UNIT 13 MODULE 37 39 1 Unit 13 Psychology in Our Social Lives Module 37 Social Cognition Making Sense of Ourselves Perceiving Others Social psychology the scientific study of how we feel about think about and behave toward the other people around us and how those people influence our thoughts feelings and behavior Social psychology is our everyday interactions with people Social psychological questions include why we are often helpful to other people but at other times are unfriendly or aggressive why we sometimes conform to the behaviors of others but at other times we assert our independence and what factors help groups work together in effective and productive ways A fundamental principle of social psychology is that although we may not always be aware of it our cognitions emotions and behaviors are substantially influenced by the social situation Social situation the people with whom we are interacting Social cognition the part of human thinking that helps us understand and predict the behavior of ourselves and others Attitudes our enduring evaluations of people or things The social psychology of interpersonal relationships including the behaviors of altruism aggression and conformity Humans have a natural tendency to help each other but we may also become aggressive if we feel we are being threatened Social norms influence our behavior Social psychology of social groups with a particular focus on the conditions that limit and potentially increase productive group performance and decision making Social norms the accepted beliefs about what we do or what we should so in particulate social situations Many people might blame the tragedy on Sam herself Research conducted by social psychologists shows that the poor decisions Sam made may have been due less to her own personal weaknesses or deficits than to her desires to fit in with and be accepted by the others around her One important aspect of social cognition involves forming impressions of other people Making these judgments quickly and accurately helps us guide our behavior to interact appropriately Perceiving Others Our initial judgments of others are based on what we see The physical features of other people gender race age attractiveness are very salient and we focus our attention here Many people are strongly influenced by the physical attractiveness of others Physical attractiveness is the most important determinant of our initial liking for others Infants who are only a year old prefer to look at faces that adults consider to be attractive Evolutionary psychologists have argued that our belief that what is beautiful is also good may be because we use attractiveness as a cue for health common belief that attractive people are more friendly likable and fun to be around UNIT 13 MODULE 37 39 2 One indicator of health is youth People prefer people who have characteristics similar to those of babies These include large round and widely spaced eyes a small nose and chin prominent cheekbones and a large forehead People who have baby faces are seen as more attractive People are more attracted to faces that are more symmetrical and this may be due in part to the perception that people with symmetrical faces are healthier Although preferences for youthful symmetrical and average faces have been observed crossculturally and appear to be common human preferences different cultures may also have unique beliefs about what is attractive Forming Judgments on the Bases of Appearance Stereotyping tendency to attribute personality characteristics to people on the basis of their external appearance or their social group memberships Our stereotypes about attractive people lead us to see them as more dominant sexually warm mentally healthy intelligent and socially skilled Our stereotypes lead us to treat people differently We also regularly stereotype people on their gender race age religion and other characteristics and the stereotypes are frequently negative This is unfair because stereotypes are based on our preconceptions and negative emotional responses to members of the group Stereotyping is closely related to prejudice and discrimination Stereotyping prejudice and discrimination work together We may not vote for a gay person because of our negative stereotypes about gays and we may avoid people from other religions or those with mental illness because of our prejudices Prejudice attitude to dislike people because of their appearance or group memberships Discrimination negative behaviors toward others based on prejudice Some stereotypes may be accurate Attractive people are actually more sociable popular and less lonely Consistent with the stereotype that they are emotional women are more empathic and attuned to the emotions of others Group differences in personality traits may occur because people act toward others on the basis of their stereotypes This creates a self fulfilling prophecy Self fulfilling prophecy when our expectations about the personality characteristics lead us to behave in ways that make those beliefs come true Social psychologists believe that it is better to treat people as individuals rather than rely on our stereotypes and prejudices Many of our stereotypes and prejudices exert influence out of our awareness such that we do not even know that we are using them UNIT 13 MODULE 37 39 3 Implicit association test a measure of unconscious stereotyping We use our stereotypes and prejudices because they are easy if we can quickly size up people on the basis of their physical appearance that can save us a lot of time and effort Because our primitive ancestors needed to accurately separate members of their own kin group from those of others categorizing people into us in group and them out group was useful and necessary Social identity can be an important and beneficial part of our everyday experiences We may gain social identity as members of our university our sports teams our religious and racial groups and many other groups Social identity the positive emotions that we experience as a result of our group memberships The idea that people favor in groups over out groups because it enhances their self esteem The fact that we may use our stereotypes does not mean that we should use them Stereotypes prejudice and discrimination whether consciously or unconsciously make it difficult for some people to effectively contribute to society and may create both mental and physical health problems for them Stereotype threat