Social Cognition: Understanding Decision-Making and Cognitive Biases

1. Agenda:- 2 classrooms (scores: no difference)- Social Cognition (part 1)- Midterm Aronson, The Social Animal, Ninth Edition – Chapter 4 1

2. Chapter 4:Social Cognition社會認知 (part 1) Aronson, The Social Animal, Ninth Edition – Chapter 4 2

3. Making sense of the world 試圖理解這世界 • Making trivial or important decisions (new friend; answer the phone; what to wear; career...) • Not always listing pros & cons Aronson, The Social Animal, Ninth Edition – Chapter 4 3

4. Making sense of the world ** How we make both trivial and important decisions depends on how we make sense of our world. 我們會如何做大小決定,取決於我們如何理解這個世界. Aronson, The Social Animal, Ninth Edition – Chapter 4 4

5. Cognitive misers • Message-dense, decision-rich environment • 處理資訊時像認知吝嗇鬼 - 省時省力。 • Conserve our cognitive energy • Adopt strategies: to simplify complex problems • Ignore some information: to reduce our cognitive load • Biases in our thinking Aronson, The Social Animal, Ninth Edition – Chapter 4 5

6. 若沒有意識到我們認知的缺陷, • 便很可能受制於它. Aronson, The Social Animal, Ninth Edition – Chapter 4 6

7. Social context has impact on our judgment. • Four aspects: • Contrast effect 對比效果 • Priming effect 引發效果 • Framing 框架 • The ordering of information 順序 Aronson, The Social Animal, Ninth Edition – Chapter 4 7

8. Contrast effects 對比效果 An object/person can appear better or worse, depending on what it is compared to e.g., Real estate agent – first show a bad house w/ high price (Decoy誘餌) Aronson, The Social Animal, Ninth Edition – Chapter 4 8

9. e.g., Male college students – watch Charlie’s Angels – then went on blind date Aronson, The Social Animal, Ninth Edition – Chapter 4 9

10. “Angels” – provide a stringent contrast • Almost anyone would suffer Question: What about those who watch lots of TV and then look at the self in the mirror? Aronson, The Social Animal, Ninth Edition – Chapter 4 10

11. Contrast effect – subtle but powerful • e.g., Used car dealer; put an old clunker in the lot to improve the appearance of the rest • e.g., Presidential candidate – vice president • shorter Aronson, The Social Animal, Ninth Edition – Chapter 4 11

12. Priming Effect 引發效果 立即聯想 Ideas that are recently encountered -> more likely to come to mind when interpreting events Aronson, The Social Animal, Ninth Edition – Chapter 4 12

13. Priming Effect 引發效果 Higgins et al. (1977): -> 1/2 subjects –memorize positive trait words: “adventurous, self-confident, independent, persistent” -> 1/2 subjects – memorize negative trait words: “reckless, conceited, aloof, stubborn”  Read a story about an ambiguous person: “Donald”. Aronson, The Social Animal, Ninth Edition – Chapter 4 13

14. Priming Effect 引發效果  Described Donald  Asked: What’s your impression of Donald? Aronson, The Social Animal, Ninth Edition – Chapter 4 14

15. Priming (continued) Cues too subtle for us to consciously notice can change us Bargh et al. (1996): Subjects did anagrams; “When you are finished, get the experimenter in the next room.”  Experimenter in conversation w/ another.  Those exposed rudeness-related words (disturb; intrude)  more likely to interrupt the experimenter. Aronson, The Social Animal, Ninth Edition – Chapter 4 15

16. Framing 框架效應 問題所呈現的方式 How something is presented – the potential for a loss or gain 損失或 獲利的可能性? Aronson, The Social Animal, Ninth Edition – Chapter 4 16

17. Q: You are the president, 某類型傳染病即將威脅 約600人的生命. (expected to kill 600 ppl.) Program A: 200 people will be saved. Or Program B: 1/3 probability that 600 people will be saved; 2/3 probability that no one will be saved. Aronson, The Social Animal, Ninth Edition – Chapter 4 17

18. Program A: 200 people will be saved. (72% of subjects chose this.) Program B: 1/3 probability that 600 people will be saved; 2/3 probability that no one will be saved. ** 人不喜歡損失. Program A被框架為: 200人保證會存活. Program B: 損失的可能性較大. Aronson, The Social Animal, Ninth Edition – Chapter 4 18

