PSYC 308: Midterm 1

social brain hypothesis

social brain hypothesis

Our large brains evolving to handle the complexities of social interactions (large neocortexes)

• our ability to navigate social relationships was a driving force in development of our cognitive abilities

• social connections are important in shaping our brain's structure/function.

Principles of Social Psychology

Proximal factors (power of the situation, construal, thinking fast/slow)

Distal factors (genetic evolution, cultural evolution)

Power of the situation

people’s thoughts, actions, emotions are influenced substantially by the social setting

Construal

the way a person understands the world/a particular situation

• filtered through our interpretations - same situation interpreted differently by different people

• changes (reframing) can have powerful effects on our experiences

thinking fast and slow

fast: emotional and instinctive

slow: deliberative and logical

neocortex

executive functioning, making decisions, thinking and memories, language - humans’ are very large so we can function in social groups

• grows as mean group size increases

puzzle of runaway human group size

size has steadily increased without any increase in brain size

• cultural adaptations?

Good Samaritan Study (1973)

Students in a rush will not help someone in need vs. students in a rush will help someone in need

• studying seminary students and their personalities

• studies if situation or personality had a bigger influence of reaction

• Power of the situation was supported

Cooperation Game (Construal)

Wall Street game vs. Community Game - exact same game with different name makes a difference

Construal and Pain

no such thing as an objective measure of it - people just feel it without their being a consistent physical marker

• pain can feel different if situation is desired by the person vs. not desired

non-conscious thinking

consciousness doesn’t capture all of reality - a lot is missed

• may or may not be changeable

• often drives behaviour

• naïve realism

• change-blindness and moral illusions

culture

socially transmitted beliefs, behaviours, material consequences, often leading to group differences

• capacity to learn by observation or imitation

• cumulative knowledge across generations (tools, recipes, social norms, etc.)

distal explanations (the why) of culture

trial and error of evolution and cultural inheritance

• genetic evolution

• cultural evolution

• gene-culture co-evolution

genetic evolution

genetic transmission of species-specific psychological adaptations

cultural evolution

culturally transmitted traits that could vary between groups and in historical time

• part of our heritage is to be a cultural species - starts young

gene-cultural co-evolution

genetic prepared us for culture and culture drove genetic evolution

evolutionary psychology

general problem solving abilities + functional specified adaptations designed to do specific thing

• 4 Fs

• some aspects of human psychology are universal (face recognition)

• high degree of genetic homogeneity in humans

prosopagnosia

selective impairment in face recognition - can’t recognize people4

4 Factory Installed Fs

fighting, fleeing, feeding, reproduction

misconceptions of evolutionary psychology

• naturalistic fallacy

• DNA is destiny fallacy

naturalistic fallacy

assume what is natural is good

• bacterial infections are natural, medicine is not

• illiteracy is natural, literacy isn’t

• humans are susceptible to change

DNA is Destiny Fallacy

if there is genetic preparedness for psychological tendency, it cannot be altered by experience or culture

• Natural aversion to hot spices and India’s appreciation for them

cultural learning and the brain

1. matures in a cultural context

2. is adapted for cultural learning

3. often results in group differences

culture shaping our bodies

• big brains, long childhood because we learn from others

• short colons, small stomachs and teeth because of fire and cooking

• long legs, arched feet, light bones, hairlessness, sweat glands with no water pouch because we long distance run and have water containers

• dexterous hands, opposable thumb because of tool use

• lactose intolerance because of domestication of milk-producing animals

cultural learning

need local cultural knowledge tube able to live in different conditions

• cultures aren’t homogenous - differences within each cultural group

levels of explanations in social psychology

scientific method

finding the difference that makes a difference

• forming evidence-based hypotheses and conducting experiments

• Washing your hands = reduction in childbirth deaths

participant observation

researcher embeds themselves in a natural setting and observes behaviour/activity

• Festinger, Riecken, Schacter: participant observation of doomsday cult → cognitive dissonance theory, irrationalization

• taking notes, interviewing → probably should be tested with other methods

correlational research

examine whether two variables are related or not - coefficient from -1 to 1

• does not equal causation

archival research

previously collected information - census reports, police records, sports statistics, newspapers, etc.

longitudinal study

collecting measures at different points in time

self-selection

investigator has no control over any particular participant’s level of a given variable

• associated with correlational research

treatment vs. selection

• treatment: exposure to some treatment affects behaviour

• selection: people with certain characteristics

experimental research

one variable causes another variable, holding other variables constant to establish causality

