10. Social Thinking (10%)

Golden Ratio

Social Behavior

Humans are attracted to individuals with body proportions approximating 1.618:1.

Relates to innate human preferences for beauty, harmony, and balance, suggesting we find proportions matching it—found in nature and art (like faces, shells)—inherently pleasing, triggering subconscious comfort and familiarity

Self-Disclosure

Social Behavior

The sharing of one’s fears, thoughts, and goals with another person and being met with non-judgmental empathy

A component of attraction

Reciprocal Liking

Social Behavior

The phenomenon whereby people are usually attracted to people who like them back.

Mere Exposure Effect (aka Familiarity Effect)

Social Behavior

The tendency for people to prefer stimuli to which they have already been exposed to more frequently

amygdala

Social Behavior

The part of the brain responsible for telling us whether or not something is a threat

If activated, this increases aggression

Cognitive Neoassociation Model

Social Behavior

Model stating that we are most likely to respond aggressively to others when we are feeling negative emotions, such as being tired, sick, frustrated, or in pain

Attachment

Social Behavior

An emotional bond between a caregiver and a child that beings to develop during infancy

Secure Attachment

Social Behavior - Secure vs. Avoidant vs. Ambivalent vs. Disorganized Attachment

Attachment style seen when a child has a consistent caregiver and is able to go out an explore, knowing that they have a base to return to

The child will be upset at the departure of the caregiver and will be comforted by the return of the caregiver

Avoidant Attachment

Social Behavior - Secure vs. Avoidant vs. Ambivalent vs. Disorganized Attachment

Attachment style that results when a caregiver has little to no response to a distressed child

Given the choice, these children will show no preference between a stranger and the caregiver

They show little or no distress when the caregiver leaves and little or no relief when the caregiver returns

Ambivalent Attachment

Social Behavior - Secure vs. Avoidant vs. Ambivalent vs. Disorganized Attachment

Attachment style that occurs when a caregiver sometimes responds appropriately to a distressed child, but also sometimes responds neglectfully

The child will be very distressed on separation from the caregiver but has a mixed response when the caregiver returns

The child is always anxious about the reliability of the caregiver

Disorganized Attachment

Social Behavior - Secure vs. Avoidant vs. Ambivalent vs. Disorganized Attachment

Attachment style wherein children show no clear pattern of behavior in response to the caregiver's absence or presence

Often associated with erratic behavior and social withdrawal by the caregiver

May also be a red flag for abuse

Social Support

Social Behavior

The perception or reality that one is cared for by a social network

Can be divided into many different categories such as emotional, esteem, material, informational, and network

Hypothalamus

Social Behavior

The part of the brain that controls hunger and drives the biological part of foraging.

Mating System

Social Behavior

Describes the organization of a group's sexual behavior.

Mate Choice (aka Intersexual Selection)

Social Behavior

The selection of a mate based on attraction.

Mate Bias

Social Behavior

Describes how selective an individual is when choosing a mate

An evolutionary mechanism aimed at increasing the fitness of the species

May carry direct or indirect benefits

Direct Benefits

Social Behavior - Direct vs. Indirect Benefits

Benefits carried by mate bias that include providing material advantages, emotional support, or protection.

Indirect Benefits

Social Behavior - Direct vs. Indirect Benefits

Benefits provided by mate bias that include promoting better survival of offspring.

Phenotypic Benefits

Social Behavior - The 5 Mechanisms of Mate Choice

Observable traits that make a potential mate more attractive to the opposite sex

Usually these traits indicate increased production and survival of offspring

EX: choosing a male with a good nest

Sensory Bias

Social Behavior - The 5 Mechanisms of Mate Choice

The development of a trait to match a preexisting preference in the population.

