1. Social Psychology PSY450 Instructor: Briana (Seay) Harvey
Welcome!
Social Psychology
PSY450
Instructor: Briana (Seay) Harvey

2. Outline What is Social Cognition? Attributions Why Did That Happen?
Mental errors

3. What is Social Cognition?
Thinking about people and social relationships
Inner processes serve interpersonal functions
Social acceptance, relationship formation and maintenance
Competing against others for our goals

4. Why people think, and why they don’t
Cognitive Miser: term used to describe people’s reluctance to do much thinking

5. Knowledge Structure
Organized packet of information stored in the memory
Automatic thinking
When a set of related concepts is brought to mind, eventually thinking of one part of the set activates the other related concepts
Schemas & Scripts

6. Knowledge Structures
Schemas: represent substantial information about a concept, its attributes, and its relationships to other concepts
Basic, quick knowledge of a concept
Helps us organize and interpret information
Example:
Dancing: rhythm, movement, coordination
Dog: fur, ears, tail, 4 legs...

7. Knowledge Structures Scripts: define situations and guide behavior
Info about how people behave in varying circumstances
Learned from experience or observation of others
Example:
Grocery shopping:
Getting cart
Pick items
Waiting in line
Stranger bags your items

8. Interpreting Knowledge....
We do not always know the truth about why we think the way we do…
How information is presented will greatly affect how it is interpreted.

9. Think of a Fruit.

10. Priming!

11. Priming Priming: planning or activating an idea in someone’s mind
Influences subsequent thinking
May trigger automatic processes

12. Priming

13. Framing
Framing: whether messages stress potential gains (positively framed) or potential losses (negatively framed)
Politicians call it “spin”
Would you like a hamburger that is 10% fat or 90% lean?

14. Framing Gain-framed appeal
“Brush you teeth for beautiful, healthy smile!”
Loss-framed appeal
“If you don’t brush your teeth, you’ll get cavities!”

15. Thought Suppression Two processes to suppress thought
Automatic thought suppression
Checks for incoming information related to unwanted thought
Controlled thought suppression
Redirects attention away from unwanted thought

16. Think of anything BUT a white bear…
Thought Suppression
For the next 5 seconds...
Think of anything BUT a white bear…

17. Did it work?...

18. It’s the Thought That Counts (or Doesn‘t Count!) the Calories
Dieters and non-dieters will eat different amounts of food based on eating pattern
Milkshakes and ice cream (Herman & Mack, 1975)
Counterregulation: “What the heck” effect…
When people indulge in a behavior they are trying to regulate after an initial failure

19. Figure 5.6 Nondieters who had had a milkshake ate less ice cream; dieters who had had milkshakes ate more ice cream!

20. Exercise List a course you did well in List 5 reasons why
List a course you have done your worst in

21. Attributions: Explaining Success and Failure
Two-dimensional attribution theory
Internal/External
Stable/Unstable
Self-serving bias: Tendency to take credit for success but deny blame for failure
Like self-handicapping!

23. The Actor/Observer Bias
Tendency for actors to make external attributions and observers to make internal attributions
External vs. Internal Attribution
If it is you:
Actor (situation – external)
If it is someone else:
Observer (actor – internal)

24. Fundamental Attribution Error
Explain someone's behavior based on their internal attributes, not the external attributes (situation)
Related to the actor/observer bias

25. Example Jones & Harris (1967)
Participants assigned to read an essay either supporting or against Fidel Castro(communist leader of Cuba)
Half the participants were told the essay view was assigned (Must write supporting Castro)
Half the participants were told the essay writer chose their own view
Then asked to estimate the student’s true attitude

26. Even though participants were told the students didn't’ have an option they still attributed the true belief to being Pro Castro

27. Attributions
Attributions: casual explanations people give for their own and other’s behaviors, and for events in general
Can be external or internal

28. Video
fundamental-attribution-error-its-situation-not-person

29. Ultimate Attribution Error
Ultimate Attribution Error: Make an internal attribution error to a WHOLE group of people

30. Fundamental Attribution Error
Possible explanations
Behavior is more noticeable than situational factors
People assign insufficient weight to situational causes even when aware of them
People are cognitive misers
Richer trait-like language to explain behavior

31. Basically….
We judge others by their actions but judge ourselves by our intentions

32. Attribution Error and Making Excuses
Covariation Principle: For something to be the “cause” of a behavior it must be present when behavior occurs, and absent when it doesn’t

33. Attribution Error and Making Excuses
Three factors in Covariation Principle
(Attribution cube):
Consensus
Would other people do the same thing in that situation?
Consistency
Does this person always behave in this way?
Distinctiveness
Would they behave differently in a different situation?