19. Q: But, If framing differently….. Program A: 400 people will die. Program B: 1/3 probability that nobody will die; 2/3 probability that 600 will die. Which one is better? Aronson, The Social Animal, Ninth Edition – Chapter 4 19

20. If framing differently….. Program A: 400 people will die. Program B: 1/3 probability that nobody will die; 2/3 probability that 600 will die. (78% of subjects chose this.) ** 人不喜歡損失. Program A被框架為: 必然會損失; 若是如此,不如賭賭看Program B! Aronson, The Social Animal, Ninth Edition – Chapter 4 20

21. Ordering of information Study: Steve is intelligent, industrious, impulsive, critical, stubborn, and envious. Steve is envious, stubborn, critical, impulsive, industrious, and intelligent. Rating of Steve? Aronson, The Social Animal, Ninth Edition – Chapter 4 21

22. Ordering of information: Primacy effect 初始效應 • The things we learn first about a person have a decisive impact on our judgment of that person • First impression • Two explanations – either may be true Aronson, The Social Animal, Ninth Edition – Chapter 4 22

23. 1) Attention decrement 喪失注意力 Later items or information get less attention since minds tend to wander So, the later items or information have less impact on judgments Aronson, The Social Animal, Ninth Edition – Chapter 4 23

24. 2) Interpretive set 解釋型態 The initial information - serve to create an initial impression and are used to interpret subsequent information Aronson, The Social Animal, Ninth Edition – Chapter 4 24

25. Amount of information • More information tends to create a dilution effect 稀釋效果 • The tendency for neutral or irrelevant information to weaken a judgment or impression Aronson, The Social Animal, Ninth Edition – Chapter 4 25

26. Dilution Effect 稀釋效果 • Tim: spends 31 hours studying/week. • Tom: spends 31 hours studying/week; one bro and 2 sis’s, visits grandma/3 mo.,hobbies… Who has better grades? Aronson, The Social Animal, Ninth Edition – Chapter 4 26

27. Judgmental heuristics判斷捷思法 • A mental shortcut • A simple, often approximate, rule or strategy for solving a problem 1) Representative heuristic 代表性 2) Availability heuristic 可用性 3) Attitude heuristic 態度 Aronson, The Social Animal, Ninth Edition – Chapter 4 27

28. Representative heuristic代表性捷思法 • Stereotyping • Expensive Items are better • Blacks are good at sports • Asians are good at academics • Dress nicely - successful • Health food store – healthy • Natural-looking cereal -- better Aronson, The Social Animal, Ninth Edition – Chapter 4 28

29. Availability heuristic可用性捷思法 • Specific examples that are easily brought to mind • Sometimes that which is brought most easily to mind is not typical of the overall picture • E.g., death by airplane crash • E.g., death by fire Aronson, The Social Animal, Ninth Edition – Chapter 4 29

30. Availability heuristic可用性捷思法 • Ask your friend: Am I a good friend? • He/she never thought about this question. • Depending on what comes to mind Aronson, The Social Animal, Ninth Edition – Chapter 4 30

31. Attitude heuristic態度捷思法 • Ronald Reagan maintained an A average at College. • Ronald Reagan never achieved above a C average at college. Aronson, The Social Animal, Ninth Edition – Chapter 4 31

32. Attitude heuristic態度捷思法 • Answers depend on their attitude toward the person. • Sometimes these preexisting evaluations affect our logic and ability to reason Aronson, The Social Animal, Ninth Edition – Chapter 4 32

33. Attitude heuristic • Halo effect 月暈效果: a bias • 我們對一個人的好/壞印象會影響我們對他的推論以及對他的期待 Aronson, The Social Animal, Ninth Edition – Chapter 4 33

34. When do we use heuristics? • When we don’t have time to think carefully • When we are overloaded with information • When the issues at stake are not very important • When we have insufficient information to use in making a decision Aronson, The Social Animal, Ninth Edition – Chapter 4 34

35. 社會心理學 • 期中考成績統計 Aronson, The Social Animal, Ninth Edition – Chapter 4 35

36. Aronson, The Social Animal, Ninth Edition – Chapter 4 36