EX: liking red berries leads to liking red males

Fisherian/Runaway Selection

Social Behavior - The 5 Mechanisms of Mate Choice

How a particular trait with no negative effect on survival becomes more and more exaggerated over time

In this model, a trait is deemed sexually desirable and thus is more likely to be passed on

A positive feedback loop where a preference for a trait (like long tails) and the trait itself become genetically linked

Females prefer it, males with it survive to mate, and the trait/preference rapidly escalates, even if it harms survival (e.g., peacock's tail).

Indicator Traits

Social Behavior - The 5 Mechanisms of Mate Choice

Females choose males with costly, elaborate traits (like bright feathers or large antlers) that signal underlying genetic quality, health, and vigor, ensuring good genes for offspring.

Notably, these traits may or may not be genetic in origin

Genetic Compatibility

Social Behavior - The 5 Mechanisms of Mate Choice

The creation of mate pairs that, when combined, have complementary genetics

Provides a mechanism for the reduced frequency of recessive genetic disorders in the population

Altruism

Social Behavior

A form of helping behavior in which the person's intent is to benefit someone else at some cost to themselves.

Empathy

Social Behavior

The ability to vicariously experience the emotions of another.

Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis

Social Behavior

Hypothesis stating that one individual helps another person when feeling empathy for the other person, regardless of the cost

Game Theory

Social Behavior

Theory attempting to explain decision-making behavior.

A game is defined by the players, information, and actions available to each player at the time of decision, and the payoffs associated with each outcome.

Evolutionary Stable Strategy (ESS)

Social Behavior

Strategy that when adopted by a given population in a specific environment, natural selection will prevent alternative strategies from arising.

The strategies are thus inherited traits passed along with the population, with the object of the game being becoming more fit than competitors.

Hawk-Dove Game

Social Behavior

A game that represents pure competition between individuals

Focuses on access to shared food resources, with 3 potential outcomes based on both the value of the reward and the cost of fighting

Hawk

Social Behavior - Hawk vs. Dove

Exhibits a fighter strategy, displaying aggression and fighting until he wins or is injured.

Dove

Social Behavior - Hawk vs. Dove

Exhibits a fight avoidance strategy, displaying aggression at first but retreating if the fight escalates.

Hawk-Hawk

Social Behavior - Hawk-Hawk vs. Hawk-Dove vs. Dove-Dove

Hawk-Dove Game outcome where one wins and one loses.

Hawk-Dove

Social Behavior - Hawk-Hawk vs. Hawk-Dove vs. Dove-Dove

Hawk-Dove Game outcome where the hawk will definitely win.

Dove-Dove

Social Behavior - Hawk-Hawk vs. Hawk-Dove vs. Dove-Dove

Hawk-Dove Game outcome where they will share the food resources.

Inclusive Fitness

Social Behavior

A measure of an organism's success in the population

Based on the number of offspring, success in supporting offspring, and the ability of the offspring to then support others

Social Perception (aka Social Cognition)

Social Perception & Behavior

How we form impressions about the characteristics of individuals and groups of people

Provides the tools to make judgments and impressions regarding other people

Perceiver, Target, Situation

Social Perception & Behavior

3 components of social perception.

Perceiver

Social Perception & Behavior - Perceiver vs. Target vs. Situation

The component of social perception that is influenced by experience, motives, and emotional state.

Target

Social Perception & Behavior - Perceiver vs. Target vs. Situation

The component of social perception that refers to the person about which the perception is made.

Situation

Social Perception & Behavior - Perceiver vs. Target vs. Situation

The component of social perception associated with how the social context can determine what information is available to the perceiver.

Primacy Effect

Social Perception & Behavior - Primacy vs. Recency Effect

The idea that our first impression is the most important impression.

Recency Effect

Social Perception & Behavior - Primacy vs. Recency Effect

The idea that our most recent experience with an individual is the most important impression.

Reliance on Central Traits

Social Perception & Behavior

The idea where individuals tend to organize the perception of others based on traits and personal characteristics of the target that are most relevant to the perceiver.

Implicit Personality Theory

Social Perception & Behavior

The category that we place others in during impression formation is reliant on this.

