Social Cognition (Final)

The Basic principle of is that the perception and memory of facial expression depend on the interpretative context

a.) Stroop effect

b.) Locke effect

c.) Libet effect

d.) Kuleshov effect

e.) Mere Exposure effect

d

Festinger’s social comparision teheory posits that:

a.) Individuals are more likely to engage in social comaprision to assess their attributes when objective standards are not present

b.) Social comparision usually creates close friendships because we assess others based on our similarities

c.) Objective standards and measures never matter for social evaluations

d.) When we want to get accurate information about an attribute, we only make downward social comparisions

e.) When we want to get accurate information about an attribute, we only make upward comparisions

a

Which of the following characterizes the independent self?

a.) Importance of harmony

b.) Importance of self-asssertion

c.) Importance of fitting in with others

d.) Prevalence in Asian societies

e.) Sensitivity to situatuinal context

b

Modern embodiement theories, like the one discussed in class, assume the following about mental processing:

a.) All mental processes use abstract, amodal, language-like symbols

b.) Cognition and emotion involve the body and its representation in the brain

c.) Perception, cognition, body responses, and action reside in separate brain modules

d.) Peripheral feedback from muscles and body has no influence on thinking and feeling

b

In the study by Bredl et al. (2001) where they asked people’s preferences regarding flowers or insects, what is one of the results?

a.) People preferred flowers over insects

b.) People preferred insects over flowers

c.) People preferred the non-word over flowers and insects

d.) People did not care about any category

c

In the study (Niedenthal & Setterlund, 1994), which examins how emotions influence perception, participants were asked to preform lexical decal decision task (word/non-word classification). What is true based on the results we learned in class?

a.) Participants who listened to sad music responded slower to the word “WEEP” and faster to unrelated words like “INJURY”

b.) Participants who listened to happy music were slower at classfying both related words (LAUGH) and unrelated words (INJURY)

c.) Participants who listened to sad music responded faster to related words like “WEEP” but not to unrelated words like “INJURY”

d.) Participants who listened to happy music preformed better on all the lexical decision tasks

c

What is FALSE about the universality of emotion expression and perception:

a.) Humans across cultures produce similar expressions for similarly valenced emotions

b.) Emotional expressions are the same across humans and animals

c.) People who cannot perceive emotional expressions can still produce emotional expressions

d.) Both facial expressions and corresponding sounds are perceived similarly across cultures

b

When studying emotions in animals, what is one method researchers do not use?

a.) Physiological responses

b.) Behavior

c.) Subjective Feelings

d.) Motivation

e.) Environmental Cues

c

In the study on rational imitation (Gergely et al, 2002), the infant watches a demonstrator turn on the light with their head. What are the main findings from this study?

a.) Infants imitate only the action itself, as shown by the fact that when the demonstrator’s hands are both free and occupied, the infants use their head to turn the light on

b.) Infants don’t just imitate the action, but also imitate the goal of the action, as shown by the fact that when the demonstrator’s hands are free, infants use their head to turn the light on

c.) Infants struggle with imitation, for instance, when the demonstrator’s hands are occupied, the infant observes the demonstrator using their head but then uses their hands to turn on the light

d.) The study did not yield conclusive results on imitation in infants

b

Timmy’s parents send Timmy to after school self-esteem classes in order to improve his grades. What would you, an expert social psychologist, say to his parents about the relationship between self-esteem and academic achievement?

a.) Self-esteem is weakly correlated with academic preformance

b.) Self-esteem is a strong predictor of academic achievement

c.) Achievement promotes self-esteem and not the other way around

d.) A and C

d

Festinger & Carlsmith (1963) conducted a study in which participants had to turn a peg 25 degrees, were paid $1 or $20, and were then asked to persuade others to do the task. How can we interpret their result?

a.) The dissonance-reducted explanation

b.) The forced-choice paradigm

c.) The self-perception interpretation

d.) A + B

e.) B +C

f.) A + C

f

Evaluative judgement

preferences

True or false

Judgements/Evaluations are based on objective and universal features

true

Objective and universal features

• computer based programs

  • computer aesthetics

  • “beauty recipe”

  • “trust recipe”

  • “any judgment recipe”

Subjective route to evaluations (Subjective Experiences)

• experimental

• NON-analytic input

• Fluency

  • mental effort

• Physical Effort

• Peripheral Cues

True or false

Subjective experiences have analytic input

false

Hedonic Fluency Theory

• “why it feels good”

  • the ease (efficiency) we can process fluency the more it shapes our judgements

• Google definition (FOR CLARITY)

  • “more fluently processed stimuli are rated more affectively positive than less fluently processed stimuli”

Why fluency feels good

The easier it is to do these things, the more it “feels good”

• processing meets perceiver’s goals

• processing is coherent

• processing is inexpensive

• Heuristic cue to value

Why fluency feels good (processing meets perceiver’s goals)

