Chapter 5 - Social Cognition What is Social Cognition? Attributions: Why Did That Happen? Heuristics: Mental Shortcuts Errors and Biases Are People Really Idiots?

Social Cognition Carolyn Briggs - Christian Fundamentalism How can someone believe so intensely and then reject those same beliefs? How are our beliefs shaped by those around us? What are some cognitive biases and errors we make?

What is Social Cognition? Thinking about people –People first –Inner processes serve interpersonal functions Social acceptance, relationship formation and maintenance Competing against others for our goals

Thinking Three goals of thinking –Discover the right answer –Confirm the desired answer –Reach the answer quickly Cognitive miser –Reluctance to do much extra thinking

Elements of Automatic Thinking Intention – not guided by intention Control – not subject to deliberate control Effort – no effort required Efficiency – highly efficient

Knowledge Structures Schemas –Substantial information about a concept, its attributes, and its relationships to other concepts Scripts –Schemas about certain events

Priming and Framing Priming - activating a concept in the mind –Influences subsequent thinking –May trigger automatic processes Framing – presentation as positive or negative

Thought Suppression and Ironic Processes Two processes to suppress thought –Automatic – checks for incoming information related to unwanted thought –Controlled – redirects attention away from unwanted thought Relax conscious control and mind is flooded with cues from the automatic system

Food for Thought - It’s the Thought That Counts (or Doesn’t Count!) the Calories Dieters and nondieters will eat different amounts of food based on eating pattern –Milkshakes and ice cream (Herman & Mack, 1975) –Counterregulation Driven by cognition not bodily need

Attributions Causal explanations –Internal factors –External factors

Attributions: Explaining Success and Failure Two dimensions –Internal Stable - Ability –Internal Unstable – Effort –External Stable – Difficulty of task –External Unstable – Luck Self-serving bias

Actor/Observer Bias External – Internal Attribution –Actor (situation – external) –Observer (actor – internal) Fundamental Attribution Error Ultimate Attribution Error –Behavior freely chosen is more informative about a person (Jones & Harris, 1967)

Fundamental Attribution Error Four possible explanations –Behavior is more noticeable than situational factors –Insignificant weight is assigned to situational factors –People are cognitive misers –Richer trait-like language to explain behavior

Attribution Cube Covariation Principle –Consensus –Consistency –Distinctiveness

Attribution Cube and Excuses Excuses –Raise consensus – it happens to everyone –Lower consistency – it doesn’t usually happen to me –Raise distinctiveness – it doesn’t usually happen in other situations

Heuristics Representativeness Heuristic –Judge likelihood by the extent it resembles the typical case Availability Heuristic –Judge likelihood by ease with which relevant instances come to mind ESP beliefs

Heuristics Simulation Heuristic –Judge likelihood by ease with which you can imagine it Anchoring and Adjustment Heuristic –Judge likelihood by using a starting point and adjusting from that point

Cognitive Errors and Biases Information Overload –Too much information, contradictions in information, irrelevant information Generally access two types of information –Statistical information –Case History Generally pay closer attention to case history

Cognitive Errors and Biases Confirmation Bias –Tendency to notice and search for information that confirms one’s beliefs and ignore information that disconfirms it Conjunction Fallacy –Tendency to see an event as more likely as it becomes more specific

The Social Side of Sex Counting Sex Partners Men always report more previous sex partners than women Processes that account for biased answers –How people count Mental list (underestimate) or estimate (inflated numbers) –Shifting criteria What constitutes sex?

Cognitive Errors and Biases Illusory Correlation –Tendency to overestimate link between variables that are related only slightly or not at all –Hamilton & Gifford (1976)

Cognitive Errors and Biases Base Rate Fallacy –Tendency to ignore base rate information and be influenced by distinctive features of the case Gambler’s Fallacy –Tendency to believe that a chance event is affected by previous events and will “even out”

Cognitive Errors and Biases False Consensus Effect –Tendency to overestimate the number of other people who share one’s opinions False Uniqueness Effect –Tendency to underestimate the number of other people who share one’s prized characteristics or abilities

Cognitive Errors and Biases Statistical Regression –Statistical tendency for extremes to be followed by less extreme or those closer to average Illusion of Control –A false belief that one can influence events

Is Bad Stronger Than Good? Good News and Bad News People think more about bad things than good ones –Thinking is guided by search for explanations More concerned with explaining bad events than good events Bad news attracts more attention

Cognitive Errors and Biases Magical Thinking –Assumptions that don’t hold up to logical scrutiny Touching objects pass on properties to each other (contamination) Resemblance to something shares basic properties (contamination) Thoughts can influence physical world

Counterfactual Thinking Imagining alternatives to past or present factual events or circumstances –First instinct fallacy Upward counterfactuals – positive outcome –Help make future situations better Downward counterfactuals – negative outcome –Comfort it could have been worse

Are People Really Idiots? We make predictable errors –Cognitive misers –Heuristics are short cuts How serious are the errors –On trivial events – use heuristics and automatic processing –On important events – use conscious processing and make better decisions

Reducing Cognitive Errors Debiasing –Consider multiple alternative –Rely less on memory –Use explicit decision rules –Search for disconfirmatory information –Use meta-cognition

What Makes Us Human? Human thought uses and combines symbols Language allows for exploration of linkages of meaning Conscious mind is uniquely human –Complex patterns of thought

What Makes Us Human? Only humans engage in counterfactual thinking Human thought creates unique errors and unique capabilities to find the truth