Theory stating that there are sets of assumptions people make about how different types of people, their traits, and their behavior are related.

Halo Effect

Social Perception & Behavior

A cognitive bias in which judgments about a specific aspect of an individual can be affected by one's overall impression of the individual

It is the tendency to allow a general impression about a person to influence other, more specific evaluations about a person

Explains why people are often inaccurate when evaluating people that they either believe to be generally good or those that they believe to be generally bad

Can be produced by an individual’s attractiveness

Just-World Hypothesis

Social Perception & Behavior

Cognitive bias during impression formation.

Hypothesis stating that in a so-called just world, good things happen to good people, and bad things happen to bad people

Noble actions are rewarded and evil actions are punished

A strong belief in this increases the likelihood of victim-blaming

Self-Serving Bias

Social Perception & Behavior

Describes how individuals will view their own success based on internal factors while viewing their failures based on external factors.

Influenced by cognitive processes (locus of control) and motivational processes (self-enhancement).

Locus of Control

Social Perception & Behavior

The cognitive process that influences self-serving bias.

It is a person's tendency to perceive the control of rewards as internal to the self or external in the environment.

Self-Enhancement

Social Perception & Behavior

The motivational process that influences self-serving bias.

It focuses on the need to maintain self-worth and can be done through internal attribution of successes and external attribution of failures.

Self-Verification

Social Perception & Behavior

Suggests that people will seek the companionship of others who see them as they see themselves, thereby validating a person’s self-serving bias

Attribution Theory

Social Perception & Behavior

Theory that describes how individuals infer the causes of other people's behavior

Founded by Fritz Heider

Dispositional Attributions

Social Perception & Behavior - Dispositional vs. Situational Attributions

½ causes of attribution according to Fritz Heider’s Attribution Theory

Internal attributions which relate to the person whose behavior is being considered.

EX: beliefs, attitudes, personality characteristics.

Situational Attributions

Social Perception & Behavior - Dispositional vs. Situational Attributions

½ causes of attribution according to Fritz Heider’s Attribution Theory

External attributions which relate to features of the surroundings.

EX: threats, norms, money, peer pressure

Consider the characteristics of the social context rather than the characteristics of the individual as the primary cause

Consistency Cues

Social Perception & Behavior - Consistency vs. Consensus vs. Distinctiveness Cues

Cues that refer to the behavior of a person over time

The more regular the behavior, the more we associate that behavior with the motives of the person

Consensus Cues

Social Perception & Behavior - Consistency vs. Consensus vs. Distinctiveness Cues

Cues that relate to the extent to which a person’s behavior differs from others

If a person deviates from socially expected behavior, we are likely to form a dispositional attribution about the person’s behavior

Distinctiveness Cues

Social Perception & Behavior - Consistency vs. Consensus vs. Distinctiveness Cues

Cues that refer to the extent to which a person engages in similar behavior across a series of scenarios

If a person’s behavior varies in different scenarios, we are more likely to form a situational attribution to explain it

Correspondent Interference Theory

Social Perception & Behavior

Theory that takes the concepts of cues one step further by focusing on the intentionality of others' behavior.

States that when an individual unexpectedly does something that helps or hurts us, we tend to attribute it to their personality through dispositional attribution.

Thus, we may correlate these unexpected actions with the person’s personality.

Fundamental Attribution Error

Social Perception & Behavior

Posits that we are generally biased toward making dispositional attributions rather than situational attributions when judging the actions of others, especially in negative context

Assuming that a person’s behaviors accurately portray who they are as a person is easier than speculating about what circumstances may have caused the observed behavior

Attribute Substitution

Social Perception & Behavior

Occurs when individuals must make judgments that are complex, but instead, they substitute a simpler solution or apply a heuristic

This process is common when dealing with size and color in optical illusions

Cognitive

Stereotypes, Prejudice, & Discrimination - Affective vs. Behavioral vs. Cognitive

The component of attitude applied to stereotypes

Affective

Stereotypes, Prejudice, & Discrimination - Affective vs. Behavioral vs. Cognitive

The component of attitude applied to prejudice

Behavioral

Stereotypes, Prejudice, & Discrimination - Affective vs. Behavioral vs. Cognitive

The component of attitude applied to discrimination

Stereotypes

Stereotypes, Prejudice, & Discrimination

Occur when attitudes and impressions are based on limited and superficial information about a person or group.