• Cognitive goal

  • build better model of the world

• Low prediction error

  • model improvement

• Practical goal

  • recognize, understand, move on to next thing

Why fluency feels good (processing is coherent)

• no internal conflict

• “good structure”

Why fluency feels good (processing is inexpensive)

• Efficient coding

• low cost in energy, time, resources

• resource rationality

Why fluency feels good (Heuristic cue to value)

• Stimulus is familiar (common)

  • “probably safer”

• Stimulus is symmetrical

  • “probably not diseased”

• Stimulus is typical

  • “not a maladapted deviant”

Variables that enchance fluency, liking

• Repetition

  • exposure, familiarity

• Priming, compatibility

• Readability, pronounceability, rhyme

• Clarity, contrast, duration

• Symmetry

• Prototypicality

  • Beauty in averageness

“Beauty in averageness” effect

faces look better as they approach the grand average of the whole population

Phototype preference effect

• people also like prototypes of a given local population

  • which can change via learning

True or false

Fluency does not explain attractiveness of prototypes

false

“Ugliness in averageness” effect

True or false

Beauty in averageness effect can turn into ugliness in averageness or dislike the middle effect

true

Attractiveness of prototypes Study (winkielman)

Dog fluency

Methods

• measured distance from prototype

  • how different the dog look from “normal dog”

• measured fluency

Results

• CLOSER distance to prototype = MORE attractiveness

• HIGHER distance to prototype = HARDER for fluency

• Most typical dogs = most attractive

  • cause they’re EASIER to process

• “beauty in averageness”

Global averageness,local protoypes Study (LaM)

fluency AND features

Methods

• sequential/ simultaneous line up

• some were shown more than others

Results

• like global averageness

  • due to fluency

What explains face attractiveness

• fluency (familiarity, cognitive)

• objective measured features

• demographics (sex, race…)

Ugly morphs, bad blends

• Learning changes familarity, fluency

• Categorization changes fluency

• Attention changes fluency

Blends based on familiarity Study

Methods

• showed participants

  • blends (person A and B)

  • person A

  • person B

Results

• average female face blend rated HIGHEST

  • beauty in averageness

• blends of president bush,obama rated LOWEST

  • ugliness in averageness

True or false

A blend is liked when it is hard (disfluent) to assign to a category

false

True or false

A blend is disliked when it is difficult (disfluent) to assign to a category

true

True or false

Fluency depends on the availability of categories in the current task

true

Androgynous face effect Study (Owen)

“Johnny Depp”

Methods

• masculine/ feminine faces

• two conditions

  • no categorization

  • gender categorization

• rate attractiveness

Results

• female OVERALL MOST attractive

• no category condition

  • girl men attractive

• categorized

  • mainly men more attractive

• similar results with cross race individuals

  • from similar study

True or false

fluency is not flexible

false

What does fluency depends on

1. How percisely we know the object features

2. what categories are available for classification

3. what features (slectively) attended)

True or false

Fluency is determined by multiple atttentional, perceptual, and cognitive factors. Consequently, it’s effect on hedonic/evaluative judements is nuanced

true

Concept of the self (socrates)

to understand the world, we need to know ourselves first

Concept of the self (aristotle)

I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conqures his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self

Concept of the self (be true to your moral self)

• Hamlet

  • Polonius

  • Laertes

Concept of the self (early 20th centrury views)

• dignity

• self respect

• inner worth

• meaning in life

• …

Concept of the self (mid to late 20th century view)

• Find yourself and actualize yourself

• “create yourself”

Basic Duality of the self (self awareness)

act of thinking about ourselves

• The knower

• acting subject, “I”

What is this an example of:

Listen to your current stream of thoughts

self awareness

Basic Duality of the self (self concept)

our knowledge of who we are

• The known

• passive object, “Me”

What is this an example of:

Beliefs about your body, name, gender, age, body characteristic traits etc

self concept

Self reference paradigm

traits adjectives judges one of three ways

1. self

   • “does that trait describe you?”

   • private knowledge

2. other

   • “does that trait describe a famous person?”

   • conceptual knowledge

3. case

   • “is the trait presented in uppercase letters?”

   • processing of trait

   • linguistic knowledge

Self reference paradigm (Study)

f

Methods

• self reference paraigm

• Levels of processing

  • shallow encoding

    • traits judges on APPEARANCE

  • deep encoding

    • traits judged against REFERNT

Results

• self adjative recalled at HIGHEST rates

• self reference effect

Brain and Self

different processing effects in different brain regions

• signal change as they process words

• no difference between self, other in region associated with level of processing effect

Brain and Self (left interior prefrontal)

activation area

Brain and Self (Medial prefrontal cortex)

deactivation area

• activity related to self knowledge often found here

• HIGHER activity= no deactivation

  • “self referential processing is linked to a specific brain region”

Alzhimer’s study (Kein)

“I” and “Me” are still there

Method

• case study

• asked various questions and tests

Results

• doesn’t know world but knows self

• impaired world knowledge

  • name simple objects

  • lemon sour?

