Social Beliefs and Judgments

1. Social Beliefs and Judgments Chapter 3

2. Context How much does the world around us make a difference in how we perceive things? The world around us can make a difference in: What we expect What we notice How we interpret things

3. Context and expectations Repeat: Croak, folk, soak Croak, folk, soak Croak, folk, soak Croak, folk, soak Croak, folk, soak Croak, folk, soak Croak, folk, soak What�s the white an egg called?

4. Context and interpretation Secret information for left half of the room: The title of the passage you�re about to read is: Washing Clothes

5. The procedure is quite simple. First you arrange items into different groups. Of course one pile may be sufficient depending on how much there is to do. If you have to go somewhere else due to lack of facilities that is the next step; otherwise, you are pretty well set. It is important not to overdo things. That is, it is better to do too few things at once than too many. In the short run this may not seem important but complications can easily arise. A mistake can be expensive as well. At first the whole procedure will seem complicated. Soon, however, it will become just another facet of life. It is difficult to foresee any end to the necessity for this task in the immediate future, but then, one never can tell. After the procedure is completed one arranges the materials into their appropriate places. Eventually, they will be used once more and the whole cycle will then have to be repeated. However, this is part of life. The passage�

6. Write down the answers to these problems: 2 + 2 =� 8 * 3 = � 21/3 = � A little distraction

7. �. Did the passage contain� Instructions steps in a procedure cautions & warnings write a list of what you can remember one item of information per line take two minutes from now no talking! count the number of items you have remembered How much do you remember?

8. Context and interpretation Kulechov effect Context and the interpretation of emotion

9. Context and expectations Context can make a difference in what we expect to come next, in how we interpret information, and in how we interpret others� emotions Context can also make a difference in what�s on our minds � which can affect our interpretations and our behavior

10. Some pictures�

11. More pictures�

12. One more picture�

13. C_t _ear D_g P_g _ouse Fill in the blanks to make a word�

14. C_t Cat Cot _ear Bear Hear D_g Dog Dig P_g Pig Peg _ouse Mouse House Possible words

15. Which words did you tend to write? What do you think might happen if you filled in these blanks at a zoo or vet�s office? Why? Priming: �activating particular associations in memory� Which words appeared?

16. Frequently, things can have multiple interpretations �bank� �bow� �bark� Shooting a cat Violence Cat has diabetes and needs insulin We need to use context to be able to make interpretations Why we need priming

17. Bargh et al. (1996): task involving completing sentences with words like �old,� �wise,� �retired� lead students to walk more slowly down the hall Why? Watching a scary movie and interpreting noises in the house The power of priming

18. Forgas, Levinger, & Moylan (1994): found people leaving comedies and sad movies and asked them about their relationships Not an experimental study (but similar patterns found in an experiment) Found that people who had just left a comedy felt closer to their partner and were more satisfied with their relationship Other things that color perceptions: The power of mood

19. Similar to state dependent memory When we�re in a good mood, we remember behaviors that are consistent with that mood When we�re in a bad mood, we remember behaviors that are consistent with that mood Why?

20. The interplay between context and what�s on our mind What we see activates different ideas and concepts in us, through priming What�s on our mind makes a difference in what we notice and what we remember (similar to what happens with self-schema) What�s on our mind also makes a difference in how we determine what is true about the world

21. Context, schema, and memory Memory demonstration

22. We can end up remembering things that weren�t there We can end up remembering things that didn�t happen If something fits with the schema that we develop, or that is called to mind, it will get incorporated into our memory The power of schemas

23. Lost in a Shopping Mall What about our memories about ourselves?

24. Remembering is more like reconstructing an even than pulling it out of your head We tend to incorporate new information into our memories Car accident study Misinformation effect: �incorporating �misinformation� into one�s memory of the event, after witnessing an event and receiving misleading information about it� More memory issues

25. Memories of our behavior: Toothbrush study How far this effect reaches

26. Context and memory Memories involve a mental recreation of an event (or list) This mental recreation is affected by expectations that are formed, and by new information received Memories can feel more real than they actually are

27. Do we know when our memories are wrong? Overconfidence phenomenon: we�re more confident than we should be in our memories and our judgments Frequently, there is little or no correlation between our confidence in our memory and the correctness of our memory

28. What about when we find out the reasons behind our conclusions are wrong? After 9/11 and after the blackout in 2003, it was speculated that there might be a population boom 9 months later Why might this be the case? Many newspapers reported on this possibility These baby booms did not pan out. However, many still think that they happened Belief perseverance

