Chapter 17 Soccog Basic

7/28/2019 Chapter 17 Soccog Basic

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Social Cognition

Chapter 17


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Social perception on the self


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Social psychology

how your behavior influence and is

influenced by others Self-concept beliefs we hold about

ourselves

Self-esteem value judgments we make

about ourselves


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Social comparisons

Temporal comparison how we are compared towho we used to be

Social comparison who we are when comparedto others

Downward social comparison

Upward social comparison

Reference groups group of people we seeourselves as belonging to

Relative deprivation no matter how much youget, it is always les than you deserve


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Social identity theory

Social identity our beliefs about the group

we belong to Us-versus-them mentality


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Self-schemas what we think of

ourselves

Eg. Women with appearance-oriented self-

schemas have lower self-esteem, dietmore, feel down after viewing pictures of

attractive women

Future self / possible self motivation to try

to do better in the future


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II. Social perception


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Role of schemas

We pay more attention to characteristicsabout others who fit our schema comparedto those who dont. we are faster atprocessing those information which areconsistent with our beliefs

Social schemas influence what weremember about others

Social schemas help us to fill in theblanks about people


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First impressions

We tend to believe that other people are

more similar to ourselves than differentfrom us in attitudes and values

Negative behaviors have more impact than

positive behaviors in shaping our first

impressions First impressions are quick to form but hard

to change


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Self-fulfilling prophecies

our first impression of people will lead them

to act in a way that fulfills that impression If we think someone is dull, we will act as

though she is dull, and she will indeed be dull.


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Attribution

Attribution explain causes of behavior

why did I/he/she do that?? External attributionits because of

something that happened outside of an

individual she has some family situations

Internal attributionits because of somethingthat happened inside an individualshes lazy


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Kelley (1973)

How I (observer) make attribution towards

others (actors). Eg. I want to invite Ralph todinner, but dad says no.


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Consensus does everyone think the same aswhat the actor (dad) thinks? Do other people think

that Ralph should not come to dinner as well? High consensus - If other people thinks the same as dad,

then I would attribute the reason to something thatsoutside/EXTERNAL to dad maybe Ralph is a badperson, so dad wont allow him to stay for dinner

Low consensus - If dad is the only person who thinks so,then I would attribute the reason to something thatsinside/INTERNAL to dadmaybe dad doesnt like Ralph

its not Ralphs problem

Kelley (1973)


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Distinctiveness does the actor act like

that toward other people? High distinctiveness no, dad only acts like

that towards Ralph dad is friendly to other

friends EXTERNAL reasons maybe Ralph

is a bad guy

Low distinctiveness yes, dad is always rude

to all my friends INTERNAL reasons dad is

a rude guy

Kelley (1973)


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Biases in attribution

Fundamental attribution error We tend

to OVERATTTRIBUTE BEHAVIOR OF OTHERS

TO INTERNAL FACTORS

If someone in the class fails this course, we are

likely to say well, hes lazy, not smart. Wereless likely to say, maybe he has some family

problems.


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Actor-observer bias We tend to

ATTRIBUTE OUR OWN BEHAVIOR TOEXTERNAL FACTORS

If Im late, its because of external reasons such

as our mom didnt wake us up, etc. If others are

late, theyre lazy


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Self-serving bias we take credit for

success, but when there is failure we blameexternal causes

Unrealistic optimism positive things are

more likely to happen to us, negative things

are more likely to happen to others


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III. Attitudes


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Attitude tendency to think, feel, and actpositively/negatively towards objects in our

environment

Thoughts what we think towards the

object Feelings what we felt towards the object

Behavior how we act towards the object

Not always in harmony


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Figure 17.2:

Three Components of an Attitude


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Thoughts/feelings will be consistent

with behavior if

When we see the object as somethingimportant

When we are not pressured by importantpeoples in our lives

When we believe our actions will have

impact/ we can do it When we have direct experience with the

attitude object


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Cognitive dissonance theory

Festinger (1957)

People want their attitude to be

consistent with their behavior

consistent with other peoples attitudes

If it is not the same, there is dissonancewell be

motivated to change our behavior/thinking so that

we become consistent again.

Smoking is dangerous + I smoke!!

Either change behavior (quit smoking) or change thinking

(nah, smoking is not SO dangerous)


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Return

Figure 17.3: The Elaboration

Likelihood Model of Attitude Change

(Cacioppo, Petty, & Crites, 1993).


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IV. Prejudice and stereotypes


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Prejudice

False assumptions you have about all

members of a group sharing same

characteristics

Prejudice positive or negative attitude

based on their membership in a group

Discrimination treat people who are fromdifferent groups differently


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Theories of prejudice

Motivational theories enhance personal sense of

security, meet certain personal needs

Cognitive theories Because there are so many

different types of people and behavior, we use our

shortcuts to understand the world group people

together to make it easier to understand them

Learning theories through experience, we formopinions about certain groups local news

coverage


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Reducing prejudice

Contact hypothesis if you have more

contact with members of a group, you have

less prejudice.

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Chapter 17 Soccog Basic