  • draw clock

• intact self knowledge

  • described you?

• intact subjectivity

  • Likes/dislikes, preferences, choices, opinions, will

Mark and Mirror studies (Gullup)

Emergence of self concept

Methods

• place mirror in front of anima

• wants to see if they understand self

Results

• apes

  • SURPRISED by change in their own appearance in mirror

• moneys and dogs

  • NOT surprised

Rouge Test (Lewis)

emergence of self concept

Methods

• red dot on mirror

• wanted to see if they would put their nose on it

Results

• this tests self recognition

• develops around 2 yrs old in kids

Argument for this

• is it self recognition OR they just notice change

Who are you studies (Motemayour)

Development of self concept

Methods

• asked quesition to both kids and young adults age

Results

• younger

  • self concept comes from CONCRETE, focused OBSERVABLE characteristics

• older

  • self concept comes from ABSTRACT, focused on PSYCHOLOGICAL characteristics

Ybarra Study 1 (older self as unpredictable)

competition/cooperation (moth)

Methods

• Read about competition/cooperation

• imagine playing

  • wall street

  • community game

  • draw a flight path of a moth

Results

• moth trajectories are MORE complex in COMPETITIVE condition

Ybarra Study 2 (older self as unpredictable)

partner/opponent

Methods

• meet potential partner/opponent

• fill out unpredictability scale

Results

• GREATER unpredictability in COMPETITIVE condition

Social Comparision Theory (Leon Festinger)

• we compare ourselves with other people as a source of info when judging attributes about the self

  • more likely to happen when there is NO objective info

  • if similar = more compassion

• upward comparison

  • BETTER than me

• downward comparison

  • WORSE than me

Morse & Gergen study

Mr. Clean vs Mr. Dirty

Methods

• males fill applied for job

• fill out self esteem scale

• meet

  • Mr Clean

    • smart suit

    • science books)

  • Mr. Dirty

    • cheap clothes

    • cheap sex novel

• fill out self esteem scale

Results

• Mr clean condition

  • self esteem DECREASES

• Mr dirty condition

  • self esteem INCREASES

Social comparision and Loneliness

Arnold et al (2021) Study

• momentary feeling of loneliness, more enduring trait judgements

  • depend on TEMPORAL(my past vs present), SOCAIL(other people) comparisons

Internal States

• preferences

• beliefs

• moods

• emotions

Claim to internal states

• we DONT know internal states

• infer from own behavior, situational cues

True or false

Psychology should rely on introspecton

false

True or false

We know our own internal states

false

Festinger & Carlsmith

insufficient justification paradigm

Methods

• do boring task

• paid $1/$20

• asked to persuade others to do it as well

Results

• paid MORE

  • find task MORE AVERSIVE

  • LESS likely

    • to do it again

    • to persuade other

• paid LESS

  • finds task MORE pleasant

  • MORE likely

    • do it again

    • persuade others

Dissonance reduction explanation (interpretation of insufficient justification paradigm)

• discrepancy between attitude, behavior induces unpleasant internal tension

  • change preference to reduce internal tension

Self perception (interpretation of insufficient justification paradigm)

• “Why did I do this”

• “it couldnt have been that bad since it was $1 and I still did it. I must have liked it”

• Example

  • “Do I like brown bread? Well I buy it so I must like it”

Nisbett & Wilson (1977) Study

Telling more than we know

Methods

• watch a movie

• conditions

  • loud noise outside

  • no loud noise outside

• rate the movie

  • “How intresting was it?”

  • “How much did you like the main character?”

• acess the impact of the noise (casually)

  • “did noise level increase/decrease your ratings?”

Results

• almost half claimed noise DECREASED their ratings

• NO actual effect from the noise

• “people are horrible at juding what causes their own behavior

True or false

People do no have access to the causes of their own behaviors

true

Self introspection

The process of looking inward and examining one’s own thoughts, feeling, motives

• self awareness theory

• benefits of self focus

Self Awareness Theory

Situational, individual differences in the extent to which people pay attention to their own self

True or false

Self focused cannot be increased with mirrors

false

Benefits of self focus

• improves acess to some internal states

  • attitudes

  • level of arousal

  • sensations

• behave more in line with their attitudes

  • candy jar study

    • more likely to JUST take 1 candy as told

Winkielman (2002)

Self focus improve casual reports?

