Social Thinking: A Comprehensive Overview

Social psychology studies how people influence each other's attitudes and behaviors.
It examines the impact individuals have on one another, the influence of social groups on individuals, the effect of individual group members on the social group, and how social groups interact with other social groups.
This field is closely related to sociology and other branches of psychology.
Key topics include attraction, aggression, attachment, and the need for social support.
It also addresses negative aspects like blame patterns, attribution theory, prejudice, and discrimination.
Understanding social psychology is crucial for physicians due to the prevalence of prejudice and discrimination against patients based on various personal characteristics.

Social behaviors involve interactions with others.
These interactions can stem from positive emotions (attraction, attachment) or negative emotions (aggression).

Interpersonal attraction refers to the phenomenon of individuals liking each other.
Factors influencing attraction include:
- Similarity: People are attracted to those similar in attitudes, intelligence, education, height, age, religion, appearance, and socioeconomic status.
- Self-disclosure: Sharing fears, thoughts, and goals with another person.
- Reciprocity: Reciprocal liking is when people like others better when they think the other person likes them.
- Proximity: Physical closeness influences attraction.
Outward appearance also matters.
- Symmetrical faces are considered more attractive.
- Attraction to individuals with body proportions close to the golden ratio ( $1.618:1$ ).
Complementary relationships can work if opposing qualities complement each other while maintaining fundamental similarities.
The mere exposure effect (familiarity effect) is the tendency to prefer stimuli we've been exposed to more frequently.

Aggression is a behavior intended to cause harm or increase social dominance.
It can be physical, verbal, or nonverbal.
Evolutionarily, aggression protects against threats and helps access resources (food, territory, mates).
The amygdala is responsible for associating stimuli with rewards or punishments; activation increases aggression.
The prefrontal cortex can reduce emotional reactivity and impulsiveness, thus reducing aggression.
Higher testosterone levels correlate with more aggressive behavior.
Cognitive neo-association model: Negative emotions (tiredness, sickness, frustration, pain) increase the likelihood of aggressive responses.
Exposure to violent behavior correlates with increased aggression.
Albert Bandura's Bobo doll experiment, described in chapter three of MCAT behavioral science, demonstrated the contribution of modeling to violence in children.

Attachment is an emotional bond between a caregiver and a child.
John Bowlby studied the effects of isolation on social and emotional development in orphan children.
Mary Ainsworth emphasized that infants need a secure base (consistent caregiver) to explore the world.
Four attachment styles:
- Secure: Consistent caregiver leads to exploration with a secure base to return to; child is upset by caregiver's departure and comforted by their return.
- Avoidant: Caregiver is unresponsive; child shows no preference between caregiver and stranger, little distress upon departure, and little relief upon return.
- Ambivalent: Inconsistent caregiver response; child is distressed on separation but shows mixed reactions on return (anxious-ambivalent).
- Disorganized: No clear pattern; child may show avoidance, resistance, or dazed behavior; often associated with erratic caregiver behavior or abuse.
Insecure attachment includes avoidant, ambivalent, or disorganized attachments that can lead to social skill deficits.

Social support is the perception or reality of being cared for by a social network.
Types of social support:
- Emotional: Listening, affirming, and empathizing.
- Esteem: Affirming qualities and skills.
- Material: Financial or material contributions.
- Informational: Providing helpful information.
- Network: Giving a sense of belonging.
Benefits of social support:
- Reduces psychological distress (anxiety, depression).
- Improves physical health (lower mortality risk from diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer).
- Correlates with better immunological health.

Mating systems: Monogamy, polygamy (polygyny, polyandry), and promiscuity.
Humans exhibit flexibility in mating behavior, influenced by biological and social factors.
Mate choice (intersexual selection) involves selecting a mate based on attraction.
Mate bias: How choosy members are in selecting a mate; it aims to increase species fitness.
Mechanisms of mate choice:
- Phenotypic benefits: Observable traits that signal increased offspring production and survival.
- Sensory bias: Traits that match preexisting preferences like fiddler crabs attracted to the pillars built by male crabs.
- Fisherian or runaway selection: Traits that are sexually desirable become exaggerated (e.g., peacock plumage).
- Indicator traits: Traits signifying overall good health and well-being.
- Genetic compatibility: Mate pairs with complementary genetics, reducing recessive genetic disorders.

Altruism is helping others at a cost to oneself.
Motivations can be selfless or egoistic.
Empathy is the ability to vicariously experience others' emotions.
Empathy-altruism hypothesis: Helping occurs when empathy is felt, regardless of the cost.
More recent views suggest helping occurs when benefits outweigh costs.

Game theory explains decision-making behavior using strategies, rewards, punishments, and payoffs, often to predict interactions.
In biology, payoffs refer to fitness.
Evolutionary stable strategy (ESS): When adopted by a population, natural selection prevents alternatives from arising.
Hawk-Dove Game
- Hawk: displays aggression and fights until wins or injured.
- Dove: displays aggression, but retreats if fight escalates. attempts to share food resources if not faced with a fight.
- Hawk vs Hawk: One wins and one loses
- Hawk vs Dove: Hawk wins
- Dove vs Dove: Share the food resources
- Payoff based on the value of the reward and the cost of fighting.
Possible alternatives for competitors:
- Altruism: Donor benefits recipient at a cost to self.
- Cooperation: Both donor and recipient benefit.
- Spite: Both donor and recipient are negatively impacted.
- Selfishness: Donor benefits while recipient is negatively impacted.

Inclusive fitness measures an organism's success in the population.
Based on the number of offspring, support for offspring, and ability of offspring to support others.
Altruistic behavior can improve the fitness and success of a species by promoting the survival of those with similar genes.