1. LECTURE 3 SOCIAL & SELF-PERCEPTIONS Chapters 4 and 5
Administration
Perceptions of Others
Break
Perceptions of Ourselves
Next Class

2. Questions?

3. First Exam Do not be late Bring photo ID and Student ID
Bring a pencil and eraser
This exam will consist of approximately 70 multiple choice and 3 short answer questions
Check out textbook website (my psychlab) for multiple choice practice questions
2.5 hours
Contact Caroline Erentzen with any questions

4. Example Multiple Choice Question
1) Which of the following people are demonstrating the fundamental attribution error?
a. Tim, who points to a person who fell down and says, “What a clumsy oaf!”
b. Sophie, who explains her poor exam performance by pointing out how hard the questions were.
c. Don, who attributes his loss in a chess game to bad luck.
d. Alex, who explains his girlfriend's tears by saying, “She didn't get enough sleep last night.”
e. Beatriz, who points to an erratic driver and says, “Look at that! The roads are slick tonight.”

5. Example Short Answer Question
2) Define the term self-fulfilling prophecy and provide one example of how this process might work with regard to teenage drinking. How is this process related to schemas? (5 marks)
a) define
We have expectations about other people.
These expectations can influence how we act toward these people.
These actions can cause these people to act in ways that are consistent with our expectations.
b) Teenage drinking example
c) How related to schemas
*** note that there are 3 sections to this question

6. Perceptions of Others
Question: How do we come to know and understand our social world?
Answer: We perceive others?
We watch their actions, gestures, facial expressions, and we listen to them. We try to understand them and why they act and feel and think the way they do. *

7. Attribution Theory
Is the study of how we infer the causes of other people’s behavior.
Heider (1958)
Internal attribution (disposition) – a person’s behavior was caused by something internal, such as his/her attitudes, character, or personality
External attribution (situation) – a person’s behavior was caused by something external, such as the situation; assume that most other people in that same situation would behave similarly *

8. Attribution Theory
How do people decide if another person’s behavior (B) was primarily caused by the situation (S) or his/her disposition (D)?
Lewinian Equation:
B = S + D
A person’s behavior is a joint function of the situation the person is in and the person’s unique predispositions to act.
D = B – S
To know whether a person has a disposition to behave in a certain way we need to observe the behavior and “subtract out” the effect of the situation. *

9. Discounting Principle
D = B – S
We should not assume that D has an effect when B = S.
When we try to estimate a person’s disposition, the behavior should be discounted or ignored when it is precisely the type of behavior that the situation demands.
The behavior is nondiagnostic – it tells us nothing about the person’s unique disposition and enduring tendencies to behave in a certain way.
e.g., Car with fan

10. Fundamental Attribution Error
(also know as the Correspondence Bias)
i.e., We are not very good at following the discounting principle.
We overestimate the extent to which other people’s behavior is due to internal, dispositional factors and we underestimate the role of situational factors
Behavior, we often believe, corresponds to disposition.

11. Fundamental Attribution Error
Jones and Harris (1967)
Participants watch debaters argue pro-Castro or anti-Castro issues. They are told that the debaters was either given a choice on which side to debate or no choice. (2 independent variables)
What is the debater’s real attitude? How Pro-Castro is the debater? (dependent variable)

12. Causes of Correspondence Bias
1) We want dispositions (estimate of D)
It gives us a sense of control
2) We misunderstand situations (estimate of S)
We don’t realize the constraints of the situation. We underestimate the capacity of the situation to alter behaviour
Role of perceptual salience
3) We misperceive behavior (estimate of B)
It is sometimes difficult to estimate B
4) We fail to use information
The situation is the first automatic attribution and then only after disposition.

13. Three Stage Model of Attribution
Automatic dispositional
inference
Effortful situational
correction
Identification
of Behavior
When can we/can’t we do the 3rd phase?

14. Three Stage Model of Attribution Gilbert, Pelham, & Krull (1988)
ideal vacation, fashion trends
hidden secrets, their sex lives
Half of the participants cognitively busy and half not cognitively busy.
How dispositionally anxious is this women?

15. Three Stage Model of Attribution Gilbert, Pelham, & Krull (1988)

16. Three Stage Model of Attribution
Automatic dispositional
inference
Effortful situational
correction
Identification
of Behavior

17. Actor/Observer Differences
Observer Attributions (perceptions of other’s behavior)
We tend to attribute other people’s behavior to internal reasons and assume their behavior is caused by their disposition.
Actor Attributions (perceptions of own behavior)
We tend to attribute our own behavior to external reasons and assume that our behavior is caused by the situation.

18. Why are Actor Attributions Different?
1) We want to see ourselves as flexible – and that we can change according to the demands of the situation (estimate of D)
We also use our estimate of D in a self-serving way.*
2) We understand situations better (estimate of S)
We realize that situations can constrain our behavior. We know our behavior differs in different situations and not due only to our disposition.
Role of perceptual salience
3) We fail to use information
The situation is the first automatic attribution and then only after disposition.

19. Self-Attributions ATTRIBUTION Automatic situational inference
Effortful dispositional
correction
Identification
of behavior

20. Knowledge about Others How accurate are we at understanding others?
We are often not accurate because of the following biases:
The fundamental attribution error
The actor/observer difference
The defensive (self-serving) attributions
Vs.
We can be surprisingly accurate in our assessment of personalities from thin slices of information (a brief glimpse of others).