29. Not thinking we�re wrong Just like the overconfidence phenomenon, we have a very hard time thinking we might be wrong Even when the reasons for our beliefs or ideas are shown to be incorrect, we frequently hang on to those beliefs or ideas

30. Are there more words that start with the letter R, or are there more words that have R as their third letter? Thinking about word frequencies

31. How did you make this decision? Thinking about word frequencies

32. Heuristic = rule of thumb, shortcut �A cognitive rule that judges the likelihood of things in terms of their availability in memory. If instances of something come readily to mind, we presume it to be commonplace� Why people think that it�s more likely to get into a plane accident than a car accident Things that are covered more in the news, vivid and easy to picture are thought to be more likely to happen Availability heuristic

33. From a sample of 20 skydivers and 80 lawyers: John is 30 years old. John is currently dating several women, and he has no plans to settle down with anyone. He likes to gamble and play poker with friends, and he enjoys watching extreme sports on tv. Is John a skydiver or a lawyer? A description drawn at random�

34. �The tendency to presume, sometimes despite contrary odds, that someone or something belongs to a particular group if resembling (representing) a typical member.� How is thinking John is a skydiver an example of the representativeness heuristic? Representativeness heuristic

35. Bottom lines so far What we see in the world has an impact on what�s on our mind (e.g., priming) What�s on our mind makes a difference in our interpretations (e.g., Kulechov effect) What comes to mind affects our views of the world (e.g., heuristics � availability, representativeness)

36. Beyond what happens to be around We also make sense of the world based on motivations we have for what we want to be true (e.g., actor-observer effect, self-serving attributions) One motivation we have is that we want to feel like we have control

37. How many of you play the lottery, or have played it? Did you pick your own numbers, or have the computer pick? Why? People prefer to pick their own numbers, and, if they�re going to sell a lottery ticket, they see it for more if they were the one to pick the numbers The power we think we have�

38. Illusion of control: �perception of uncontrollable events as subject to one�s control or as more controllable than they are� Why?

39. Implications of illusion of control Who prefers driving over flying? Why? Many people do not like to fly because they don�t like to feel a loss of control This is despite the fact that flying is safer than driving� it frequently doesn�t feel that way � because we have more control in driving, we feel safer

40. Related to feelings of control� We tend to think about how we could have changed an outcome Think back to a time when you �just missed� something � a train, a plane, getting the grade you were aiming for on a test How did you feel? Rate the intensity of the feeling, from 1 (low) to 10 (very intense) Think back to a time when you clearly missed something, by a lot How did you feel? Rate the intensity of the feeling, from 1 (low) to 10 (very intense)

41. Counterfactual thinking: �imagining alternative scenarios and outcomes that might have happened but didn�t� When is it easier to imagine that you did make the plane, train, or grade? Why?

42. The consequences of wanting control We overestimate how much we have (illusion of control) We focus on how we might have been able to change things (counterfactual thinking)

43. The role of chance Regression toward the average (or regression toward the mean): �the statistical tendency for extreme scores or extreme behavior to return toward one�s average� Why? Consequences: Perceived effectiveness of reward vs. punishment �Sports Illustrated cover effect� �Oscar effect�

44. More bottom lines We like to think that we�re good at detecting patterns in the world and being able to figure things out Frequently, heuristics work However, we underestimate the role of chance

45. Beyond figuring out patterns In addition to figuring out what goes on in the world and patterns that go together, we also figure out why things have happened Attributions Affected by motivation (e.g., actor/observer effect)

46. How people should make attributions Why did someone do some behavior? Consistency: does this person always engage in this behavior in this situation? If so, an internal attribution makes more sense Distinctiveness: does this person behave this way in only this situation? If so, an external attribution makes more sense Consensus: do others behave this way in this situation? If so, an external attribution makes more sense

47. How people make attributions Fundamental attribution error: people tend to attribute others� behavior to internal causes Partly due to salience � confession and view of the camera This holds true even when we know people do something because they were asked to

48. Castro

49. Do attributions and expectations matter? Self-fulfilling prophesy: �a belief that leads to its own fulfillment� How does this happen? Late bloomers study **note: the self-fulfilling prophesy is different from the confirmation bias

50. Mechanism of self-fulfilling prophesy Behavioral confirmation: the mechanism through which people�s expectations are confirmed by the behavior of others Example: Snyder�s telephone study