• not experimental unless there is: control group, random assignment, IV, DV

control group

don’t receive treatment, comparison group

random assignment

equal chance of being assigned to control or experimental group

IV

variable that is being manipulated

DV

variable that is changing due to manipulation

convenience sampling

easy access population - like students

representative sampling

sample roughly corresponds to overall population you are interested in

• necessary for sample generalizable to a given population

• rarely used in Psychology research

WEIRD Population

western, educated, industrial, rich, democracies - makes up samples for most research

• Psychology’s database is overall unrepresentative

• 96% of studies (2003-2007) from Western countries (68% US)

WEIRD remedies

• sample from more diverse population

• more diversity/cultural expertise among researchers

• more interdisciplinary collaboration

replication

essential to scientific research - people should be able to see for themselves that a study is real

• only 39% of social/cognitive psych studies published replicated

Research problems

• p-hacking (manipulating significance level)

• non-transparent procedures

• null findings don’t get published

• Low power

• lack of understanding of key contexts/moderators

Research remedies - open science framework

• pre-registration: reduce p-hacking and increase transparency

• more effort/resources to replicating studies

• increase power

• Better understanding of moderators/contexts

• slow science

• humility over results

the ship of Theseus

Theseus has a ship. After several hundreds of years of maintenance, if each individual piece of the Ship of Theseus was replaced, one after the other, was it still the same ship?

what does the ship of theseus say about about the self?

our self is also continuously updated, yet we experience a core and stable self. People are considered the same even though we change and adapt with age

Self-awareness

who am I? → interests, hobbies, personality traits, connections to others, work and school occupations

species with self-awareness? (mirror test)

humans (by age 2), chimps, orangutans, elephants, dolphins

• all these species have culture

mirror test (Gallup, 1970)

testing the ability for self-awareness by placing a red mark on baby/animal’s head and seeing if they recognize that the mark is on their head when they look in the mirror

independent self-construal

separate and unique from others - independent views and preferences

• western cultures - leaks into other cultures depending on how much interaction they have to western cultures

• focus on the self

interdependent self construal

fluid and interconnected to other people in their lives - fulfill appropriate roles, attention to social contexts

• human default

• focus on the social situation

• two forms: relational (connected to other individuals) and collective (relation to social groups)

independent vs. interdependent cultures

cultural self-descriptions

ind: often to do with personality traits and personal preferences

inter: often to do with relationships, qualified by context

what causes variability in country-specific self construal?

• family: birth order, sibling dynamics

• gender: women = interdependent, men = independent

• social class: working class = more interdependent

• culture: most non-WEIRD cultures more interdependent

first generation vs. continuing generation students

university cultural norms favour independent self-construal

• achievement gap among students from interdependent cultures

individualism

a cultural pattern in which individual goals and preferences take priority over group goals (independence)

collectivism

a cultural pattern in which group goals and preferences take priority over individual goals (interdependence)

Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (1965)

measures self-esteem using ten items answered on a four-point Likert-type scale — from strongly agree to strongly disagree.

• one of the most widely used measures of self-esteem

• Self-esteem is not a unitary construct and has been divided equally to measure two 5-item facets; self-competence and self-liking

• too low= depression, too high = narcissism

self-esteem

overall positive or negative evaluation people have of themselves

culture and self-esteem

• independent cultures: self-esteem is high, higher concern with evaluating the self

• interdependent cultures: create social interactions that boost self-esteem, higher concern with self-criticism

Cultural Self-improvement (Heine et al., 2001)

• Canadians: worked longer on second task if they succeeded in the first

• Japanese: worked longer on second task if they failed in the first

Bicultural Self-Esteem

Chinese-Canadian bicultural students completed SE scale in Chinese vs English and they had higher SE scores in English

three faces of self-esteem

• self-enhancement

• self-improvement

• self-acceptance with self-compassions

self-enhancement

seeing oneself in a positive light - exaggerating one’s favourable attributes and minimizing unfavourable oneself (common in West)

Self-improvement

seeing flaws in self and improving them (common in East Asia) - self-criticism

Self-acceptance

valuing oneself (including shortcomings) without conditions attached, with self-compassion

• self-esteem anchor

• unconditional positive regard of oneself (therapist relationship with client?)