21. Questions?

22. Perceptions of Ourselves
Self-Concept – Who am I?
Self-Knowledge – Do I know myself?
Liking vs. Knowing the Self
Social Self – Interacting with others
Cultural Self – How culture impacts the self

23. Self-Concept: Who am I? I am _________________________

24. Who am I?
Self-Concept: the content of the self; our knowledge about who we are
Self-Schemas: beliefs about the self that organize and guide the processing of self-relevant information. They are elements of the self-concept
Self-Awareness: the act of thinking about ourselves

25. Self-Knowledge: Do We Know Ourselves?
Intuitions/introspection about the self
Predicting our feelings –- affective forecasting
Predicting our own behaviors

26. Introspection
Do we know ourselves any better than other people know us?
The process whereby people look inward and examine their own thoughts, feelings, and motives.
Nisbett and Wilson (1977) suggest that we can’t look inside and know why we do something or how we reached a certain decision.
The reasons that we often provide for thoughts and feelings may be wrong and based on common naive theories related to these experiences.

27. Predicting Our Own Feelings
Affective Forecasting
How would you feel if:
you failed this course?
you won the lottery?
you lost your arm?
you became a mother/father for the first time?

28. Imagine …..
(forecasters)
vs.
Actually Happens ….
(experiencers)

29. Predicting Our Own Feelings
Affective Forecasting
People often mispredict how they will be emotionally influenced by events.
Problems with intensity
Problems with duration
Explanations
a) focus
b) psychological immune system
Strategies for rationalizing, discounting, forgiving, and limiting emotional trauma

30. Predicting Our Own Behaviors
Behavioral Forecasting
TED Talk: Dan Gilbert (2004)

31. The Social Self Social Comparison Theory
We learn about our own abilities and attitudes by comparing ourselves to other people.
We compare ourselves with others who are similar on important attributes or dimensions
We compare ourselves to others when there is no objective standard.
Downward Social Comparisons can make us feel better
Upward Social Comparisons can make us feel worse or they inspire us (sometimes…)

32. Social Identities
Social identities are the part of our answer to “Who am I” that comes from our group memberships.”
Race, Age, Sex, Job, SES, Height, Weight, Attractiveness, Nationality, Intelligence -
These are just some of the social categories that we belong to and for which we have relevant social identities.
Which is more important our personal or our social identity?

33. The Cultural Self Culture
The enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a large group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next.
The self is determined in part by the culture that we live in.

34. Who am I? I am _________________________

35. Who am I? A North American would likely answer: I am tall.
I am good at sports.
I am outgoing.
An Asian would likely answer:
I am a Kawakami.
I am a Buddhist.
I am my father’s daughter.

36. North American vs. Japanese Culture
Collectivistic
Interdependence
Context Dependent
Holistic Reasoning
External Attributions
Individualistic
Independence
Context Independent
Analytic Reasoning
Internal Attributions

37. North American/Western Cultures
Individualism
Promote the concept of giving priority to one’s own goals over group goals and defining one’s identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications.
Individual traits and goals
Personal achievement and rights
Reject Conformity
For example, I am a good student, I am smart, I am good at basketball.
A great example is the novel The Giver.

38. North American/Western Cultures
mother
father
Independent Selves
Self-schema in which others are
not represented as part of the self
Context Independent
Attend to focal object and not gestalt
Analytic Reasoning
Emphasis is on the proper use of rules and that contradictory statements cannot be true
Internal Attributions
Assume behavior of others correspond to their traits
Self
friend
sibling

39. Cultural Attributions
He is the leader. He is a strong swimmer. (Western)
The other fish are chasing him. (Asian)

40. Eastern Cultures Collectivism
Promote the concept of giving priority to the goals of one’s group (often one’s extended family or work group) and defining one’s identity accordingly.
(Not only Asian cultures but also African and South American cultures)
Connections with others
Group goals and solidarity
Reject Egotism
For example, I am a sister, I am Jill’s friend

41. Eastern Cultures Interdependent Selves Self-schema in which others are
represented as part of the self.
Context Dependent
Attend to surroundings and gestalt
Holistic Reasoning
Emphasis is on considering all possible influences and balancing competing forces
External Attributions
Assume behavior of others correspond to the situation more than people from a Western culture
father
mother
Self
friend
sibling

42. Cultural Attributions
The other fish are swimming too fast. The other fish don’t like him.
(Asian)
He is slow. He is guarding the rest. (Western)

43. Questions?

44. Next Classes Class 4: January 28th – no class
Class 5: February 4th - First In-Class Exam
Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5
*** Please be on time

45. Next Classes Class 6: February 11th -Attitudes Reading material:
Chapter 6: Attitudes and Attitude Change: Influencing Thoughts, Feelings, and Behavior, pp
Do Web demonstrations of the IAT –

46. Web demonstrations of the IAT The Implicit Association Test
Do this task before you come to class
Go to the website
Select United States
Follow instructions
Do at least 2 tests and make sure one of them is the Race IAT
Write down which tests you did and your results for each test