Social Cognition Exam Notes PDF

Social Cognition  Agenda Announcements: – Content Module: Psychological Therapy. – Final Exam: April 17th @ 12:30pm-2:30pm (STC 1012, 0010) 40 multiple-choice questions 3 long-answer questions  Introduction to Social Psychology Social Psychology:...

Social Cognition  Agenda Announcements: – Content Module: Psychological Therapy. – Final Exam: April 17th @ 12:30pm-2:30pm (STC 1012, 0010) 40 multiple-choice questions 3 long-answer questions  Introduction to Social Psychology Social Psychology: – Investigate social behaviour. – Norms, Roles, & Culture. Group Behaviour: – Helping Behaviour, Cooperation, Conformity & Obedience. Social Cognition: – Information processing affects social behaviour. – Attribution Theory: explanations of behaviour. – Attitudes: evaluations of people/things. – Cognitive Dissonance: Attitude/behavioural change.  Social Norms Rules that regulate human behaviour. – Implicit social conventions: e.g., driving on the right side; handshake. – Explicit rules: e.g., drinking & driving prohibited. – Norms vary by region and over time. Descriptive Norms: defines what is commonly done in a situation (what is done). – Binge drinking in universities. Injunctive Norms: describes what is commonly approved or disapproved in situation (what should be done). – Proscriptions: Should return favours. – Prohibitions: Shouldn’t steal.  Social Roles Social position governed by norms & expectations. – Sex roles. – Family roles. – Occupational roles. Multiple roles: depends on the current context. Zimbardo Prison Study: – Prison created in basement of psych dept. – Students assigned to be prisoners & guards. Guards became authoritarian, tyrannical. Prisoners became distressed, rebellious. – Ended after 6 days. – Volunteer bias.  Attributions of Behaviour Weiner’s two dimensional Attribution Model Dispositional vs. Situational: – Internal attributions: individual’s disposition, traits, skills, feelings. – External attributions: environmental demands & constraints. Stable vs. Unstable: – Temporary causes. – Permanent causes. Success vs. Failure. High achievers attribute success to internal stable causes and failures to external causes; low achievers and those suffering from depression do the opposite.  Fundamental Attribution Bias Tendency to overestimate internal factors and underestimate external factors when explaining others’ behaviour. Situational pressures not always evident to observers? – Occurs even when situational factors are evident (pro vs. anti-Castro essay). Dispositional attributions are automatic; situational attributions require effort (cognitive misers)? – More likely to occur when cognitive load is high. – Self-serving Bias: Tendency to attribute personal successes to dispositional factors but failures to situation factors  Defensive Bias Belief in “just-world”: tendency to believe that people reap what they deserve. – Need for predictability (reduce uncertainty). – Calamity threatens this belief: Believe world is not just? Explain outcome in terms of internal attributions. – Tendency is to blame the victim: Burglary victims are careless. People fired for incompetence. Poor people are lazy. Rape victims dress sexy.  i-clicker According to the fundamental attribution bias, _________ attributions are made for successes and ____________ attributions are made for failures. a) internal; external b) external; internal c) internal; internal d) external; external Cultural Differences in Attributions Individualist cultures: personal goals prioritized; unique identity; emphasize independence, self- esteem (North America and Western Europe). Collectivist cultures: group goals prioritized; group identity; emphasize shared values, cooperation, and interdependence (Asia, South America, Africa). Self-serving bias is weaker in collectivist cultures. – Self-effacing bias: external attributions of successes (cultural norm?) – Self-criticism: internal attributions of failures.  Culture & The Self Independent Self: autonomous & distinct. – Defined by distinct traits & preferences (e.g., I am honest; I like soccer). – “The squeaky wheel gets the grease”. – Individualistic Insults: “You are a pig”. Interdependent Self: connected & overlapping. – Defined by shared traits & preferences; duties & roles (e.g., we are Japanese; I am a father). – “The nail that sticks up gets hammered down”.  Culture & Self-esteem Important consequence of self-esteem in individualist & collectivist cultures (Heine et. al., 2001): – Japanese & Canadians given a “creativity” test that was rigged to be either brutally difficult or elementary. – Students then compared their performance to group norms. – Subsequently given another test that was of intermediate difficulty.  