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Understanding Social Cognition: Perception, Attribution, and Impression Formation

This lecture explores how we perceive and explain the behavior of others, focusing on social cognition. Topics include first impressions, central and peripheral traits, the halo and horns effect, attribution errors, and cognitive heuristics.

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Understanding Social Cognition: Perception, Attribution, and Impression Formation

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  1. Lecture 7 Explainingbehavior Jiri Cenek

  2. Assignment • Willgiveyou feedback + givemark (evaluate/return thework) today/tomorrow • Yourpresentationtomorrowcanmovethemark ↑↓ Schedule 26.4.: • 13:00 – 14:20 presentations • 14:30 „CommunicationwithChinese“

  3. Self-perception and socialcognition • How do wesee and explainothers? (S-C) • How do wesee and explainourselves? (S-P)

  4. Part I: Socialcognition Definition: The manner in which we receive, interpret, analyze, remember and use information about the social world.

  5. Part I: Socialcognition Object vs. Socialperception and cognition • People behave, objects don’t • Interaction between individuals can change behavior • We can most often see clearly what the characteristics of an object are • We infer or attribute characteristics to people

  6. Firstimpressions

  7. Part I: Socialcognition • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3h-T3KQNxU

  8. FirstImpressionsCount • Impressions can be formed in first fifteen seconds • They are influenced by what we have been told and past experience (perceptual set) • Impressions guide how we act towards/feel about people • Impressions can often be wrong – based on stereotypes/prejudice • Give an overview of person – we select information we use

  9. Central and Peripheral Traits Asch (1946) Configural Model • We form a global (overall) first impression • Central traits • Fundamental to whole impression • We make inferences based on these • Peripheral traits less important in impression formation

  10. Whattraits are Central/peripheralforyou?

  11. Halo Effect and Horns Effect Halo Effect (positive) • “A tendency to allow an overall impression of a person or one particular outstanding trait to influence the total rating of that person”. (Reber, 1995) Horns Effect (negative) • Negative impression formed from perception of less favourable traits Why? • Want to perceive constancy in people

  12. Part I: Socialcognition • Attributiontheory (F. Heider, 1958) • Analyzeshowweexplainpeoplesbehavior. • Assumptions: • Weseek to make senseofourworld. • Weattributepeoplesactions to internalorexternalcauses. • We do this in fairlylogical, consistentways. • Causes: • Internal (personsdisposition) • External (personssituation) • Example: Failingexam • The student is not cleverenough. • His parents go throughdivorcethisweek.

  13. Part I: Socialcognition • Informationintegration: Rules by whichwecombinepiecesofinformationabout a person intoanoverall image. • Importance • Primacy • Negativity • Example: Person wedontknowissupposed to be: • kind, • a sportsman, • ambitious, • intelligent

  14. Positivity and negativity • If we don’t hear negative information we form a positive impression • We focus on negative information we hear, theyseem more important in impression formation • Negativefirst impression more resistant to change (Hodges, 1974),even when positive information follow, more so than other way round (Hamilton and Zanna, 1974) • All of these can affect and distort judgement in interpersonal encounters

  15. Attributionerrors

  16. Attributionerrors • Formingimpressionsismostlylogical and reasonable, BUTpeople make oftenerrors in attribution. • Thefundamentalattributionerror • Example: Helpingold lady

  17. Attributionerrors • Thefundamentalattributionerror • Definition: Thetendencyforobservers to underestimatesituationalinfluences and overestimetedispositionalinfluences. • Unconscious • Unintentional • Real lifeexamples: • Medicaldoctorsoftenpresumed to beexperts on allsortsofmedicalquestions. • Studentsoverestimatethebrillianceoftheirteachers.

  18. Reasonsofmaking AE • Actor-observereffect • Conservingmentaleffort • Expectation-confirmation

  19. Reasonsofmaking AE • Actor-observereffect • Access to innerthoughts • Differentperspective in observing and acting • Weact: Attention to theenviroment (situation) • Othersacting: Attention to the person/people (disposition)

  20. 2. Conserving Mental Effort • The social world is fast-paced→ needto make quick effective decisions (notime to use effortful conscious thinking processes) • Do we really analyze behavior in a rational, logical manner? • Do we really have the time, motivation, or cognitive capacity for such elaborate and mindful processes? • The answer? • Sometimes yes…Sometimes no. • Often, what we do instead is develop cognitive strategies which give “good enough” judgments with little mental effort

  21. 2. Conserving Mental Effort Cognitive heuristics • Enable us to think in ways that are quick and easy • Problem is that using cognitive heuristics can frequently lead to error

