments etc.  Why Study Social Psychology? Norman Triplett (1898) noticed that cyclists’ performance was facilitated (helped) when training as a group. Termed - Social facilitation People sometimes show an increased level of effort as a result of the real, imagined, or implied presence of others. Why Sometimes? Do you always do better with others?  Why Study Social Psychology? Subsequent research - performance improved as a result of the presence of others (social facilitation), whilst others found that it was impaired (social inhibition). Depends on the type of task: - Social facilitation - with familiar task or for well-learned skills. - Social inhibition - for difficult or novel tasks.  Social Psychology - the Context Young field, started in USA - still expanding to explain other cultures. Common sense knowledge - too many cooks spoil the broth, but also TEAM - Together everybody achieves more - Contradictory - which is true? Need for scientific study  What makes it a Scientific Study? What is science? Use certain Values and Methods of study. Values:- - Accuracy : commitment to error free, replicable results. - Objectivity : commitment to bias free research. - Skepticism : accepting results only once established. - Open mindedness : accepting changes in basic ideas too.  Contemporary Relevance Discussion at the end and the CA 2  Social Cognition Humans form impressions of new situations and people - quickly and with good accuracy Eg. when meeting a new person do you excuse yourself to think about it or are able to sense on the go how you feel about them, what to not say around them etc. Automatic thinking helps us understand new situations by relating them to our prior experiences, eg this person is like my cousin, or that other instagram influencer I know.  Social Cognition What could you conclude about this child on seeing him?  Schemas Mental structures that organize our knowledge about the social world. Eg. Schema for self in college, for friends, for festivals etc. These mental structures influence the information we notice, think about, and remember.  Schemas Schemas help us organize and make sense of the world. Help to fill in the gaps of our knowledge. Eg. how to act in a new restaurant, how to greet elders in the family, how to prepare for exams. Esp helpful in unfamiliar places. Harold Kelley - students told about a guest lecturer - half given description that he is warm, practical, determined. Other half told same but cold in place of warm. Results?  Schemas Students told warm interacted and participated more Also rated him warm. Others rated him as cold. Esp cause small interaction, hard to interpret - most people relied on what they were told. How do you use schemas?  Schemas Social world is full of ambiguous stimuli Eg. passenger beside you in bus starts mumbling to self, swaying, stares.. What’s your interpretation?  Schemas Typically - person might be drunk or mentally ill. Which one? Schemas guiding your impression could be based on - accessibility - being readily there Schemas can be accessible because of Priming- 1. Chronic accessibility due to past experience. 2. Recent accessibility due to relevance to current goal. 3. Temporary Accessibility due to recent experience. Schemas  Priming Effect Read Donald’s story and describe him:- Donald spent a great deal of time in his search of what he liked to call excitement. He had already climbed Mt. McKinley, shot the Colorado rapids in a kayak, driven in a demolition derby(drivers ramming into each other), and piloted a jet-powered boat—without knowing very much about boats. He had risked injury, and even death, a number of times. Now he was in search of new excitement. He was thinking perhaps he would do some skydiving or maybe cross the Atlantic in a sailboat.  Priming Effect - Classic Study by Higgins, Rholes, & Jones, 1977 Task done by 2 groups. Before this, both groups had to do a perception study - identify colors while memorising a list of words. Both groups had different lists to memorise:- Group 1 Group 2 Adventurous Reckless Self Confident Impulsive Persistent Stubborn  Priming Effect Group 1 described Donald positively, Group 2 negatively. Part 2: 2 groups, 2 lists - but words were neat or messy etc. Did not influence description of donald, suggesting applicability important with accessibility.  The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy People act based on schemas, making them come true unknowingly. Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson (1968) : Tested preschoolers Randomly told teachers that some would “bloom” In a year, these students did much better.  