So what are we good at Our minds are great for solving social problems The human mind evolved to live in social groups we can t live or survive w o other people The Wason Selection Task is much much easier when framed in terms of a social contract The mind developed to understand social environments Understand social rules Not so adaptive to match vowels to even numbers Very helpful to enforce social rules e g underage drinking People are designed to survive and thrive in social environments Error Management Theory Even our errors are adaptive when assessed in a social context People avoid the more costly error Smoke detectors are calibrated to call things afire even when they aren t in order to avoid the most costly error Type 1 error you think something is present when it actually is not Type 2 error smoke alarm doesn t detect the fire but there actually is a fire A smoke alarm will almost never make a type 2 error bc its very costly since your avoiding the type 2 error you re more likely to make type 1 errors Imagine you re running in Tom Brown park you notice something in the leaves just off the trail in front of you Do you think it s a stick or a terrifying snake that might bite you and poison you to death After a few seconds we can identify it correctly but we have IMMEDIATE reactions that are governed by the error management theory In this situation Type 1 False Positive Play it safe Stop running Error cost end run look foolish Type 2 False Negative Side with skepticism Cost you keep running and might get bit in the face by a snake We re not trying to be accurate when detecting the snake we re just trying to avoid the worst potential cost this is the error management theory Used to explain why men quickly and often erroneously infer sexual interest from women e g smiling arm touching Type 1 Rejection or embarrassment Type 2 Missed chance to reproduce From an evolutionary perspective failing to reproduce is the most costly error i e rejection is less costly than failing to pass on your genes So what else are we good at Forming impressions of others In fact we can do so fairly quickly Ambady and collegues thin slices of behavior paradigm 6 sec video clips of teachers Rated teaching ability 6 seconds of information no sound led to accurate perceptions of teaching ability and the observer s rating matched the teacher s class ratings The Face of Success Rule and Ambady 2008 Took pictures of CEOs Participants rated o Leadership o Power Interestingly enough those perceived as more powerful and as better leaders ended up making more profits o i e quick impressions quite accurate of leaders actual abilities we re pretty good at judging broad personality characteristics but not how they would respond o Our drive for efficiency leads to heuristics attributions attentional biases etc to a specific situation Sooo how do people think We re not purely rational information processors While we re by no means perfect at it We re geared to process social information and rules We instinctively avoid the more costly error Surprisingly accurate with first impressions EMBODIES SOCIAL COGNITION Bodily states can influence cognition o Movements o Position posture o Expressions o Sensations Strack Martin Stepper 1988 o P s read comics o Held pencil with teeth or lips o Asked how funny the comic strip was The people holding it with their lips thought it was meh the people who were holding it with their teeth thought it hysterical Bodily states influence our cognitions Brinol Petty 2003 o P s heard argument for carrying personal identification cards o P s told to nod shake head while listening o Strong argument quality vs weak argument quality Mind and body are linked together mind is contained in the entire body not just the head Power is up subordination is down Digusting things are immoral Approach behavior study White p s categorized outgroup faces Used a joystick Toward approach Vs away avoid Vs side to side control Would linking outgroups with approach behaviors improve interracial attitudes Behavior can drive attitudes if we practice approaching things it will develop a more positive attitude toward something however if we practice avoid thi9ngs we will develop a negative attitude toward something Approach P s racial attitudes improved Alo looked at interactions with both ingroup and outgroup members o People trained to approach outgroup members e g sit closer were more friendly in interracial interactions According to a functional perspective on emotions love should motyivate behaviors that are heralthy for the relationship The process by which people confuse the source of their physiological arousal and interpret the wrong emotion is called Anger promotes attitudes that are negative towards outgroup members BEHAVIORS INFLUENCE ATTITUDES Cognitive dissonance theory o People want to be consistent within themselves o Cognitive dissonance tension that arises when one behaves inconsistently with one s attitudes o People are motivated to reduce the tension and inconsistency o This tension dissonance motivates changing one s attitude It s hard to take back behavior It s easier to change attitudes So experiencing cognitive dissonance often causes attitude change o Attitude can be changed immediately Cognitive Dissonance Study Manipulation Participants told they would write an essay either in favor of or against a raise in tuition o Experimenter gave the participant no choice had to write essay in favor or against o Experimenter told Ps they had a choice but it would be better if they chose to write in favor or against Participant signed a waiver saying that the topic was freely chosen WHY WHYWYWYWYWYYHHHHYYYYY Cognitive Dissonance Theory When does dissonance not change attitudes Zanna Cooper 1974 o P s took a pill Side effects were either 1 tenseness 2 relaxation or 3 no information o P s write an essay on banning certain speakers on campus i e limiting free speech people come in liking free speech High Choice Condition You don t have to do this Low Choice Condition You have to do this After behavior of writing down thoughts High choice Low choice High Choice Low Choice Tense 14 4 None 9 4 Relaxed 13 4 None group knows they feel the tenseness b c of the inconsistency so they change their attitude Tense group falsely attributes their tenseness to the pill and they feel they can t do anything about it They go into it feeling they should be relaxed and they feel SO much dissonance even though they
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