Page 504 515 Reading Notes 4 18 14 Psychology 1100 Chapter 13 Social Psychology Social psychology The study of the causes and consequences of sociality Humans can get sick or go crazy when left alone for long periods of time Social Behavior Interacting with People Most animals prefer solitude Being social is important for accomplishing two important goals Finding food Fending off enemies Being social is what makes humans such a dominant species Survival The Struggle for Resources To survive organisms need water food and shelter organisms need resources The fight for survival over scarce resources is a source of interaction Aggression Aggression Behavior whose purpose is to harm another Frustration aggression hypothesis Animals agrees when and only when their goals are frustrated Robber wants money goal teller has it locked in a safe frustration robber threatens to shoot teller aggression Feeling unpleasant can also lead to aggression On hot days it is easier to be irritated and uncomfortable thus more aggressive Biology and Aggression Males are far more aggressive than women Young men are more aggressive than older men Testosterone is believed to play a strong role in this aggression Men with unrealistically high self esteem are more prone to aggression About of murders can be classified as status competitions However women can be just as aggressive as men but their anger tends to be more premeditated than impulsive and more likely to be focused on attaining or protecting a resource than on attaining or protecting their status Women are extremely less likely to be aggressive without provocation but about only slightly less aggressive then provoked Culture and Aggression Overall the human race is becoming gentler and kinder as a whole However the geography of violence varies around the world as shown by this image below Even within nations there is a difference southern people are more likely to feel their status was diminished by an insult than a northern person in the U S Cooperation Cooperation Behavior by 2 people that leads to mutual benefit Almost all human achievements couldn t have been reached without cooperation Risk and Trust Trusting someone to cooperate is risky Below is an image of the prisoner s dilemma a perfect example as to this idea of risk and trust It is a game that people play but it is results are astonishing Two things you can do to minimize risk of cooperating 1 Spot a cheater 2 React strongly when you detect someone cheating Groups and Favoritism Group A collection of people who have something in common that distinguishes them from others Prejudice A positive or negative evaluation of another person based on their group membership Discrimination A positive or negative behavior towards another person based on their group membership People tend to do things that benefit their group However some costs of being in a group Members don t always capitalize on the expertise of their members More content to stay in harmony than challenge each other When people are being watched they tend to be honest and do the right thing Example Follow the honor system when being watched Some groups can be extremely violent One reason is deindividuation Deindividuation When immersion in a group causes people to become less concerned with their personal values o May not shoot someone when you are alone however might do it in a group because attention is no longer focused on you solely A second reason is diffusion of responsibility Diffusion of responsibility Individual s feel a diminished responsibility for their actions because they are surrounded by other who are acting the same Being excluded from a group actually triggers and area of the brain to be active that is associated with physical pain Altruism Altruism Behavior that benefits another without benefiting oneself However not many actions are very altruistic o Alarm calls from a squirrel may cost that squirrel its life but the offspring may survive its kin Kin selection The process by which evolution selects for individuals who cooperate with their relative Means cooperating with relatives isn t altruistic Reciprocal altruism Behavior that benefits another with the expectation that those benefits will be returned in the future Some human things are truly altruistic Anonymous donations Holding the door for someone They have no chance to pay you back Reproduction The Quest for Immortality Animals have two goals survive and reproduce Selectivity Women are choosier than men about their mates Women produce a small number of eggs and pregnancy produces physical change that change a woman s life during the pregnancy Women also have more reputational costs than men Men aren t as choosy because they have millions of sperm However for long term expensive relationships marriage come into play men become as choosy if not choosier than women Page 368 375 Reading Notes 4 19 14 Psychology 1100 Chapter 9 Language and Thought Decision Making Rational and Otherwise We use categories and concepts to guide the multitude of decisions we make every day The Rational Ideal Rational Choice Theory We make choices by determining how likely something is to happen judging the value of the outcome then multiplying the two Chance of getting 10 of 500 and a 20 chance of gaining 2 000 o Rational person would choose the second option because the payoff is 400 2000 x 20 the highest expected value The Irrational Reality Strength of human decision making can become a weakness when tasks inadvertently activate these skills The principles that make allow cognition to occur easily can become a problem in our decision making Judging Frequencies and Probabilities We are good at measuring frequency but typically poor in thinking of terms of probabilities the likelihood that something will happen The more information we have to take into account the more likely we are to mess up thinking in terms of probabilities Availability Bias Availability bias Items that are more readily available in memory are judged as having occurred more frequently Affects us because memory strength and frequency of occurrence are directly related o More likely to remember frequently occurring events that infrequent events Heuristics Fast and efficient strategies that may facilitate decision making but do not ensure that a solution will be reached Algorithm A well define series of procedures or rules that guarantees a solution to a Algorithm is the opposite of heuristics problem The