Social Psychology, 7/E - Chapter 3

Social Psychology Elliot Aronson University of California, Santa Cruz Timothy D. Wilson University of Virginia Robin M. Akert Wellesley College slides prepared by Travis Langley Henderson State University 7th edition Chapter 3 Social Cognition: How We Think about the Social World “The greatest of all faults, I should say, is to become conscious of none.” –Thomas Carlyle Social Cognition Social Cognition How people think about themselves and the social world, or more specifically, how people select, interpret, remember, and use social information to make judgments and decisions. Social Cognition The study of social cognition is a central topic in social psychology. The assumption is that people are generally trying to form accurate impressions of the world and do so much of the time. Because of the nature of social thinking, however, people sometimes form erroneous impressions. Two Kinds of Social Cognition Quick and automatic “without thinking,” without consciously deliberately one’s own thoughts, perceptions, assumptions. Controlled thinking that is effortful and deliberate, pausing to think about self and environment, carefully selecting the right course of action. On Automatic Pilot: Low-Effort Thinking People often size up a new situation very quickly: they figure out who is there, what is happening, and what might happen next. Often these quick conclusions are correct. You can tell the difference between a college classroom and a frat party without having to think about it. Imagine a different approach: Every time you encounter a new situation you stop and think about it slowly and deliberately, like Rodin’s statue “The Thinker .” Imagine driving down the road and stopping repeatedly to analyze every twist and turn. Imagine meeting new person and excuse yourself for 15 minutes to analyze what you learned from them. Sounds exhausting, right? Automatic Thinking Thinking that is nonconscious, unintentional, involuntary, and effortless. We form impressions of people quickly and effortlessly and navigate new roads without much conscious analysis of what we are doing. We engage in an automatic analysis of our environments, based on past experiences and knowledge of the world. People as Everyday Theorists: Automatic Thinking with Schemas Schemas Mental structures people use to organize their knowledge about the social world around themes or subjects and that influence the information people notice, think about, and remember. People as Everyday Theorists: Automatic Thinking with Schemas The term schema encompasses our knowledge about many things: Other people Ourselves Social roles (e.g., what a librarian or engineer is like) Specific events (e.g., what usually happens when people eat a meal in a restaurant) In each case, our schemas contain our basic knowledge and impressions that we use to organize what we know about the social world and interpret new situations. Stereotypes about Race and Weapons  When applied to members of a social group such as a fraternity or gender or race, schemas are commonly referred to as stereotypes. Stereotypes can be applied rapidly and automatically when we encounter other people. Stereotypes about Race and Weapons Payne and colleagues rapidly showed college students pairs of pictures. Participants were told to pay attention to press one key if certain pictures showed a tool and another key if it was a gun, in only ½ second. People were significantly more likely to misidentify a tool as a gun when it was preceded by a black face than when it was preceded by a white face. Copyright © Education 2010 Stereotypes about Race and Weapons Another study involved awarding video game players points for shooting characters holding weapons but subtracted points for shooting characters holding tools. Results showed they made the most errors, shooting an unarmed person, when a black person was not holding a gun. When the men in the picture were white, participants made about the same number of errors whether the men were armed or unarmed. The Function of Schemas: Why Do We Have Them? Schemas are typically very useful for helping us organize and make sense of the world and to fill in the gaps of our knowledge. Schemas are particularly important when we encounter information that can be interpreted in a number of ways, because they help us reduce ambiguity. Students told that a speaker is warm will interpret his lecture more favorably even though people who were told he is a cold person do not receive his lecture as favorably, even though both groups hear the same lecture. Schemas as Memory Guides Schemas also help people fill in the blanks when they are trying to remember things. We don’t remember exactly as if our minds were cameras. Instead, we remember some information that was there (particularly information our schemas lead us to pay attention to), and we remember other information that was never there but that we have unknowingly added. Schemas as Memory Guides Examples: Ask people what is the most famous line of dialogue in the classic movie Casablanca, and they will probably say, “Play it again, Sam.” Ask them what is the most famous line from the original Star Trek TV series, and they will probably say, “Beam me up, Scotty.” Here is a piece of trivia that might surprise you: Both of these lines are reconstructions. The characters never said them. Schemas as Memory Guides Memory reconstructions tend to be consistent with one’s schemas. People who read a story about a marriage