PSYC 3100 1st Edition Lecture 3 Outline of Last Lecture I. Social Perception (Personology) II. Screw Ups: Getting it Wrong III. Why? Determinants can be complex and, thus, hard to discernIV. Why? We sometimes are uninformed (ignorant) as analysts V. Why? We sometimes think lightly when reflecting VI. Has been invoked to at least partially explain Correspondence Bias or Fundamental Attribution Error VII. Also has been invoked to explain an opposing bias for Actors to explain outcomes in situational termsOutline of Current Lecture I. Why?: We tend NOT to process information neutrally A. Cognitive B. MotivationalII. Cognitive Bias III. Role of Ambiguity IV. Motivational Bias V. Two Recall Effects Current LectureI. WHY?: We tend NOT to process information neutrally. Two Types of Bias:A. Cognitive (Expectation)B. Motivational (Affective)II. Cognitive Bias -We tend to have expectations when viewing and reflecting. These can have a dramatic influence on what we encode and recall.-There is evidence that expectancies can be non-conscious and that expectancy effects can be self-perpetuating.These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.-Most often, investigators study assimilation effects (“seeing” what we expect).-However, they also study contrast effects (exaggerations in the direction opposite to expectation). -Group expectations and what you expect about groups of people.-Individual -Influence what you see in real time and what you reflect in the past.III. Role Of Ambiguity -If reality is fuzzy, we tend to assimilate.-If reality is undeniably clear, then contrast can be expected.-Consider, for example, a case in which you expect a professor to be mean spirited. If the professor’s class behavior is “normal”, you might tend to perceive consistently with your expectation. However, if the professor’s behavior is undeniably kind, then you might see him or her as even nicer than those who started with no expectation. -There are two kinds of effects of Expectancy: -Assimilation: seeing what you expect to see-fuzzy -Contrast effect: They occur when you expect to see one thing but see something completely different.IV. Motivational Bias -We tend to want certain things to be true and others to be false. -Thus, for example, we may want to believe good things about our favorite political candidate and bad things about the opposition. Similarly, we may want to believe good things about ourselves or our loved ones (resulting in defensive attribution).-Process involved is uncertain. However, it is reasonable to assume we accept with little question desired information, but scrutinize carefully undesired information. The stronger the desire, the lower the acceptance threshold (what we want) and the more rigorous the scrutiny (what we do not want).-All this could very well happen outside of conscious awareness.-Presumably, this could not happen if reality were entirely clear. (However, only limited “wiggle room” is likely needed.) -Desire impacts perception the same way expectation does.-The more strength, the less you feel required to need desire while still getting the assimilation effect. The process of desire impacts belief.-Threshold of acceptance- If you are positive about your candidate there is a highthreshold referred evidence to accept the truth. If you are negative about your candidate then the threshold is lower.V. Two Recall Effects -Selective Memory (e.g., Fischoff)-Remembering the truth but not the whole truth; remembering some aspects but not all. -Reconstruction of the Past (e.g., Snyder & Uranowitz) -Believe something happened that never actually did. -Example: Someone claiming remembering of a time that you got lost in Wal-Mart and details about the situation. It never actually happened, but the more they talked about it, the more you “remembered” it