• encouraged in many wisdom traditions

• promotes mental health (greater happiness, body image and less fear, rumination, depression, anxiety)

• con: slow, lifelong practice

Self-enhancement Strategies

• strategic downward social comparison (compare ourselves to others who are less than us in certain categories)

• unrealistic optimism (don’t think bad things will happen to you)

• exaggerated sense of control over situations

• better than average effect (more pronounced in West)

illusion of control (Langer, 1975)

participants asked to sell a lottery ticket that was either chosen by the participant or given to them back to the research - participants asked for more for the lottery ticket they chose

consequences of self-enhancement

• high self-esteem predicts initiative, resilience, positive feelings

• low self-esteem is risk for depression, anxiety, drug abuse

• cons: difficulty accepting criticism, overconfidence, ego threat, narcissism, barrier to self-awareness

what are the main components of self-compassion?

• kindness towards the self

• mindfulness

• awareness of shared humanity

self-improvement

focusing on flaws in order to improve on them

self-improvement vs. self-enhancement (Heine et al., 1993)

• Japanese people persist more if receiving failure feedback

• Canadian people persist more if receiving success feedback

pros of self-improvement

• persistence when faced of failure

• strong work ethic and resilience in face of setbacks

cons of self-improvement

• persistence of futile goals when changing is more adaptive

• feelings of anxiety and self-dissatisfaction

self-acceptance/self-compassion

accept failure as it comes and approach emotions with curiosity

• anchors self-esteem

• encouraged in many wisdom traditions

main components of self-compassion

• kindness towards the self

• mindfulness - non-judgemental awareness of total self

• awareness of our shared humanity

how does self-compassion promote mental health?

• greater levels of happiness, body image, perceived competence

• lower levels of fear of failure, rumination, perfectionism, depression, anxiety

• healthier physiological response to stress

cons of self-compassion

slow, lifelong practice

cognitive dissonance

when people take action because of a given belief, encountering evidence than runs counter to that belief produces psychological distress

• distress is reduced by doubling down on the belief

tightness/looseness of cultures (Gelfand, 2017/2018)

tighter = norms are explicit and powerful

looser = norms are weaker, compliance less certain

social psychology

scientific study of feelings, thoughts, behaviours of individuals in social situations - ways people make sense of the world

Kurt Lewin (1890-1947)

German-American psychologist, known as one of the modern pioneers of social, organizational, and applied psychology in US. Lewin applied himself to three general topics: applied research, action research, and group communication.

The Milgram Experiment (1963, 1974)

Participants were asked to shock another participant (who was actually a confident) when they got the question wrong and to increase the voltage every time they got a question wrong (they weren’t actually shocking anyone) Milgram tested to see if participants would stop shocking the person when the voltage got really high even while the researcher was telling them not to stop.

• Most participants chose to follow the researcher’s orders instead of stopping, even when the person was screaming in pain (power of the situation)

• power of the situation can cause

dispostions

beliefs, values, personality traits, abilities that guide behaviour

• have less influence then people think

fundamental attribution error

failure to recognize importance of situational influences on behaviour and the tendency to overemphasize dispositions

situationism (Lewin)

complex human behaviors are driven by aspects of the situations rather than by any stable intrinsic characteristics of persons.

channel factors (Lewin)

characteristics of the mode by which a persuasive message is communicated.

• For example, presentation of a message via written text (vs. an audio recording) is a channel factor

Gestalt psychology

people perceive objects by active/non-conscious interpretation of what object represents

naive realism

belief we see world directly without any perceptual differences

schemas

generalized knowledge of physical and social world to determine what kind of behaviour to expect when dealing with a certain situation

• lead us to rely on certain expectations

• knowledge organization

• people are more attuned to information that maps onto existing self-schemas

stereotypes

schemas that we have for people of various kinds

• usually unconscious - automatic/controlled processing can result in very different attitudes

automatic processing

gives rise to implicit attitudes that can’t be readily controlled

conscious processing

results in explicit attitudes that we are aware of

functions of nonconscious processing

conscious processes are slow and can only operate serially - automatic processes are faster and can operate in parallel

natural selection

individuals with certain traits will be better able than others to survive reproduce and raise offspring

• has to do with social traits too - what social traits are universal

what social traits do humans share with other mammals?

facial expressions, dominance and submission, food sharing, group living, greater aggressiveness (males), preference for own kin, wariness around snakes

group living

Important to human survival and reproduction, provided humans with theory of mind

theory of mind

ability to recognize that other people have beliefs and desires separate to you, understanding others’ beliefs and desires allows us to understand and predict their behaviour

• recognize beliefs can be false by age 3/4

• people with autism have difficulty developing theory of mind and therefore social skills

social neuroscience

biological processes that drive social behaviour

• using fMRIs to examine blood flows to activated brain areas

• the human brain is very social