Lecture 1: history and concepts
- What is social cognition
o the study of how humans make sense of and construct their social
realities
o Focuses on
▪ Person
• Who is processing information
• Personality
• Motivations
• Prior beliefs
▪ Situation
• What is happening
• Context
• Environment
▪ Cognitive processes
• Memory
• Attention
• Thinking
• Judgement
• Decision-making
▪ Social reality
• The resulting interpretation of the world
o Core formula
▪ Situation + person --> cognitive processes --> social reality
▪ Different people can experience the same event completely
differently because they process it differently.
o Example: the fukushima disaster
▪ Key ide: same event, different interpretations --> different behavior
• Anxious alex
o High neuroticism
o Pessimistic
▪ Germany has nuclear plants too, we are all
going to die
o Votes for the green party
• Curious corinna
o High need for cognition
o Interested in science
▪ Researches nuclear safety and energy policy
o Decides not to vote green
, ▪ The fukushima example demonstrates
• Not different situatuion but different cognitive processing
of the same situation
- The two pillars of social cognition
o Phenomenology
▪ Systematic description of how people experience themselves and
their social environment
• Subjective experiences
• Everyday thinking
• Lay theories
• Common sense psychology
o How do people experience reality?
o Cognitive psychology
▪ Study how cognition is organized and used
• Memory
• Attention
• Perception
• Information processing
o How does the mind create that experience?
- Why is social cognition important
o Marketing
▪ Understanding consumer behaviour
o Public policy
▪ Designing effective interventions
o Management
▪ Improving productivity
o Public relations
▪ Influencing public opinion
o Journalism
▪ Communicating effectively
o Ngo
▪ Mobilizing supporters
- History of psychology: behaviorism
o Radical behaviorism (skinner) (stimulus – black box – behavior)
▪ Psychology should study observable behavior not cognition
(because cognition cannot be observed directly)
▪ Why?
• No evidence that cognitions cause behaviors
• Cognitions may simple be post hoc rationalizations
o People invent explanations after they act
, • Operant conditioning was sufficient to explain behavior
o Methodological behaviorism (john watson)
▪ How can we measure cognition?
• We cannot directly observe them --> study only observable
behavior
- Cognitive revolution: psychologists became dissatisfied with behaviorism
o Instead of observing thought directly
▪ Manipulate the environment –> observe behavior changes --> infer
mental states
o Why was the cognitive revolution important
▪ Cognitions can explain behavior in ways behaviorism cannot
o Study: cognitive dissonance (festinger and carlsmith)
▪ Purpose: to show that internal cognitions influence behavior and
attitudes
▪ Method: participants completed an extremely boring task
• e.g.: turning pegs / moving objects
▪ Afterwards:
• Control group: no lie
• 20$ group: asked to tell next participant the task was
interesting
• 1$ group: Asked to tell next participant the task was
interesting.
▪ Then
• Participants rated how much they liked the task
▪ Results
• Control: thought the task was boring
• 20$: still thought it was boring
• 1$: reported liking the task significantly more
▪ Why?
• Cognitive dissonance: an unpleasant state caused by
inconsistent cognitions that motivates people to reduce
discomfort
• 20$ group thought: i lied but got paid a lot
• 1$ group: i lied but i only got 1 dollar --> cognitive
dissonance --> thinking i must actually have liked the task
to reduce discomfort --> attitude changes
▪ Conclusion
• People sometimes change attitudes to justify behavior
• This was diffucult for behaviorism to explain
o Criticism
, ▪ Recent research has struggled to consistently replicate cognitive
dissonance findings
▪ Only participants who agreed to lie were analyzed. People could
have reduced discomfort by simply refusing.
- Rationality and homo economicus
o Economics assumes people are (von neumann and morgenstern)
▪ Rational
▪ Utility maximizing
▪ Objective
▪ Logical
▪ Bias free
o Problem
▪ Humans often make poor decisions
• Smoking, drugs
▪ Thus --> humans' behavior is not always rational
- Asch – conformity study
o Will social pressure change obious judgement
▪ Task: perticipants saw lines
• Which comparison line matches the reference line?
