Social Cognition
PERCEIVING OTHERS
social psychology : the scientific study of how we feel about, think about, and behave toward the other people around us, and how those people influence our thoughts, feelings, and behavior
although we may not always be aware of it, our cognitions, emotions, and behaviors are substantially influenced by the social situation
social situation : the people with whom we are interacting
social cognition : the part of human thinking that helps us understand and predict the behavior of ourselves and others
we explore how we form impressions of other people, and what makes us like or dislike them
attitudes : our enduring evaluations of people or things
we consider the social psychology of interpersonal relationships, including the behaviors of altruism, aggression’s, and conformity
we will see that humans have a natural tendency to help each other but that we may also become aggressive if we feel we are being threatened
social norms : the accepted beliefs about what we do or what we should do in particular social situations
one important aspect of social cognition involves forming impressions of other people
many people are often strongly influenced by the physical attractiveness of others
Langlois and Roggman showed college students the faces of men and women, the researchers found that the more faces that were averaged into the stimulus, the more attractive it was judges
FORMING JUDGMENTS ON THE BASIS OF APPEARANCE
stereotyping : the tendency to attribute personality characteristics to people on the basis of their external appearance or their social group memberships
our stereotypes lead us to treat people differently
group differences in personality traits may occur in part because people act toward others on the basis of their stereotypes
self-fulfilling prophecy : when our expectations about the personality characteristics of others lead us to behave toward that person in ways that confirm those beliefs
many of our stereotypes and prejudices exert influence out of our awareness, such that we do not even know that we are using them
IMPLICIT ASSOCIATION TEST
implicit association test : a measure of unconscious stereotyping
social identity : the positive emotions that we experience as a result of our group memberships
we may gian social identity as members of our university, our sports teams, our religious and racial groups, and many other groups
stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination, whether they are consciously or unconsciously applied, amke it difficult for some poeple to effectively contribute to society and may create both mental and physcial health problems for them
stereotype threat : concerns about confirming the expectation that they will not do well relative to individuals who belong to stereotypically high-performing groups
civil rights act of 1964
equal opportunity employment act of 1972
fair housing act of 1978
RESEARCH FOCUS : FORMING JUDGMENTS OF PEOPLE IN SECONDS
research has demonstrated that people can draw very accurate conclusions about others on the basis of very limited data
Willis and Todorov found that even a tenth of a second was enough to make judgments that correlated highly with those same judgments made by other poeple who were given several minutes to make the judgments
Todorov, Mandisodza, Goren, and Hall found that people voted for political candidates inlarge part on teh basis of whether or not their faces looked like competent people
we are well able to form initial impressions of others quickly and often quite accurately
CLOSE RELATIONSHIPS
one of the most important tasks faced by humans is to develop successful relationships with others
close relationships : the long term intimate and romantic relationships that we develop with another person
interpersonal attraction : what makes people like, and even love, each other
one important factor is a perceived similarity in values and beliefs between the partners
self-disclosure : the tendency to communicate frequently, without fear of reprisal, and in an accepting and empathetic manner
proximity : the extent to which people are physically near us
research has found that we are more likely to develop friendships with people who are nearby
mere exposure : the tendency to prefer stimuli that we have seen more frequently
Moreland and Beach studied mere exposure
mere exposure may have an evolutionary basis
research has found that stimuli tend to produce more positive affect as they become more familiar
Leslie Zebrowitz and colleagues found that we like people of our own race in part because they are perceived as similar to us
in the most successful relationships the two people begin to see themselves as a single unit
Arthur Aron and colleagues assessed the role of closeness in relationships using the Inclusion of other in the self scale, if people see the circles representing the self and the other as more overlapping, this means that the relationship is close. If they choose circles that are less overlapping, then the relationship is less so
the closeness measure has been found to be strongly correlated with peoples satisfaction in their close relationships
commitment : the feelings and actions that keep partners working together to maintain the relationship
partners who are committed to the relationship see their mates as more attractive, are less able to imagine themselves with another partner, express less interest in other potential mates, and are less likely to break up
Margaret Clark and Edward Lemay argued that the most important characteristic in a close relationship is a sense of responsiveness
FORMING JUDGMENTS BY OBSERVING BEHAVIOR
casual attribution : the process of trying to determine the causes of people’s behavior, with the goal of learning about their personalities
carefully observe the people we are interested in and note how they behave in different social situations
dispositional attribution : the source or cause of the behavior was due to characteristics that reside within the individual
situational attribution : behavior that was caused primarily by the situation
it is easier to make personal attributions when behavior is more unusual or unexpected
self-serving attributions : judging the causes of our own behaviors in overly positive ways
fundamental attribution error ( correspondence bias ) : the common tendency to overestimate the role of dispositional factors and overlook the impact of situations in judging others
we are more likely to commit the fundamental attribution error when we are tired, distracted, or busy doing other things
ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOR
attitude : our relatively enduring evaluations of people and things
some attitudes are heritable
other attitudes are learned through direct and indirect experiences with the attitude objects
attitudes are important because they frequently predict behavior
self-monitoring : the tendency to regulate behavior to meet the demands of social situations
the match between the social situations in which the attitudes are expressed and the behaviors are engaged in also matters
behaviors are more likely to be consistent with attitudes when the social situation in which the behavior occurs is similar to the situation in which the attitude is expressed
self-perception : when we use our own behavior as a guide to help us determine our own thoughts and feelings
Wells and Petty assigned their research participants to shake their heads either up and down or side to side, the participants who had shaken their heads up and down agreed with the content more than the people who had shaken them side to side
Wells and Petty argued that this occurred because the participants used their own head-shaking behaviors to determine their attitudes about the editorials
behavior influences our attitudes through a more emotional process known as cognitive dissonance
Cognitive dissonance : the discomfort we experience when we choose to behave in ways that we see as inappropriate