SLK 220
Chapter 5: Social cognition
1. What is social cognition:
Social cognition:
o a movement in social psychology that began in the 1970’s that focused on
thoughts about people and about social relationships
researchers developed methods and techniques to directly and
indirectly observe mental processes so that these processes could be
studied scientifically
social cognition became widely used in the 1980s
the first mental process studied:
o attitudes
o the motivation to be consistent in one’s attitudes
one of the most important steps in scientific study of thinking in social psychology:
o development of the attribution theory in 1960s and 1970s
attribution theory – focuses on how people interpret the causes of
events, such as external pressures or internal traits
1.2Thinking about people:
People think a lot about other people;
o The human brain evolved to solve problems in the physical environment and
people use their brains to think about each other = i.e. the human brain
evolved so that people can rely on each other for information and help.
The human mind is designed to participate in society;
o Meaning its primary job is dealing with other people
o Studies show that thinking is for arguing – in the sense of trying to convince
others
Therefore, the brain is for communication and influencing others.
o This serves the purpose – inner processes serve interpersonal functions
1.3Why people think, and why they don’t:
Human beings have a brain the size of a large grapefruit
o It weighs about 1.5 kg
o Human can do more and better thinking than any other animal on earth
1
, Cognitive miser:
o A term used to describe people’s reluctance to do much extra thinking
The cognitive miser would try to avoid thinking to hard or too much
When people’s capacity for thinking is already preoccupied; they tend to take even
more shortcuts to reduce further need for thought
o However, they will think hard when engaged in a dispute with someone else
o People tend to think to great length about things that interest them
Example: Albert Einstein published 258 articles dealing with issues in
physics
o People tend to think a great deal about their relationship partner or particular
events
Thinking difficulty differs:
o As the duplex mind indicates:
The deliberate thinking system requires a lot more effort than
automatic thinking system
o People generally try to conserve effort by relying on the automatic system –
however, the automatic system is not very good at some types of thinking such
as
Logical reasoning and math
Therefore, the automatic mind develops various shortcuts
which gives rough estimates or pretty good answers
1.4 Automatic and deliberate thinking:
Stroop test:
o A standard measure of effortful control over responses requiring participants
to identify the color of the word (which may name a different color)
Example : BLUE (ink color red)
o James Ridley Stroop – described the Stroop effect in 1935
Stroop effect:
o In the Stroop test, the finding that people have difficulty overriding the
automatic tendency to read the word rather than name the ink color
It takes conscious effort to override the automatic response
A recent study reported; that the automatic system and the deliberate system learn in
different ways and can’t necessarily substitute for each other
Five elements that distinguish automatic from deliberate processes:
o Awareness
When people are engaging in automatic thinking- they may not be
aware that they are thinking for example; when people are driving.
o Intention
Automatic thinking is not guided by intention- it may happen whether
you intend it or not for example the Stroop effect
o Control
2
, Automatic thoughts are not subject to deliberate control , so it can be
difficult to avoid certain thoughts that have been cued
o Effort
Automatic thoughts do not involve effort where as deliberate though
often involve mental effort
o Efficiency
Automatic thoughts are highly efficient unlike deliberate thoughts that
can be slow
Automatic thinking involves little effort because it relies on knowledge structures
o Knowledge structures:
Organized packets of information that are stored in memory
These structures form when a set of related concepts is
frequently brought to mind or activated = so strongly linked
that activation of one part of the set automatically activates the
whole set
When people think about a concept – it becomes activated in
memory, related concepts also become activated
Recent studies on deliberate thinkers:
o Deliberate thinkers are better at knowing what they know
These thinkers know there are different answers to questions = know
the intuitive answer and the more in dept thought through answer
o As automatic thinkers:
Only know the answer that intuition gives, so they are less likely to
know whether they got it right
These kinds of thinkers tend to be overconfident rather than
knowing what they know
1.5 Schemas:
Schemas:
o Knowledge structure that represents substantial information about a concept,
its attributes and its relationships to other concepts
o Example: Schema = dancing
Attributes = rhythm, movement, music shoes, lyrics
Schemas make the complex world easier to understand
o Help organize information by connecting beliefs that are related to each other
o Help the mind form expectancies
One type of event that sparks deliberate thinking is a violation of
expectancies – as people stop and analyze what happened
o People form an understanding of the social world
o People develop schemas through experiences
1.6 Scripts:
Scripts:
3
, o Knowledge structure that define situations and guide behavior, it contains
information about how people behave under varying circumstances
In memory; scripts define situations and guide behavior
o The person first selects a script to represent the situation, assumes a role in the
script and behaves accordingly
Scripts can be learned by direct experience or observing others
People learn scripts and schemas that influence how they:
o Perceive
o Interpret
o Judge
o Respond
To events in their lives – these various knowledge structures start to
develop from early childhood
The pervasiveness, interconnectedness and accessibility of any learned knowledge
structure is largely determined:
o By the frequency with which it is encountered, imagined and used
With great frequency, even complex knowledge structures can be
automated.