• Correct answer was obvious
▪ Conditions
• Control: alone
• Experimental: 7 confederates and 1 participant:
confederates intentionally gave wrong answers
▪ Results
• Control: almost always correct
• Experimental: many participants conformed to the groups
incorrect answer
o Why did people conform
▪ Three explanations
• Normative social influence
o Wanting social approval: i dont want to look stupid
• Informational social influence
o Believing others know more: maybe they see
something i dont
• Construction of social reality
o Actually, perceiving reality differently: maybe their
answer really is correct
o Individual differences
▪ Not everyone conformed
- What is social cognition
o the study of how humans make sense of and construct their social
realities
o Focuses on
▪ Person
• Who is processing information
• Personality
• Motivations
• Prior beliefs
▪ Situation
• What is happening
• Context
• Environment
▪ Cognitive processes
• Memory
• Attention
• Thinking
• Judgement
• Decision-making
▪ Social reality
• The resulting interpretation of the world
o Core formula
▪ Situation + person --> cognitive processes --> social reality
▪ Different people can experience the same event completely
differently because they process it differently.
o Example: the fukushima disaster
▪ Key ide: same event, different interpretations --> different behavior
• Anxious alex
o High neuroticism
o Pessimistic
▪ Germany has nuclear plants too, we are all
going to die
o Votes for the green party
• Curious corinna
o High need for cognition
o Interested in science
▪ Researches nuclear safety and energy policy
o Decides not to vote green
, ▪ The fukushima example demonstrates
• Not different situatuion but different cognitive processing
of the same situation
- The two pillars of social cognition
o Phenomenology
▪ Systematic description of how people experience themselves and
their social environment
• Subjective experiences
• Everyday thinking
• Lay theories
• Common sense psychology
o How do people experience reality?
o Cognitive psychology
▪ Study how cognition is organized and used
• Memory
• Attention
• Perception
• Information processing
o How does the mind create that experience?
- Why is social cognition important
o Marketing
▪ Understanding consumer behaviour
o Public policy
▪ Designing effective interventions
o Management
▪ Improving productivity
o Public relations
▪ Influencing public opinion
o Journalism
▪ Communicating effectively
o Ngo
▪ Mobilizing supporters
- History of psychology: behaviorism
o Radical behaviorism (skinner) (stimulus – black box – behavior)
▪ Psychology should study observable behavior not cognition
(because cognition cannot be observed directly)
▪ Why?
• No evidence that cognitions cause behaviors
• Cognitions may simple be post hoc rationalizations
o People invent explanations after they act
, • Operant conditioning was sufficient to explain behavior
o Methodological behaviorism (john watson)
▪ How can we measure cognition?
• We cannot directly observe them --> study only observable
behavior
- Cognitive revolution: psychologists became dissatisfied with behaviorism
o Instead of observing thought directly
▪ Manipulate the environment –> observe behavior changes --> infer
mental states
o Why was the cognitive revolution important
▪ Cognitions can explain behavior in ways behaviorism cannot
o Study: cognitive dissonance (festinger and carlsmith)
▪ Purpose: to show that internal cognitions influence behavior and
attitudes
▪ Method: participants completed an extremely boring task
• e.g.: turning pegs / moving objects
▪ Afterwards:
• Control group: no lie
• 20$ group: asked to tell next participant the task was
interesting
• 1$ group: Asked to tell next participant the task was
interesting.
▪ Then
• Participants rated how much they liked the task
▪ Results
• Control: thought the task was boring
• 20$: still thought it was boring
• 1$: reported liking the task significantly more
▪ Why?
• Cognitive dissonance: an unpleasant state caused by
inconsistent cognitions that motivates people to reduce
discomfort
• 20$ group thought: i lied but got paid a lot
• 1$ group: i lied but i only got 1 dollar --> cognitive
dissonance --> thinking i must actually have liked the task
to reduce discomfort --> attitude changes
▪ Conclusion
• People sometimes change attitudes to justify behavior
• This was diffucult for behaviorism to explain
o Criticism
, ▪ Recent research has struggled to consistently replicate cognitive
dissonance findings
▪ Only participants who agreed to lie were analyzed. People could
have reduced discomfort by simply refusing.
- Rationality and homo economicus
o Economics assumes people are (von neumann and morgenstern)
▪ Rational
▪ Utility maximizing
▪ Objective
▪ Logical
▪ Bias free
o Problem
▪ Humans often make poor decisions
• Smoking, drugs
▪ Thus --> humans' behavior is not always rational
- Asch – conformity study
o Will social pressure change obious judgement
▪ Task: perticipants saw lines
• Which comparison line matches the reference line?
• Correct answer was obvious
▪ Conditions
• Control: alone
• Experimental: 7 confederates and 1 participant:
confederates intentionally gave wrong answers
▪ Results
• Control: almost always correct
• Experimental: many participants conformed to the groups
incorrect answer
o Why did people conform
▪ Three explanations
• Normative social influence
o Wanting social approval: i dont want to look stupid
• Informational social influence
o Believing others know more: maybe they see
something i dont
• Construction of social reality
o Actually, perceiving reality differently: maybe their
answer really is correct
o Individual differences
▪ Not everyone conformed