The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy How? They were randomly chosen. But teachers seen to unconsciously - create warmer emotional climate for bloomers - giving them more personal attention, encouragement, and support - more material to learn and more difficult material - more and better feedback on their work - more opportunities to respond in class longer time to respond  The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy - What happens if I assume some of you are “Bloomers” based on your name, gender, looks, language, religion etc? - What happens if I assume others are not good enough based on similar factors? Effects seen to be small - few marks - so students not doomed! The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy  Automatic Decision Making Choosing Apartments - comparison on location, price, size, amenities etc. Many complex factors. 3 groups to decide: 1. Only conscious consideration 2. Only distraction - solve anagrams 3. Some conscious consideration & Some anagrams Who do you think made the best decision?  Automatic Decision Making Group 3 - Conscious + Unconscious decision making Especially for big decisions with many factors, not for straightforward problem solving like 4 x 48.  Automatic Thinking and Metaphors About the Body and the Mind What Makes you likely to be generous to a stranger? Research has shown evidence for :- 1. Word scrambling task with words like God, spirit, sacred etc before making decision. 2. Even words like social contract, civic etc. 3. Clean and Fresh scent around you.  Automatic Thinking and Metaphors About the Body and the Mind While first 2 are priming, clean scents seem to activate metaphors about purity, generosity eg. washing away our sins. We are more likely to find someone holding hot coffee to be warm than someone holding cold coffee - again sensation activates metaphor.  Automatic Thinking and Metaphors About the Body and the Mind Students were asked to fill survey on how much importance student opinion should be given for a campus issue. Either given a heavy clipboard or a light one to fill survey sheet. How do you think that impacted their response?  Automatic Thinking and Metaphors About the Body and the Mind Importance = “carries weight” and “adding weight to the argument.” Heavy clipboard said more weight to be given to student opinion. Physical sensation of smell, temperature or weight too can prime our response.  Heuristics - Mental Shortcuts. Big decisions - many options Eg. Which college to choose? Maybe reading about each college in the country, asking alumni, contacting faculty, reading reviews will give you best suited option.. But how efficient or realistic is that?  Availability Heuristic Eg. I saw 2 wedding invites for dec 25th on my social media, a lot of people must be getting married on that day, might be an auspicious day.. I read 2 news articles of pickpockets at CST station, must be unsafe and prone to robbery. My mother must be an angry person because I remember easily instances when she got angry. This makes us estimate the likelihood of an event based on our ability to recall similar events. The ease of recall is crucial.  Availability Heuristic G1 asked to recall 6 instances of being assertive, G2 asked 12 Then they were asked, are you an assertive person? Results - G1 said yes because recalling 6 was easy enough, G2 likelier to say no because recalling 12 was hard. Professor - 2 or 10 criticisms of class and overall rating - same result.  Representativeness Heuristic Imagine you shift to a new home and go to greet your neighbour. This is how she is dressed. House has multiple traditional Indian paintings. What do you assume their profession is?  Representativeness Heuristic Maybe a classical dancer, singer, artist.. something creative? You compare what you see with what you know about groups of professions.. This is the representativeness heuristic. Often accurate. Error - Less consideration to base rate - 8% people only in creative roles - more people in corporate, teaching etc.  Applications 1. Ads on radio make a brand seem well known - eg Sugar and recall value. 2. Trusting a politician because he looks like his father who did good work. 3. Doctors diagnosing someone with a common flu and ignoring chances of something severe. 4. Designing my brand website on the template of a known and trusted website like amazon.  The Barnum effect You have a need for other people to like and admire you, and yet you tend to be critical of yourself. While you have some personality weaknesses, you are generally able to compensate for them. You have considerable unused capacity that you have not turned to your advantage. At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the right decision or done the right thing. You prefer a certain amount of change and variety and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by restrictions and limitations. At times you are extroverted, affable, and sociable, while at other times you are introverted, wary, and reserved. Is this relatable?  