1.7 Priming:
Priming:
o Activating an idea in someone’s mind so that related ideas are more accessible
A given stimulus activated mental pathways, thereby enhancing their
accessibility
o “The wakening of associations” – William James
Once information has been primed, it can influence the way we interpret new
information
o The priming does not have to be conscious, some primes are subliminal, or
below the level of conscious awareness
o The power of priming to activate concepts can influence subsequent thinking
Research often used priming as a technique to trigger automatic
processes
1.8Framing:
Framing:
o Whether messages stress potential gains (positively framed) or potential losses
( negatively framed)
o Framing refers to how information is presented to others
Gain-framed appeal:
o Focuses on how doing something will add to your health
For example; flossing your teeth daily will remove bacteria
Loss-framed appeal:
4
Chapter 5: Social cognition
1. What is social cognition:
Social cognition:
o a movement in social psychology that began in the 1970’s that focused on
thoughts about people and about social relationships
researchers developed methods and techniques to directly and
indirectly observe mental processes so that these processes could be
studied scientifically
social cognition became widely used in the 1980s
the first mental process studied:
o attitudes
o the motivation to be consistent in one’s attitudes
one of the most important steps in scientific study of thinking in social psychology:
o development of the attribution theory in 1960s and 1970s
attribution theory – focuses on how people interpret the causes of
events, such as external pressures or internal traits
1.2Thinking about people:
People think a lot about other people;
o The human brain evolved to solve problems in the physical environment and
people use their brains to think about each other = i.e. the human brain
evolved so that people can rely on each other for information and help.
The human mind is designed to participate in society;
o Meaning its primary job is dealing with other people
o Studies show that thinking is for arguing – in the sense of trying to convince
others
Therefore, the brain is for communication and influencing others.
o This serves the purpose – inner processes serve interpersonal functions
1.3Why people think, and why they don’t:
Human beings have a brain the size of a large grapefruit
o It weighs about 1.5 kg
o Human can do more and better thinking than any other animal on earth
1
, Cognitive miser:
o A term used to describe people’s reluctance to do much extra thinking
The cognitive miser would try to avoid thinking to hard or too much
When people’s capacity for thinking is already preoccupied; they tend to take even
more shortcuts to reduce further need for thought
o However, they will think hard when engaged in a dispute with someone else
o People tend to think to great length about things that interest them
Example: Albert Einstein published 258 articles dealing with issues in
physics
o People tend to think a great deal about their relationship partner or particular
events
Thinking difficulty differs:
o As the duplex mind indicates:
The deliberate thinking system requires a lot more effort than
automatic thinking system
o People generally try to conserve effort by relying on the automatic system –
however, the automatic system is not very good at some types of thinking such
as
Logical reasoning and math
Therefore, the automatic mind develops various shortcuts
which gives rough estimates or pretty good answers
1.4 Automatic and deliberate thinking:
Stroop test:
o A standard measure of effortful control over responses requiring participants
to identify the color of the word (which may name a different color)
Example : BLUE (ink color red)
o James Ridley Stroop – described the Stroop effect in 1935
Stroop effect:
o In the Stroop test, the finding that people have difficulty overriding the
automatic tendency to read the word rather than name the ink color
It takes conscious effort to override the automatic response
A recent study reported; that the automatic system and the deliberate system learn in
different ways and can’t necessarily substitute for each other
Five elements that distinguish automatic from deliberate processes:
o Awareness
When people are engaging in automatic thinking- they may not be
aware that they are thinking for example; when people are driving.
o Intention
Automatic thinking is not guided by intention- it may happen whether
you intend it or not for example the Stroop effect
o Control
2
, Automatic thoughts are not subject to deliberate control , so it can be
difficult to avoid certain thoughts that have been cued
o Effort
Automatic thoughts do not involve effort where as deliberate though
often involve mental effort
o Efficiency
Automatic thoughts are highly efficient unlike deliberate thoughts that
can be slow
Automatic thinking involves little effort because it relies on knowledge structures
o Knowledge structures:
Organized packets of information that are stored in memory
These structures form when a set of related concepts is
frequently brought to mind or activated = so strongly linked
that activation of one part of the set automatically activates the
whole set
When people think about a concept – it becomes activated in
memory, related concepts also become activated
Recent studies on deliberate thinkers:
o Deliberate thinkers are better at knowing what they know
These thinkers know there are different answers to questions = know
the intuitive answer and the more in dept thought through answer
o As automatic thinkers:
Only know the answer that intuition gives, so they are less likely to
know whether they got it right
These kinds of thinkers tend to be overconfident rather than
knowing what they know
1.5 Schemas:
Schemas:
o Knowledge structure that represents substantial information about a concept,
its attributes and its relationships to other concepts
o Example: Schema = dancing
Attributes = rhythm, movement, music shoes, lyrics
Schemas make the complex world easier to understand
o Help organize information by connecting beliefs that are related to each other
o Help the mind form expectancies
One type of event that sparks deliberate thinking is a violation of
expectancies – as people stop and analyze what happened
o People form an understanding of the social world
o People develop schemas through experiences
1.6 Scripts:
Scripts:
3
, o Knowledge structure that define situations and guide behavior, it contains
information about how people behave under varying circumstances
In memory; scripts define situations and guide behavior
o The person first selects a script to represent the situation, assumes a role in the
script and behaves accordingly
Scripts can be learned by direct experience or observing others
People learn scripts and schemas that influence how they:
o Perceive
o Interpret
o Judge
o Respond
To events in their lives – these various knowledge structures start to
develop from early childhood
The pervasiveness, interconnectedness and accessibility of any learned knowledge
structure is largely determined:
o By the frequency with which it is encountered, imagined and used
With great frequency, even complex knowledge structures can be
automated.
1.7 Priming:
Priming:
o Activating an idea in someone’s mind so that related ideas are more accessible
A given stimulus activated mental pathways, thereby enhancing their
accessibility
o “The wakening of associations” – William James
Once information has been primed, it can influence the way we interpret new
information
o The priming does not have to be conscious, some primes are subliminal, or
below the level of conscious awareness
o The power of priming to activate concepts can influence subsequent thinking
Research often used priming as a technique to trigger automatic
processes
1.8Framing:
Framing:
o Whether messages stress potential gains (positively framed) or potential losses
( negatively framed)
o Framing refers to how information is presented to others
Gain-framed appeal:
o Focuses on how doing something will add to your health
For example; flossing your teeth daily will remove bacteria
Loss-framed appeal:
4