proposal can later insert incorrect details that had not been in the story (e.g., future plans, roses) but were consistent with a marriage proposal schema. The fact that people filled in the blanks in their memory with schema-consistent details suggests that schemas become stronger and more resistant to change over time. Which Schemas Are Applied? Accessibility and Priming   Accessibility The extent to which schemas and concepts are at the forefront of people’s minds and are therefore likely to be used when we are making judgments about the social world. Priming The process by which recent experiences increase the accessibility of a schema, trait, or concept. Which Schemas Are Applied? Accessibility Something can become accessible for three reasons: Some schemas are chronically accessible due to past experience. This means that these schemas are constantly active and ready to use to interpret ambiguous situations. Which Schemas Are Applied? Accessibility Something can become accessible for three reasons: Some schemas are chronically accessible due to past experience. Something can become accessible because it is related to a current goal. Which Schemas Are Applied? Accessibility Something can become accessible for three reasons: Some schemas are chronically accessible due to past experience. Something can become accessible because it is related to a current goal. Schemas can become temporarily accessible because of our recent experiences. Copyright © Education 2010 Which Schemas Are Applied? Priming Suppose you read about a man named Donald whose actions are ambiguous, interpretable in either a positive or negative manner. People who previously memorize words like adventurous tend to form positive impressions of him. People primed with words like reckless and stubborn form negative impressions. Priming is a good example of automatic thinking because it occurs quickly, unintentionally, and unconsciously. Copyright © Education 2010 The Persistence of Schemas After They Are Discredited   Even though a judge may instruct the jurors to disregard inadmissible evidence, because of the way schemas work, the jurors’ beliefs can persist even after the evidence for them proves to be false. Schemas can take on a life of their own, even after the evidence for them has been completely discredited. Making Our Schemas Come True: The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy   Self-Fulfilling Prophecy The case whereby people Have an expectation about what another person is like, which influences how they act toward that person, which causes that person to behave consistently with people’s original expectations, making the expectations come true. Copyright © Education 2010 Making Our Schemas Come True: The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy   Teachers led to believe particular students will bloom: Create a warmer emotional climate for those students, giving them more personal attention, encouragement, and support, Give “bloomers” more challenging material, Give “bloomers” more and better feedback, Give “bloomers” more opportunities to respond in class and give them longer to respond. Adapted from Rosenthal & Jacobsen, 1968. Making Our Schemas Come True: The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy   Some Limits of Self-Fulfilling Prophecies  People’s true nature can win out in social interaction. Self-fulfilling prophecies are most likely to occur when people are distracted. Which Schemas Are Applied? Priming Priming is a good example of automatic thinking because it occurs quickly, unintentionally, and unconsciously. Cultural Determinants of Schemas   An important source of our schemas is the culture in which we grow up. In fact, schemas are an important way cultures exert their influence: by instilling mental structures that influence how we understand and interpret the world. Mental Strategies and Shortcuts When deciding which job to accept, what car to buy, or whom to marry, we usually do not conduct a thorough search of every option (“OK, it’s time for me to get married; I think I’ll consult the Census Bureau’s lists of unmarried adults in my town and begin my interviews tomorrow”). Mental Strategies and Shortcuts When deciding which job to accept, what car to buy, or whom to marry, we usually do not conduct a thorough search of every option (“OK, it’s time for me to get married; I think I’ll consult the Census Bureau’s lists of unmarried adults in my town and begin my interviews tomorrow”). Mental shortcuts are efficient, however, and usually lead to good decisions in a reasonable amount of time. Mental Strategies and Shortcuts What shortcuts do people use? One way is to use schemas to understand new situations. When making specific kinds of judgments and decisions, however, we do not always have a ready-made schema to apply. At other times, there are too many schemas that could apply, and it is not clear which one to use. What do we do? Mental Strategies and Shortcuts Judgmental Heuristics Mental shortcuts people use to make judgments quickly and efficiently. Judgmental Heuristics Mental shortcuts people use to make judgments quickly and efficiently. Heuristics do not guarantee that people will make accurate inferences about the world. Sometimes heuristics are inadequate for the job at hand or are misapplied, leading to faulty judgments. Mental Strategies and Shortcuts Judgmental Heuristics Mental shortcuts people use to make judgments quickly and efficiently. Mental Strategies and Shortcuts Heuristics