4PAHPSOP Psychology and Society Week 2
BSc Psychology Year 1 Social Cognition
SOCIAL COGNITION
2.1. DESCRIBE THE PSYCHOLOGICAL MOTIVES INFLUENCING
THINKING ABOUT THE SOCIAL WORLD
THREE MOTIVES INFLUENCING THINKING
Coined in the theory of lay epistemology by Arie Kruglanski (1989, 2004)
The need to be accurate
• Motivation to achieve an accurate, truthful understanding of a given person, idea, or event
• Heightened when there are negative consequences for not making the correct decision
The need to reach closure quickly
• Motivation to reach closure by making any choice, or by making a certain choice, is sometimes
stronger than our motivation to make the most accurate choice
• We reach closure in our decision-making when we stop the thinking process and grab the first handy
judgment or decision, quickly and without extensive effort
• Often used when the stakes are low
• People want to reach closure quickly in situations where thinking is effortful or unpleasant
• Used more often under time pressure, if you are overwhelmed by other things, or tired
The need to confirm what one already prefers to believe
• Motivation to reach a conclusion that fits well with the specific beliefs and attitudes that one already
prefers
• More likely to use when those beliefs are central to their sense of meaning in life or personal worth
o Especially when they feel that their beliefs are being challenged by contradictory
information
INFLUENCES ON A PERSON’S THINKING
• Depends on the situation at the time
• Personality
o Some have a high need for closure and prefer to have simple and clear knowledge and feel
uncomfortable when in an ambiguous or confusing situation
o Others are more tolerant of complexity and ambiguity and prefer to have all the facts before
arriving at a conclusion
• Expertise
o The more one feels they are an expert in the area, the more they feel they are entitled to
have closed-minded or dogmatic views (Ottati et al., 2015)
1
,4PAHPSOP Psychology and Society Week 2
BSc Psychology Year 1 Social Cognition
2.2. COMPARE AND CONTRAST THE TWO (COGNITIVE AND
EXPERIENTIAL) SYSTEMS OF THINKING
Cognitive system: A rational and controlled way of thinking
Experimental system: An unconscious, intuitive, and automatic way of thinking
(Epstein, 1994; Kahneman, 2011; Sloman, 1996)
DUAL PROCESS THEORIES
Cognitive System
• Uses a system of rules to fit ideas into logical patterns
• detect when ideas fit and don’t fit
Explicit Attitudes
• The evaluations that we consciously make using the cognitive system (Gawronski & Bodenhausen,
2014)
Emotional System
• Guided by automatic or implicit associations among stimuli, concepts, and behaviours learned from
experience
• Used to make rapid, “good enough” judgments and decisions at times when using the cognitive
system’s logical style would be too slow and effortful (Epstein, 1990)
• We have no direct conscious access to our experiential system
Heuristics
• Mental shortcuts, or rules of thumb (used within the emotional system)
• Intuitive appeal of heuristics
Implicit Attitudes
• Based on automatic associations that make up the experiential system
• Can be passed on genetically (such as through evolution we have learned to have an automatic fear
of snakes; Öhman & Mineka, 2003)
• Mostly learned from our culture (such as negative attitudes towards eating pork or sex before
marriage)
The Unconscious is Smart
1. The motives that guide thinking often operate unconsciously
2
, 4PAHPSOP Psychology and Society Week 2
BSc Psychology Year 1 Social Cognition
• Both making decisions accurately or confirming our preferred beliefs (2 of the basic motives)
often happen with little or no consciousness
2. Memory consolidation occurs during sleep
• During sleep, our cognitive system shuts down, but our unconscious is organising what we’ve
learned and experienced
3. Unconscious mind wandering can help generate creative ideas
• Often, flashes of creative insight can arise spontaneously from the unconscious
4. Intuition has been shown to play an important role in good decision making and unconscious
feelings can steer us towards the best decision
• Wilson & Kraft (1993) found that people asked to rate their relationship satisfaction based on
their gut feelings, predicted whether they were still dating that partner several months later. For
the people who thought hard about their feelings, their rated satisfaction did not predict the
outcome of their relationship
5. Unconscious evaluations are essential for good judgment
• Damasio’s (2001) somatic marker hypothesis: there are certain somatic (i.e., bodily) changes
that people experience as emotions, which, in turn, become automatically associated with
positive or negative contexts. When the context is experienced again, the somatic changes
become a cue for what you do next, helping shape decisions without conscious understanding
• Bechara et al. (1996) found that those with damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, did
not show increased arousal and consistently chose risky desks in a gambling task since they
did not experience the somatic marker to warn them against the risks, unlike the healthy
participants
The Cognitive and Emotional Systems Together
• People’s implicit and explicit attitudes are more likely to align when they feel strongly about the
issue in question, have given it a lot of thought, and feel comfortable expressing their attitudes
(Nosek, 2007)
• When people are explicitly undecided about an issue, their implicit attitudes predict their explicit
preferences and behaviour better than their explicit attitudes (Kurdi et al., 2019)
o Our experiential system is a bit of a backseat driver at times
• The cognitive system can override the experiential system, applying controlled reasoning and
decision-making processes. However, 3 conditions must be met
1. We are aware that controlled processes are necessary to counteract automatic processes
2. We are motivated to exert control over our thoughts and behaviours
3. We can consider our thoughts and actions at a more conscious level, such as having enough
energy and enough cognitive resources
o When we are distracted or fatigued, the experiential system takes over because it can
operate automatically without awareness, motivation, and ability
• Research suggests that complex decisions may best be made by integrating conscious and
unconscious processes (Nordgren et al., 2011).