Attitudes Positive or negative evaluations of people or things: – Dislike social media, smoking, saxophones. – Like grilled cheese sandwiches. – Explicit: awareness. – Implicit: unaware (e.g., prejudice). Components: – Cognitive: “People on social media are deceptive jerks.” – Affective: “Social media makes me angry!” – Behavioural: Use social media as an example for negative attitude. Attitudes predict behaviour when attitudes are strong, explicit, and there is a vested interest. – Attitudes should be at same level as behaviour.  Cognitive Dissonance Festinger infiltrated a doomsday cult (1950s): – Cult leader announces December 21st, 1954 as end of the world (flooding). – Aliens from planet Clarion would rescue them at midnight. – Many followers sold their belongings and quit their jobs. – Cult leader announces at 4:45am that disaster has been averted due to the faithfulness of the followers. – Followers became even more committed to the cult!  Cognitive Dissonance Dissonance: unpleasant physiological arousal due to inconsistency in cognition/behaviour (motivates change). – Festinger & Carlsmith (1959): participants paid $1 or $20 to lie about a boring task (turning pegs). – Those paid $1 later liked the task more. Counter-attitudinal action: behaviour inconsistent with existing attitudes. Changed their attitude to be consistent with their behaviour. Findings contradict operational conditioning! Findings contradict expectations about cause and effect!  Forbidden Toy Experiment Aronson & Carlsmith (1963): children given a warning not to play with a favourite toy. – Mild warning: “be annoyed”. – Severe warning: “ would be very angry… take my toys and go home.” – Children given the stern warning played with the toy more later than children given the mild warning.  Postdecisional Dissonance Dissonance arising from the knowledge that one has made a decision and the possibility that they did not choose well. – Attitudes towards chosen option improves; attitude towards unchosen option deteriorates. Betters feel more confident in their decision after placing the bet. Voters feel more strongly in favour of candidates after casting ballot. Major purchases.  Arousal How important is arousal to cognitive dissonance? – Is arousal experienced when cognition and behaviour are inconsistent? Physiological recordings measured while writing voluntary counter-attitudinal essay indicate yes. – Does arousal motivate changes in cognition? Tranquilizer to eliminate arousal during counter-attitudinal essay writing followed by little or no attitude change.  Persuasion Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM). – Dual-process model of persuasion that predicts whether factual information or other types of information will be most influential. – Central Route: Message content (facts, logic, details) is persuasive. Rational: deliberate, conscious processing. Internalizing the message as a belief (strong and long- lasting). Requires motivation & time. – Peripheral Route: Features of the message (number of arguments; attractiveness of the messenger) are persuasive. Quick positive impression: automatic, nonconscious processing. Motivation/time are lacking.  Central Route Construal Level Theory: Information affects us differently depending on our psychological distance from the information. – Information that is specific (abstract), personal (others), and uses concrete (vague) details feels closer to us, which increases motivation. – Geographic distance, temporal Take adistance, social how moment and imagine distance. CATV will CATV will provide a broader – Gregory entertainment et. al. (1982). and information service provide a broader entertainment and information service. When you use it properly, you will be to its subscribers. Used properly, a able to plan in advance which of the events person can plan in advance to enjoy offered you wish to enjoy. Take a moment and events offered. Instead of spending think of how, instead of spending money on the money on the babysitter and gas, and babysitter and gas, and then having to put up with putting up with the hassles of going the hassles of going out, you will be able to spend out, more time can be spent at home your time at home with your family, alone, or with with family, alone, or with friends. your friends. 19.5% subscribed 47% subscribed  Central Route One-sided vs. two-sided messaging. – More persuasive to acknowledge opposing arguments and counter them (unless they are unlikely to hear opposition). – Attitude inoculation (straw man arguments): present weak or fabricated arguments that are easily countered. – Sound objective and trustworthy. – Listeners become more resistant to change later when encountering opposing arguments.  Attitude Inoculation Small attacks on attitudes enable one to counter larger subsequent attacks. – Participants first rated attitude towards a set of cultural truisms (e.g., Most forms of mental health are not contagious) on a 15-point scale. – Exposure to a small attack on the truism and asked to either: Argue against the attack (inoculation). Argue in favour of the attack. Control condition: no attack. – Two days later, read a 1000-word argument against the truism. – Those inoculated with the small attack remained most supportive of the truism.  