Psychology of Social Interaction - 3: Social Beliefs and Judgements

PSYC 3330

how does implicit reasoning come to be?

our brains hate stimuli we are unsure of, so we create reasonings and meanings to make sense of the world around us

• what we see is not truly objective, our mind influences our perceptions of the world

political parties, the president and oil prices/inflation

how your belief shapes perception

“can the president do more to lower oil prices/inflation?”

• if your party is in power → “no, they can’t do anything about it”

• if your party is not in power → “yes, they should do more”

in reality, the president cannot influence these things directly, but we make different reasonings to fit our worldview

how social beliefs influence our perception of events

• mood + implicit reasoning → judgement of events

• assumptions filter memories → perception and recall of events

• person/situation as the cause of events → explanation of events

• expectations shape event outcomes → expectation of events

judgement, perception, recall, explanation, and expectations

2 brain system

shapes our thinking and judgements

• system 1/automatic processing

• system 2/conscious processing

system 1/automatic processing

• fast, no effort

• always active

• intuitive

good for survival, takes up very little cognitive resources, and is quick

but encountering complex stimuli results in bias or misjudgments

system 2/conscious processing

• slow, effortful

• deliberate reasoning

• can be turned on/off when system 1 isn’t enough

logical, careful, rule-based

but tiring on cognitive resources, so people avoid it

priming

the brief activation of associations tied to memories

• memory is a web of associations, this is just awakening it for a moment

intuition

system 1 ability to understand something without deliberate analysis

• gut feelings, heuristics, impressions

limits of intuition/priming

subliminal stimuli cannot overhaul major cognitive processing/reasoning/decision-making

very short term influence

• limits:

  • must be paying attention

  • must immediately act on the prime

  • must be simple action

intuitive thinking

system 1 ability to unconsciously remember skills/conditioned dispositions (unlike system 2, which require conscious remembering of facts, experiences, etc)

powered by

• schemas → perceptions

• expertise → automatic problem solving using learned abilities

• snap judgments > chance for guessing

deja vu

system 1 intuition that alerts you when encountering a similar element from the past

overconfidence phenomenon

we overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs

we are more confident than accurate

• get things wrong, cut things too close

purpose of overconfidence

speak first, longer, and more factual-sounding → socially rewarded with leadership and mates

• people, even when knowing someone’s inaccuracy, are more likely to give someone over confident higher status/ranking

• seen as more desirable

dunning-kruger effect

cognitive bias

competence and confidence are inverse

• low ability/knowledge → unaware of gaps → overconfident

• high ability/knowledge → aware of gaps → underconfident

confirmation bias

we search for information to confirm preconceptions and not information that disproves it

• media consumption, avoidance of counterarguments, personal health

• except for marketing when checking reviews

how to get rid of confirmation bias

• immediate feedback

  • reality check gaps between confidence and performance

  • illusion of fluency

• ask for reasons why they might be wrong

  • consider opposing information

  • probabilities thinking > absolute thinking

illusion of fluency (how to get rid of confirmation bias)

thinking familiarity = fluency

familiarity does not always predict accuracy

you can see it but not understand something

heuristics

cognitive shortcuts to make quick, efficient judgements