3
BSc Psychology Year 1 Social Cognition
SOCIAL COGNITION
2.1. DESCRIBE THE PSYCHOLOGICAL MOTIVES INFLUENCING
THINKING ABOUT THE SOCIAL WORLD
THREE MOTIVES INFLUENCING THINKING
Coined in the theory of lay epistemology by Arie Kruglanski (1989, 2004)
The need to be accurate
• Motivation to achieve an accurate, truthful understanding of a given person, idea, or event
• Heightened when there are negative consequences for not making the correct decision
The need to reach closure quickly
• Motivation to reach closure by making any choice, or by making a certain choice, is sometimes
stronger than our motivation to make the most accurate choice
• We reach closure in our decision-making when we stop the thinking process and grab the first handy
judgment or decision, quickly and without extensive effort
• Often used when the stakes are low
• People want to reach closure quickly in situations where thinking is effortful or unpleasant
• Used more often under time pressure, if you are overwhelmed by other things, or tired
The need to confirm what one already prefers to believe
• Motivation to reach a conclusion that fits well with the specific beliefs and attitudes that one already
prefers
• More likely to use when those beliefs are central to their sense of meaning in life or personal worth
o Especially when they feel that their beliefs are being challenged by contradictory
information
INFLUENCES ON A PERSON’S THINKING
• Depends on the situation at the time
• Personality
o Some have a high need for closure and prefer to have simple and clear knowledge and feel
uncomfortable when in an ambiguous or confusing situation
o Others are more tolerant of complexity and ambiguity and prefer to have all the facts before
arriving at a conclusion
• Expertise
o The more one feels they are an expert in the area, the more they feel they are entitled to
have closed-minded or dogmatic views (Ottati et al., 2015)
1
,4PAHPSOP Psychology and Society Week 2
BSc Psychology Year 1 Social Cognition
2.2. COMPARE AND CONTRAST THE TWO (COGNITIVE AND
EXPERIENTIAL) SYSTEMS OF THINKING
Cognitive system: A rational and controlled way of thinking
Experimental system: An unconscious, intuitive, and automatic way of thinking
(Epstein, 1994; Kahneman, 2011; Sloman, 1996)
DUAL PROCESS THEORIES
Cognitive System
• Uses a system of rules to fit ideas into logical patterns
• detect when ideas fit and don’t fit
Explicit Attitudes
• The evaluations that we consciously make using the cognitive system (Gawronski & Bodenhausen,
2014)
Emotional System
• Guided by automatic or implicit associations among stimuli, concepts, and behaviours learned from
experience
• Used to make rapid, “good enough” judgments and decisions at times when using the cognitive
system’s logical style would be too slow and effortful (Epstein, 1990)
• We have no direct conscious access to our experiential system
Heuristics
• Mental shortcuts, or rules of thumb (used within the emotional system)
• Intuitive appeal of heuristics
Implicit Attitudes
• Based on automatic associations that make up the experiential system
• Can be passed on genetically (such as through evolution we have learned to have an automatic fear
of snakes; Öhman & Mineka, 2003)
• Mostly learned from our culture (such as negative attitudes towards eating pork or sex before
marriage)
The Unconscious is Smart
1. The motives that guide thinking often operate unconsciously
2
, 4PAHPSOP Psychology and Society Week 2
BSc Psychology Year 1 Social Cognition
• Both making decisions accurately or confirming our preferred beliefs (2 of the basic motives)
often happen with little or no consciousness
2. Memory consolidation occurs during sleep
• During sleep, our cognitive system shuts down, but our unconscious is organising what we’ve
learned and experienced
3. Unconscious mind wandering can help generate creative ideas
• Often, flashes of creative insight can arise spontaneously from the unconscious
4. Intuition has been shown to play an important role in good decision making and unconscious
feelings can steer us towards the best decision
• Wilson & Kraft (1993) found that people asked to rate their relationship satisfaction based on
their gut feelings, predicted whether they were still dating that partner several months later. For
the people who thought hard about their feelings, their rated satisfaction did not predict the
outcome of their relationship
5. Unconscious evaluations are essential for good judgment
• Damasio’s (2001) somatic marker hypothesis: there are certain somatic (i.e., bodily) changes
that people experience as emotions, which, in turn, become automatically associated with
positive or negative contexts. When the context is experienced again, the somatic changes
become a cue for what you do next, helping shape decisions without conscious understanding
• Bechara et al. (1996) found that those with damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, did
not show increased arousal and consistently chose risky desks in a gambling task since they
did not experience the somatic marker to warn them against the risks, unlike the healthy
participants
The Cognitive and Emotional Systems Together
• People’s implicit and explicit attitudes are more likely to align when they feel strongly about the
issue in question, have given it a lot of thought, and feel comfortable expressing their attitudes
(Nosek, 2007)
• When people are explicitly undecided about an issue, their implicit attitudes predict their explicit
preferences and behaviour better than their explicit attitudes (Kurdi et al., 2019)
o Our experiential system is a bit of a backseat driver at times
• The cognitive system can override the experiential system, applying controlled reasoning and
decision-making processes. However, 3 conditions must be met
1. We are aware that controlled processes are necessary to counteract automatic processes
2. We are motivated to exert control over our thoughts and behaviours
3. We can consider our thoughts and actions at a more conscious level, such as having enough
energy and enough cognitive resources
o When we are distracted or fatigued, the experiential system takes over because it can
operate automatically without awareness, motivation, and ability
• Research suggests that complex decisions may best be made by integrating conscious and
unconscious processes (Nordgren et al., 2011).
3