  22. 2. Conserving Mental Effort • Cognitiveheuristics = mentalshortcuts • Availability: the ease with which a particular idea can be brought to mind; dramatic (and sometimesinfrequent) eventscanbebrought to mind more easily • Example: people overestimate their likelihood of dying intheactofterrorism/earthquake • Anchoring:whenestimatingnumber; alreadyavailablenumberserves as ananchor, ten wemove up ordown. • Example: Isthe probability ofdying in a terroristattack more orlessthen 1 %? • = 1 in 3.6 million= 0.000000028% (USA)

  23. 2. Conserving Mental Effort Two-stage model ofattribution

  24. 3. Expectation Confirmation Strategies • We pay attention to behaviors relevant to our expectations • We interpret ambiguous events/behaviors in ways that support our expectations • We remember people and events consistent with our expectations

  25. 3. Expectation Confirmation Strategies • Harold Kelley (1950), a psychology professor once arranged for a guest lecturer to teach his class… • Half the students in the class were given a page of notes that described the lecturer as a "rather cold person, industrious, critical, practical, and determined" • The other students got notes describing him as a "rather warm person, industrious, critical, practical, and determined"

  26. 3. Expectation Confirmation Strategies • "cold" description: lecturer was • unhappy • irritable • didn’t volunteer in class discussion • "warm" description: lecturer was • happy • good-natured, • took part in discussion • Why didn’t they wait to form there own opinion…our expectations often lead us to errors in judgment

  27. Culturally universal trends in attribution

  28. Cross-culturaltrends in socialattribution • Groups to whichwebelongwepercieve as more heterogenous. • Scarification - peoplewithscars are percieved: • Lesssociable • Lessattractive • More dishonest

  29. Cross-culturaltrends in socialattribution • Babyfaceovergeneralizationeffect • Peoplewith „baby-face“ are percieved: • More: Less: • innocent, manipulative • submissive, competitive • warm, ruthless • cooperative, powerful • compassionate, …. • gullible, • honest, • trusting

  30. Cross-culturaltrends in socialattribution • Accent:listenersjudgeotherpeopleaccording to whethertheyspeakwithaccentor not. • Competence • Social status • Socialatractiveness • Personality characteristics • Openess • Honesty • Assertiveness…. • Standard-accentedspeakers (TV-speakers): Higherevaluationof: • Intelligence, wealth, education, success

  31. Cross-culturaltrends in socialattribution • Differences: Collectivisticculturestend to make lessoftenthefundamentalattributionerror(focus on thedispositionsratherthansituation • Cause: Independent/interdependent self-construal

  32. Part II: Self-perception

  33. Part II: Self-perception • Self-concept • Self-perception • Self-presentation • Self-esteem • 2-4 Reading !!!!!

  34. Culturaldifferences in self-perception • US: Individualism • Japan: Collectivism Trafimow et al. (1997) • Participants were from Hong Kong that used English as a second language… • Half given the “Who am I” test in English and half given it inChinese • Results: • English: Personal traits • Chinese: Group affiliation • Interpretation of these results???

  35. Self- concept and age

  36. Self- concept and age

  37. As children get older, their views of self become more differentiated.

  38. Self- concept and age

  39. Part III: Attributionofsuccess and failure

  40. Locusofcontrol • Whichone do you more stronglybelieve? • In the long run peoplegettherespecttheydeserve in thisworld. ORUnfortunately, peoplesworthoftenpassesunrecognized no matterhow hard theytry. • Whathappens to meis my owndoing. ORSometimes I feelthat i donthaveenoughcontroloverthedirection my lifeistaking.

  41. Locusofcontrol • Internal and external LOC

  42. Attributionofsuccess and failure • Applicationof LOC theory (Rotter, 1966): • Howpeopleexplaintheirsuccess and failure? • Whatdidyousay to yourfriendsthe last timeyoufailedanexam? • 3 commonexplanations: • Individualabilities(„I have/do not haveskills.“) • Effort(„I tried hard/I didnttry.“) • Taskdifficulty(„Itwastoodifficult./Itwasntdifficult.“)

  43. Attributionofsuccess and failure • Self-serving/-centeredbias: • Tendency to percieveoneselffavorably. • Weattributeourfailures to difficultsituations and oursucceses to ourskills.

  44. Locusofcontrol Self-disparagement • Peopletend to disparagetheirbehavior, appearanceabilities…+ praiseothers • Reason: • Reassuring „strokes“: „I wish i werent so fat.“ → „Come on. You are not fat atall.“ • In sport: Coachespubliclypraisetheiropponents. • Win: We made a big achievement. • Loss: Theopponentwas just toogood. • Self-handicappingstrategy

  45. Learnedhelplessness • Martin Seligmanexperiment

  46. Learnedhelplessness • Effort has no effect = LH • Apathy • Resignation • Paralysisofwill • Reading!

  47. ThankYouforYourattention

  48. Furtherreading and sources • Myers, Chapter 3 • http://www.all-about-psychology.com/solomon-asch.html

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