do not guarantee that people will make accurate inferences about the world. Sometimes heuristics are inadequate for the job at hand or are misapplied, leading to faulty judgments. As we discuss the mental strategies that sometimes lead to errors, however, keep in mind that people use heuristics for a reason: Most of the time, they are highly functional and serve us well. How Easily Does It Come to Mind? The Availability Heuristic   Availability Heuristic A mental rule of thumb whereby people base a judgment on the ease with which they can bring something to mind. The trouble with the availability heuristic is that sometimes what is easiest to remember is not typical of the overall picture, leading to faulty conclusions. How Easily Does It Come to Mind? The Availability Heuristic  Example: When physicians are diagnosing diseases, it might seem straightforward for them to observe people’s symptoms and figure out what disease, if any, they have. Sometimes, though, symptoms might be a sign of several different disorders. Do doctors use the availability heuristic, whereby they are more likely to consider diagnoses that come to mind easily? Several studies of medical diagnoses suggest that the answer is yes. How Easily Does It Come to Mind? The Availability Heuristic  Do people use the availability heuristic to make judgments about themselves? To find out, researchers had people remember examples of their own past assertive behaviors. People asked to think of six examples rated themselves as relatively assertive because it was easy to think of this many examples (“Hey, this is easy—I guess I’m a pretty assertive person”). People asked to think of twelve examples rated themselves as relatively unassertive because it was difficult to think of this many examples (“Hmm, this is hard—I must not be a very assertive person”). How Easily Does It Come to Mind? The Availability Heuristic  Copyright © Education 2010 Adapted from Schwartz et al., 1991. How Similar Is A to B? The Representativeness Heuristic   Representativeness Heuristic A mental shortcut whereby people classify something according to how similar it is to a typical case. Base Rate Information Information about the frequency of members of different categories in the population. Taking Things at Face Value   Anchoring and Adjustment Heuristic “A mental shortcut whereby people use a number or value as a starting point and then adjust insufficiently from this anchor.” Taking Things at Face Value      Anchoring and Adjustment Heuristic Suppose you’re a judge sentencing a felon after your friend had his 75th birthday. Without realizing why the number 75 came to your mind, you might think, “75 is too high. I’ll sentence this person to 60 years.” What if your granddaughter just had her 5th birthday? You might impose a lower sentence. Anchoring and Adjustment Heuristic Suppose you’re a judge sentencing a felon after your friend had his 75th birthday. Without realizing why the number 75 came to your mind, you might think, “75 is too high. I’ll sentence this person to 60 years.” What if your granddaughter just had her 5th birthday? You might impose a lower sentence. This is, in fact, the kind of thinking judges showed in a recent study. Taking Things at Face Value      Taking Things at Face Value   Anchoring and Adjustment Heuristic The problem with this is that completely arbitrary values can influence judgments. Tversky and Kahneman (1974), spun a wheel of fortune and asked people to consider whether the number that came up was higher or lower than the percentage of African nations in the United Nations. People gave a higher estimate when the wheel of fortune stopped on a high number than when it stopped on a low number. The Power of Unconscious Thinking Part of the definition of automatic thinking is that it occurs unconsciously. Although unconscious processes can sometimes lead to tragic errors, unconscious thinking is frequently critical to navigating our way through the world. The Power of Unconscious Thinking Have you ever been chatting with someone at a party and suddenly realized that someone across the room had mentioned your name? The only way this could happen is if, while you were engrossed in conversation, you were unconsciously monitoring other conversations to see if something important came up (such as your name). This so-called "cocktail party" effect has been demonstrated under controlled experimental conditions. The Power of Unconscious Thinking There is even evidence that our unconscious minds can do better at some tasks than our conscious minds do. Suppose you were shopping for an apartment and after looking at several places you narrowed your choice to four possibilities. Each one has pros and cons, making it difficult to decide which apartment to rent. How should you go about making up your mind? Given the importance of this decision, most of us would spend a lot of time thinking about it, consciously analyzing the alternatives to determine what our best option is. The Power of Unconscious Thinking Dijksterhuis (2004) gave people a lot of information about four apartments in a short amount of time. Immediate choice condition: He asked people to choose the apartment they thought was the best right way. Conscious thought condition: He had people in this condition think carefully about the apartments for three minutes and then choose the best one. Unconscious thought condition: He gave people a distracting task for three minutes so that they could not think about the apartments