The Barnum effect On a scale of (poor) 1-5 (excellent), on avg students rated this at 4.26. The statements are vague enough that most people can find a past behavior that is similar to (representative of) the feedback. It is generic enough for the representativeness heuristic to make it very relatable. Used by horoscopes, astrology, online personality tests  Anchoring and Adjustment Heuristic Mental shortcut used in decision-making - initial, or “anchor” point is set, and adjustments are made until an acceptable value is reached. The anchor, once set, has a strong influence, often leading to bias because adjustments are typically insufficient shifts from the initial anchor, resulting in estimations skewed towards the anchor. Eg. Donation form starting amount influencing others.  Anchoring and Adjustment Heuristic Bargaining - quoting lower than expected because typically adjustment is close to anchor. Experiment - legal professionals asked to read case and announce punishment. Given an anchor that was either randomly generated by dice or by journalists or judges. No matter source, final adjustment close to anchor.  Status Quo Heuristic What is, is good. Participants given chocolate G1 - Same taste since 1937 G2 - New and Improved Taste Higher ratings from G1 - despite rating years on market as the least important consideration. Overtime bad products die, good survives longer but sometimes inertia?  Errors (Baron text) Confirmation bias - underlying tendency to notice, focus on, and give greater credence to evidence that fits with our existing beliefs. Cognitive shortcut - brain looks for what we know - efficient + protects self esteem.  Errors Lord et al (1979) - Students who supported vs opposed capital punishment asked to evaluate 2 fake studies 1 showing benefits of it while other saying no specific benefits- both with objective looking compelling statistics Expected results?  Errors Supporters saw supporting data as credible and opposing data unconvincing. Vice Versa for opposers. Both came out more confident of original stance. Implications for social Media  Errors Supporters saw supporting data as credible and opposing data unconvincing. Vice Versa for opposers. Both came out more confident of original stance. Confirmation Bias Implications for social Media  Optimistic Bias Likely to expect good things in the future. Planning Fallacy - our tendency to believe that we can get more done in a given period of time than we actually can. Eg. Govt plans why?  Planning Fallacy Looking ahead when planning - forget how long similar tasks have taken earlier. Seeing previous delays as external chance variables. Plans are based on hopes. Esp when focusing on result and not route.  Planning Fallacy Experiment - people asked to estimate time taken for a task. Before that - G1 asked to recall a time they were leading, G2 asked to recall a time they were powerless. Both made planning fallacy, leaders (completion focused) more than powerless (step focused).  Counterfactual Thinking Imagining “what might have been”. Eg. If I won the lottery, If I still dated my ex etc If we hadn’t met Sheldon (BBT episode) If they had sent XYZ to bat instead..  Counterfactual Thinking Eg. Man left work at regular time, had an accident. How much compensation? Vs Man left time earlier than usual, had an accident. Compensation? Which is sadder?  Counterfactual Thinking Since same accident - sympathy should technically stay same But emotional responses differ depending on how easy it is to mentally undo the circumstances that preceded it. Counterfactual thoughts increasing sympathy.  Counterfactual Thinking Automatic - sometimes we can’t help imagining that things might have turned out differently. Needs active discounting or suppression to stop. When low capacity to process information - more CFTs as less energy to suppress Result of CFTs?  Counterfactual Thinking Result of CFTs? Diverse Upward counterfactuals - comparing current with more favourable - dissatisfaction, envy Downward counterfactuals - comparing current with less favourable - relief, hope. Negative events - more bearable when unavoidable - “How could I have saved them?”  Magical Thinking If you are in class and don’t want the professor to call on you, do you try to avoid thinking about being called on? If you were given an opportunity to buy travel insurance, would you feel you were “tempting fate” and inviting calamity by not purchasing it? If someone offered you a piece of chocolate shaped like a cockroach—would you eat it?  Magical Thinking Logically - No, No, Yes But - Law of Similarity - things that look similar share some features. Eg Voodoo Belief in the supernatural—powers outside our understanding and control—that can influence our lives. Belief that one’s thoughts can influence the physical world in a manner not governed by the laws of physics.  