SOCIAL COGNITION (PSYCH 13)

Social Cognition

the mental processes we use to understand other people (their intentions, emotions, and beliefs)

what does social cognition do to/for us? (3)

Default Mode- your brain is always trying to read minds. Even at rest, your default mode network is running social simulations.

Automatic- you can't turn it off. Even with shapes or shadows on the wall!

Survival Function- understanding others' intentions is the most important thing your brain evolved to do

social brain + exclusion

After exclusion, participants reported being angry, sad, and getting their feelings hurt (ex. Cyber ball)

 

Social exclusion activates the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and anterior insula, same regions activated by physical pain.

Tylenol Study: participants who took acetaminophen for 3 weeks reported less daily social pain, and their dACC response was lower in the scanner

social categories

Include things like race, gender, age, religion, etc.

These function just like object categories, they have prototypes, they trigger expectations, and they help you process fast

How do we get from categories to stereotypes?

1. Category- the brain places someone in a social group

2. Schema Activates- associated knowledge, expectations, and traits are primed, even before you interact

3. Gaps filled in- when information is missing, the schema fills it in automatically, whether accurate or not

Intersectionality

race, gender, and class intersect to create unique, not additive, forms of discrimination (ex. racial/ethnic prototypes)

Theory of Mind

the ability to understand that other people have mental states (beliefs, desires, intentions) that may differ from your own

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

a belief or expectation causes the very behavior that confirms it. The original expectation becomes true because we act as if it were already true

Spotlight Effect

we overestimate how much people are thinking and noticing about us

Our own appearance and behavior are highly salient to US, so we project that salience onto others

Fundamental Attribution Error

we form strong, fast impressions of others' character from single behaviors, and those impressions are hard to update.