consciously, with the assumption that they would continue to think about the apartments unconsciously. Controlled Social Cognition: High-Effort Thinking Racial profiling has received much attention since the events of September 11, 2001. Because the terrorists who flew the planes into the World Trade Center were of Middle Eastern descent, some people feel anyone a similar background should receive special scrutiny when flying on commercial airlines. Controlled Social Cognition: High-Effort Thinking On the New Year’s Eve after the attacks, U.S. citizens Michael Dasrath and Edgardo Cureg, having passed extensive security checks, were removed from a plane when passengers complained that their presence made them (and one woman’s dog) nervous. Neither man posed a threat, but because they had brown skin, they were singled out and refused service. Controlled Social Cognition: High-Effort Thinking Racial prejudice can result from either automatic thinking or conscious, deliberative thinking. Controlled Thinking Thinking that is conscious, intentional, voluntary, and effortful. Mentally Undoing the Past Counterfactual Reasoning Mentally changing some aspect of the past in imagining what might have been. “If only I had answered that one question differently, I would have passed the test.” Counterfactual thoughts can have a big influence on our emotional reactions to events. The easier it is to mentally undo an outcome, the stronger the emotional reaction to it. Counterfactual Reasoning One group of researchers, for example, interviewed people who had suffered the loss of a spouse or child. The more people imagined ways in which the tragedy could have been averted, by mentally undoing the circumstances preceding it, the more distress they reported. Mentally Undoing the Past Counterfactual Reasoning Silver medal winners (2nd place) often express greater dissatisfaction that bronze medal winners (3rd place). Silver medal winners may imagine ways events could have gone differently to allow them to reach first place. Mentally Undoing the Past Counterfactual Reasoning Counterfactual thinking can be useful, however, if it focuses people’s attention on ways that they can cope better in the future. It is not so good if counterfactual thinking results in rumination, whereby people repetitively focus on negative things in their lives. Mentally Undoing the Past Thought Suppression and Ironic Processing Thought Suppression The attempt to avoid thinking about something we would prefer to forget. The automatic aspect, the monitoring process, searches for evidence that the unwanted thought is about to intrude on consciousness. Then the operating process, comes into play. This is the effortful, conscious attempt to distract oneself by finding something else to think about. Thought Suppression and Ironic Processing Thought Suppression The attempt to avoid thinking about something we would prefer to forget. The irony is that when people are trying hardest not to think about something if tired or preoccupied (under cognitive load), these thoughts are especially likely to spill out unchecked. Improving Human Thinking Overconfidence Barrier The fact that people usually have too much confidence in the accuracy of their judgments. Ways this might improve: When asked to consider the point of view opposite to their own, people can realize there were other ways to construe the world than their own way, and consequently make fewer judgment errors. Teaching people basic statistical and methodological principles about how to reason correctly may help them apply these principles in their everyday lives. Improving Human Thinking Overconfidence Barrier The fact that people usually have too much confidence in the accuracy of their judgments. Ways this might improve: When asked to consider the point of view opposite to their own, people can realize there were other ways to construe the world than their own way, and consequently make fewer judgment errors. Teaching people basic statistical and methodological principles about how to reason correctly may help them apply these principles in their everyday lives. So if you were dreading taking a college statistics course, take heart: It might not only satisfy a requirement for your major but improve your reasoning as well! Social Psychology Elliot Aronson University of California, Santa Cruz Timothy D. Wilson University of Virginia Robin M. Akert Wellesley College slides prepared by Travis Langley Henderson State University 7th edition Copyright © 2010 Education. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2010 Education. All rights reserved. Priming is a good example of automatic thinking because it occurs quickly, unintentionally, and unconsciously. Copyright © 2010 Education. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2010 Education. All rights reserved. Adapted from Rosenthal & Jacobsen, 1968. Copyright © 2010 Education. All rights reserved. How Easily Does It Come to Mind? The Availability Heuristic  Copyright © 2010 Education. All rights reserved. Adapted from Schwartz et al., 1991. Social Psychology Elliot Aronson University of California, Santa Cruz Timothy D. Wilson University of Virginia Robin M. Akert Wellesley College slides prepared by Travis Langley Henderson State University 7th edition Social Psychology Elliot Aronson University of California, Santa Cruz Timothy D. Wilson University of Virginia Robin M. Akert Wellesley College slides prepared by Travis Langley Henderson State University 7th edition