Magical Thinking Terror management Mortality, unfortunate events - unpredictable but unavoidable. Efforts to manage these realities. Esp higher when confronted with mortality or hard events - eg. sudden interest in astrology, vastu, nazar after financial loss  Magical Thinking Manifestation - as a social Psychologist Self Fulfilling Prophecy Priming self - seeking, finding, and working towards what you want. Gratitude as a habit enlarges positives - easier to see and hold. Criticism expands the negatives - they’re easier to find.  Magical Thinking Terror management Mortality, unfortunate events - unpredictable but unavoidable. Efforts to manage these realities. Esp higher when confronted with mortality or hard events - eg. sudden interest in astrology, vastu, nazar after financial loss  Social Perception The study of how we form impressions of other people and how we make inferences about them. Students showed 10 sec mute clips of unknown professors teaching - asked to rate on competence, confidence, activeness etc. High correlation with regular students’ end sem ratings.  First Impression Called “thin slice” exposures. Impressions seen to be enduring. Primacy effect - What we learn first colours what we learn next. Belief perseverance - hard to let go off old beliefs - even if disproved. Eg. Somebody mean at first, remembered ahead.  First Impression https://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_may _shape_who_you_are?subtitle=en https://www.ted.com/talks/alexandra_witruk_a_guide_to_good_fi rst_impressions?subtitle=en  Attribution Human urge to know why people do things, and understand their traits and motives. Process of seeking this info and drawing inferences - attribution. Kelley’s Covariation Theory  Kelley’s Covariation Theory Logical Analysis on 3 Grounds Eg. Teacher yelled at a student - S. But do people invest so much time and energy? Do they have all this info?  The Fundamental Attribution Error Tendency to overestimate the extent to which other people’s behavior is due to internal, dispositional factors, and to underestimate the role of situational factors. AKA the correspondence bias. Often because we don’t have access to all situational factors or how person interprets them.  The Fundamental Attribution Error Tendency to overestimate the extent to which other people’s behavior is due to internal, dispositional factors, and to underestimate the role of situational factors. AKA the correspondence bias. Often because we don’t have access to all situational factors or how person interprets them.  Perceptual Salience G. Daniel Lassiter and his colleagues presented judges and police officers with a video of an individual confessing to a crime. One of the 3 versions (a) camera’s focus on the suspect (b) camera’s focus was on the detective (c) equal camera focus on both Asked to rate if confession was voluntary or coerced.  Perceptual Salience Videotape that focused only on the suspect - higher ratings of “voluntariness”. Perceptual salience(noticeability) of the suspect, when shown alone, triggered a fundamental attribution error. But this judgement determines punishment! New Zealand, has adopted a rule of “equal focus” on suspect + detective for videotaped interrogations. 2 step process of attribution  Self-Serving Attributions Tendency to make internal attributions for success and external attributions for failures. To maintain self esteem, put on good face Most likely when we fail at something and feel we can’t improve - external attribution for uncontrollable. When there is scope of change - internal attribution.  Self-Serving Attributions Also based on available information. Eg. Smita typically does well in psych and had studied hard - but did poorly on test - logical conclusion - test must be hard. Teacher sees students - some do well and some poorly - who did poorly must not have worked hard.  Belief in a Just World Tragic occurrences like accidents, fatal diseases, random attacks etc very disturbing. Even to strangers - reminds us of human vulnerability. Urge to justify why bad happened - victim blaming - because “the world is just and good things happen to good people.”  Belief in a Just World Victimhood - random, crimes happen anytime. Hard to stay at peace with this Personally - comfort with religion How susceptible are you to the self serving attributional tendency? How susceptible are people in general to the self serving attributional tendency?  Bias Blind Spot On an avg, first answer lower than second. The tendency to think that other people are more susceptible to attributional biases in their thinking than we are.  False Consensus effect https://www.youtube.com/watc h?v=UaFUqIgQdd4