Persuasion Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM). – Dual-process model of persuasion that predicts whether factual information or other types of information will be most influential. – Central Route: Message content (facts, logic, details) is persuasive. Rational: deliberate, conscious processing. Internalizing the message as a belief (strong and long- lasting). Requires motivation & time. – Peripheral Route: Features of the message (number of arguments; attractiveness of the messenger) are persuasive. Quick positive impression: automatic, nonconscious processing. Motivation/time are lacking.  Peripheral Route Authority: – Authorities can be a good source of information (central route). – Authorities can wield influence outside their area of expertise (status over experience). – Dressing with authority (Lefkowitz et al., 1955). 3.5 times more people follow a man jaywalking when dressed in suit vs. casual clothing.  Peripheral Route Attractiveness: Physically attractive messengers are more persuasive. – American Heart Association: attractive fundraisers raised donations from 42% of participants vs. 23% by less- attractive fundraisers (Reingen & Kernan, 1993). – Canadian Federal Election (1972): Physically attractive candidates received three times more votes than less- attractive candidates (Efrain & Patterson, 1974). – Halo Effect: tendency to perceive physically attractive people as possessing positive traits. Happier, more honest, more competent, more intelligent, more successful, and have more positive personalities. Infants stare at an adult wearing an attractive mask longer (Langlois, 1987). Adults more likely to attribute misbehavior (severe/mild) to unattractive children (Dion, Bercheid, & Walster, 1972).  Peripheral Route Social Validation: using other people’s behaviour to form impressions. – Bestsellers, hit songs, line-ups, top box-office earnings, awards, approval ratings, rotten tomatoes. Norm of Reciprocity: obligation to repay others. – Free samples; free trials; ”no obligation”. – Door-in-the-face technique: asking for something big, then following with a request for something more reasonable (Cialdini et. al., 1975). “would you be willing to “would you be willing to volunteer for two hours per volunteer to chaperone week as a counsellor at the inmates from a juvenile juvenile detention centre for detention centre for a a period of two years?” day trip to the zoo?” 17% yes 50%  Peripheral Route Need for Consistency: – Foot-in-the-door technique: asking for something small, then following with a request for something more substantial. – Old sales trick. – Cognitive Dissonance.  i-clicker In cognitive dissonance, dissonance is defined as: a) Engaging in counter-attitudinal behaviour. b) Unpleasant physiological arousal. c) Changing one’s attitude to be consistent with behaviour. d) An inconsistency between an attitude and a behaviour.  i-clicker If you were suddenly in need of emergency help, which of the following would you hope to be true about the bystanders who were nearby? (select all that are correct) a) that some of them were female. b) that some of them were accountants. c) that some of them knew about the bystander effect. d) that there were a lot of bystanders close by. e) that some of them were lifeguards.  i-clicker A group of Stormtroopers is loading munitions into Imperial TIE Bombers. Their commander notices that none of the Stormtroopers is working very hard. What could the commander do to increase the productivity of his troops? (select all that are correct) a) he could stress how essential their contributions are for winning the conflict with the rebel alliance. b) he could recruit a new team from a more collectivistic planet. c) he could restructure the task to make the individual contributions more visible. d) he could organize team building exercises to solidify relationships within the group.  i-clicker In comparing Panic Disorder and Generalized Anxiety Disorder, which of the following statements is TRUE? (select all that are correct) a) anxiety is more intense in Generalized Anxiety Disorder. b) anxiety in both conditions reflects increased autonomic arousal. c) in neither disorder is anxiety provoked by a specific stimulus. d) anxiety has a longer duration in Panic Disorder. e) anxiety escalates more rapidly in Panic Disorder.  i-clicker Which of the following indicates a GOOD prognosis in schizophrenia? (select all that are correct) a) the individual was doing well in school and had many friends prior to the first episode. b) onset of the psychotic episode occurs rapidly. c) symptoms are dominated by catatonia, flat affect, and asociality. d) more negative symptoms than positive symptoms. e) the first episode manifests at age 20.