Methods

• listen to audio taped short story

  • no noise

  • static

• respond to story

  • rate aspects

  • recall details

• rate influence of noise

• self focus manipulation

  • just respond to story and noise questions

  • respond after they made self aware with mirror

Results

• noise had NO actual negative effect on ratings, recall

• subjects INNACURATE reporting negative effect of noise

• self aware people (with mirror)

  • JUST AS INACCURATE

Two positions on self awareness

1. Introspective access

2. Encapsulation

Introspective access

bodily reactions

• “the force”

Encapsulation

no acess to many bodily reactions

Bornemann et al (2011)

bodily response to detect emotion of subliminal face

Methods

• baseline (white dot)

• prime

  • shows face QUICK

• match subliminal face

• was it angry/netural?

• facial EMG measured throughout trial

• strategies

  • look (wgere face was presented)

  • feel (“use the force”)

  • none

Results

• bodily response PRESENT

• feel strategy

  • NO significant improvement

Maslows hierarchy of needs

• self actualization

• esteem

• belongingness, love

• safety

• physiological

Self in 21st century

• actualize

• embrace

• reshape self

orgins of modern view of self esteem

• selfishness, egotism

• Ayn Rand

Self enhancing bias (weinstein)

most people show unrealistic optimism

• GOOD things are MORE likely to happen to THEM then similar average person

• BAD things are LESS likely to happen to THEM than similar average person

Popular beliefs about self esteem

• low self esteem is associated with…

  • low academic achievement

  • aggression

• so the solution MUST be build up self esteem

Baumeister et al Study

self esteem, achivement

Methods

• teachers boosed a child’s self esteem

  • SE interventions (in CA)

• measured

  • self esteem (SE)

  • educational achievement

Results

• relationship betwen SE and achievement is WEAK

• OPPOSITE direction

  • achivement PROMOTES SE

• May hurt learning

  • kids werent told what to do

• “concentrate on self control instead”

Cost of self esteem

• HIGH SE asoociated with NEGATIVE behavior

  • agression

  • bullyng

  • sense of entitlement

  • self centeredness

True or false

Most people rate themselves as better than average

true

Rosenberg self esteem scale

• most POPULAR self esteem scale

• LARGE increase in SE over time

• goes AGAINST generational sterotype

  • boomers confident and gen X down on them selves

Changes in self esteem over time

everyone went up

• high school, middle school, college

• expecially middle school

Alternative explanation why people believe in themselves so much

• learned to be MORE positive when talking about themselves

• mental health seems to be getting WORSE

Markus & Kitayama (cultural definition of the self)

Individualissm vs Collectivism

• Individualist

  • many WESTERN cultures

  • INDEpendent

  • context free view of self

• Collectivist

  • NON western cultures

  • INTERdependent

  • contextual view of self

Twenty Statements test

answer the question of “Who am I”

• psychological attributes

  • “im outgoing, honest, silly”

• physical attributes

  • “tim tall”

• preferences/intrests

  • “ i like to cook”

• goals

  • “I want to get an A”

• attitudes

  • “I am not racist”

• activities

  • “I have a part time job”

• social roles

  • “I am a student”

Cousins Study

Who are you in different cultures test

Methods

• US, Japanese

• do the 20 question response

• choose 5 most self defining attributes

• Two types of “who am I”

  • Global

    • “Who am I”

  • Contextualized

    • “Who am I in school, work…”

Results

• americas had MORE GLOBAL

• Japanese had MORE CONTEXTUALIZED

• Western cultures emphasize importance of

  • stable

  • cross situational

  • internal

  • psychological traits

• Non western cultures emphasise importance of

  • flexibility in context

True or false

Culture and violence happens when self respect and honor goes wrong

true

Nisbett & Cohen Study (culture of honor)

reason for high homicide rate

South characteristics

• culture of HONOR

• respect, reputation = KEY

• RECIPROCITY

  • pay back both good, bad

• HONOR CAN be taken away

  • susceptible to attack

  • expecially by insults

• insults must be DIRECTLY paid back

• SHAME

North characteristics

• culture of dignity

• intrinsic value equal of every other person

• INTERNAL standards, conscience, norms

• DIGNITY CANT be taken away

• GUILT

• IMPERVIOUS to insults

Cohen et al Study

experiment on culture of honor

Methods

• fill out questionnaires

• spit

• insult

• questionaire

• spit

• measured

  • cortisol

  • testosterone

  • self reports

Results

• North

  • LOW cortisol

• South

  • HIGH cortisol

  • HIGH testerone

Embodied cognition

mental process are supported by bodily, modality based mechanisms

Mind-body Connection

• processing using embodied modality based mechanisms

  • input

    • sensory

  • motor state

    • stimulation (old)

    • simulation (new)

  • thought

Dumb and Cleaver Embodiment

Dumb

• REFLEXIVE

• automatic, encapsulate, unconscious

• inflexible “perception action” links

• Learned via REPEATED association

Clever

• RATIONAL

• meaning dependent

• flexible, conditional

• social situated