Chapter 5 Social Cognition Social Cognition environment o The process by which people think about and makes sense of social o People are NOT rational unbiased information processors Being rational requires costly high order cognitive processes o People are biased capacity Attribution Motivated Self enhancement vs Unmotivated limited processing o The process of explaining why a person engaged in a certain behavior Internal Personality mood ability etc vs External situational Stable vs Unstable Ex Do you expect the person to behave the way consistently o People are especially likely to generate attributions for unexpected behavior Actor Observer Bias be late to class Fundamental Attribution Error o The tendency to make internal attributions for others behaviors but external attributions for one s own behaviors EX Since you re driving too slow so I cut you off because I am going to o The tendency to make internal attributions for other people s behavior even when plausible situational explanations exist Subtype of the actor observer bias o The Castro Speech Experiment Participants read pro Castro vs anti Castro essays some told that the people chose what kind of essay to write others told that people were assigned what kind of essay to write DV How pro Castro was the essay writer o Kelly s Covariation Model others behavior depends on Whether we will make internal attributions for Consistency Distinctiveness Consensus External Attribution likely if high consistency high distinctiveness high consensus o EX She always throws coffee at Joes face Internal Attribution likely if high consistency low distinctiveness low consensus o EX Always throws every face always throws coffee at his face no one else throws coffee at him o REFER TO TEXTBOOK o Self Serving Attribution Bias People s tendency to make internal attributions for their own success and external attributions for their own failure We like to think that success own personal talent and that failure other people s problem Ex Every possible use for a brick o Some were told they scored well and others scored bad o Then asked a question How much do you think that your contribution related to the good bad score Good I had all the ideas Interal Bad It was my partner s fault External 2 o Heuristics Mental Shortcut General Rule that is usually correct Heuristics allow for quick answers but they lead us astray o Representative Heuristic certain population Judging the likelihood of something based on how well it matches a EX Linda is 31 years old single outspoken and very bright She majored in philosophy As a student she was deeply concerned with issues of discrimination and social justice and also participated in anti war demonstrations Which is more probable o A Linda is a Bank Teller o B Linda is a Bank Teller who is active in the feminist movement Usually an efficient and fairly accurate heuristic Conjunction Rule the probability of the conjunction of two events cannot be larger than the probability of either of its constituent events Ex Rudy is a bit on the peculiar side He has unusual tastes in movies and art he is married to a performer and he has several tattoos In his spare time Rudy takes yoga and likes to collect old records He is an outgoing and energetic person he s been known to act on a dare What most likely is Rudy s occupation o A Train Conductor o B Librarian o C Trapeze Artist o D Surgeon o E Lawyer 3 When we focus on whether a description is representative of a category s members we often ignore useful base rate information I E we commit base rate neglect o Rudy is LEAST likely to be a trapeze artist o Rudy is MOST likely to be a Lawyer o Availability Heuristic Judging things based on information currently available in memory Influenced by recent events Influenced by vivid cases o EX Fear of sharks Judging the likelihood or frequency of an event based on how easily o Simulation you can imagine it o Priming o Embodied Cognition Planting or activating an idea in someone s mind Thinking is influenced by aspects of the body Ex Interpersonal warmth also power posing 4
View Full Document
Unlocking...