These generalizations lead to the formation of prejudice.

Stereotype Content Model

Stereotypes, Prejudice, & Discrimination

Attempts to classify stereotypes with respect to hypothetical in-group using two dimensions: warmth and competence.

Warm groups are those that are not in direct competition with the in-group for resources.

Competent groups are those that have high status within society.

Paternalistic, Contemptuous, Envious, Admiration

Stereotypes, Prejudice, & Discrimination

The 4 classifications of stereotypes in the stereotype content model.

Paternalistic Stereotypes

Stereotypes, Prejudice, & Discrimination - Paternalistic vs. Contemptuous vs. Envious vs. Admiration Stereotypes

Stereotypes in which the group is looked down upon as inferior, dismissed, or ignored

Seen as low-status and not competitive

HIGH warmth, LOW competence

EX: housewives, elderly people, disabled people

Contemptuous Stereotypes

Stereotypes, Prejudice, & Discrimination - Paternalistic vs. Contemptuous vs. Envious vs. Admiration Stereotypes

Stereotypes in which the group is viewed with resentment, annoyance, or anger

Seen as low status and competitive

LOW warmth, LOW competence

EX: welfare recipients, poor people

Envious Stereotypes

Stereotypes, Prejudice, & Discrimination - Paternalistic vs. Contemptuous vs. Envious vs. Admiration Stereotypes

Stereotypes in which the group is viewed with jealousy, bitterness, or distrust

Seen as high status and competitive

LOW warmth, HIGH competence

EX: rich people, feminists

Admiration Stereotypes

Stereotypes, Prejudice, & Discrimination - Paternalistic vs. Contemptuous vs. Envious vs. Admiration Stereotypes

Stereotypes in which the group is viewed with pride and other positive feelings

Seen as high status and not competitive

HIGH warmth, HIGH competence

EX: in-group, close allies

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Stereotypes, Prejudice, & Discrimination

The idea that stereotypes lead to expectations of people, and those expectations can lead to confirmation of those expectations.

Stereotype Threat

Stereotypes, Prejudice, & Discrimination

The concept of people being concerned or anxious about confirming a negative stereotype about one's social group

This may hinder performance, which may actually create a self-fulfilling prophecy

Prejudice

Stereotypes, Prejudice, & Discrimination

An irrational positive or negative attitude toward a person, group, or thing, prior to an actual experience with that entity

Can be kept internally or shared with the larger community such as through propaganda

Power, Prestige, Class

Stereotypes, Prejudice, & Discrimination

3 social factors that influence prejudice

Ethnocentrism

Stereotypes, Prejudice, & Discrimination

The practice of making judgments about other cultures based on the values and beliefs of one's own culture, especially when it comes to language, customs, and religion

Cultural Relativism

Stereotypes, Prejudice, & Discrimination

The recognition that social groups and cultures should be studied on their own terms

Acknowledges that the values, mores, and rules make sense in the context of that culture and should not be judged against the norms of another culture

Discrimination

Stereotypes, Prejudice, & Discrimination

Occurs when prejudicial attitudes cause individuals of a particular group to be treated differently from others.

Individual Discrimination

Stereotypes, Prejudice, & Discrimination - Individual vs. Institutional Discrimination

One person discriminating against a particular person or group.

Institutional Discrimination

Stereotypes, Prejudice, & Discrimination - Individual vs. Institutional Discrimination

The discrimination against a particular person or group by an entire institution.