34. People generally make an external attribution when consensus, consistency, and distinctiveness are all high
People generally make an internal attribution when consistency is high, but consensus and distinctiveness are low
Other combinations lead to ambiguous attributions

35. Top is an INTERNAL attribution
Bottom is an external attribution

37. Attribution Error and Making Excuses
In making excuses for others’ behavior:
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”
Example: a friend not saying “hi” in the hallway

38. Errors and Biases Information overload
Too much information to comprehend or integrate
More likely to make mental errors
The automatic system helps people deal with this overload

39. Errors and Biases Statistical information
Generally access two types of information:
Statistical information
What the “Population” thinks/feels/likes
Case history
What my friends and I think/feel/like
Generally pay closer attention to case history

40. Errors and Biases Confirmation Bias
Tendency to notice and search for information that confirms one’s beliefs and ignore information that disconfirms it

41. Errors and Biases Illusory Correlation
Tendency to overestimate link between variables that are related only slightly or not at all

42. Illusory Correlation Superstitions Stereotyping Placebo effect
It always rains after you wash the car
The phone always rings when you are in the shower
Librarians are quiet
Doctors are wealthy

43. Errors and Biases Base Rate Fallacy
Tendency to ignore base rate information and be influenced by distinctive features of the case
Examples:
“Hot Hand”
Luck will continue
Gambler’s Fallacy
Bad luck will “even out”; will win next time....

44. Base Rate Fallacy I flip a coin 10 times.
Flips 1-9 are heads; what will flip 10 be?
a. Heads
b. Tails
c. Could be either
Hot Hand: a
Gambler’s fallacy: b
Real Answer: c

45. Errors and Biases False Consensus Effect
Tendency to overestimate the number of other people who share one’s opinions, attitudes, values, and beliefs

46. False Consensus Effect
This may be because our friends and people we spend time with are like us
Use the Availability Heuristic to deduce that many other people are similar (our own beliefs, etc. are also very available)
Experiment:
Wear this sandwich board advertisement?
(Ross, Amabile, & Steinmetz,1977)

47. Errors and Biases False Uniqueness Effect
Tendency to underestimate the number of other people who share one’s prized characteristics or abilities
For example:
Exercise, Yoga,
religious beliefs etc..

48. False effects
People overestimate consensus when it comes to their undesirable characteristics (false consensus)
People underestimate consensus when it comes to their desirable characteristics (false uniqueness)
Unique in ability, common in belief

49. Errors and Biases Statistical Regression
Statistical tendency for extremes to be followed by less extreme or those closer to average
VS.

50. Errors and Biases Illusion of Control
A false belief that one can influence events, especially random or chance ones
For example
Gamblers roll hard for high numbers, rolls soft for small numbers

51. Errors and Biases Counterfactual Thinking
Imagining alternatives to past or present events or circumstances
Example: First Instinct Fallacy:
Think that your first response to a question is “instinctually” correct, even after doubt of choice

52. Errors and Biases Upward counterfactuals – imagining positive outcome
Help make future situations better
“what if I studied for that test better…”
Downward counterfactuals – imagining negative outcome
Comfort it could have been worse
“what if I was also sick to my stomach while taking the test…”

53. Too much information... Shortcuts = Heuristics
Our daily lives are overflowing with old and new information to process.
In order to think quickly, we use our automatic processes, and our minds take shortcuts.
Often lead to error
Shortcuts = Heuristics

54. Heuristics = Mental Shortcuts
Representativeness Heuristic
Judge likelihood of uncertain event based on how much it resemble the typical case
Example:
vs.
People tend to ignore other factors that influence actual frequencies and likelihoods

55. Representativeness Heuristic
Mike is a 41 year old man who like to read non-fiction books, listens to National Public Radio and plays tennis in his spare time. Which is more likely? a. Mike is an Ivy League professor b. Mike is a truck driver Rely on representativeness vs. Rely on statistics

56. Heuristics = Mental Shortcuts
Availability Heuristic
Judge likelihood of event by the ease with which relevant instances come to mind
Biased toward vivid, unusual, or emotionally charged examples
Example:
After “Jaws” movie came out, people were too scared to swim in ocean.

57. Availability Heuristic
Consider these pairs of causes of death:
Lung Cancer vs. Motor Vehicle Accidents
Emphysema vs. Homicide
Tuberculosis vs. Fire and Flames
From each pair, choose the one you think causes more deaths in the US each year.

59. Heuristics = Mental Shortcuts
Simulation Heuristic
Judge likelihood of event based on how easy you can imagine it
Example:
Kim and Ryan, two separate flights
Driving to airport, stuck in traffic for 40 minutes
BOTH missed their flights
Kim learns that her flight left on time
Ryan learns his flight was delayed 30 minutes
Who is more upset?

60. Who is the Silver medalist?

61. Heuristics = Mental Shortcuts
Anchoring and Adjustment Heuristic
Judge likelihood of event by using a starting point (anchor) and adjusting from that point
Example: What % of United Nations is made of African nations?
Spin wheel
Rigged to stop on 10 or 65

62. Anchoring and Adjustment Heuristic
Average answers
For participants who rolled a 10: 25%
For participants who rolled a 65: 45%
Should have made similar estimates but instead both groups stayed close to their random anchor!

63. Are people really idiots?
People are cognitive misers
Use “Psycho-logic” instead of logic
Rely on automatic system and use heuristics
HOWEVER:
Errors are not that bad however
Most corrected over time, socially
People tend to use conscious system when making important decisions

64. Reducing Cognitive Errors
Debiasing thoughts:
USE Controlled Processing (conscious reasoning)
Consider multiple alternative
Rely less on memory
Use explicit decision rules
Use meta-cognition (thinking about thinking)