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CHAPTER 17
Social Cognition
OUTLINE
I.
II.
SOCIAL INFLUENCES ON THE SELF
Two important components of the self are self-concept, the beliefs we have about our
characteristics, and self-esteem, our evaluation of ourselves.
A.
Social Comparison
According to the theory of social comparison, people use other people as a basis of
comparison for self-evaluation when no objective criteria exist. Social comparisons involve
comparing oneself to groups of other people called reference groups. Temporal comparisons
involve comparing one’s own past state to a present state. As changes occur over the course
of life, people change reference groups. People may find their self-evaluations to be poor in
comparison to others in the new group and begin to experience relative deprivation. Usually
people do not compare themselves to others who are not in their immediate reference group.
Chronic use of extreme reference groups can lead to depression and anxiety.
B.
Focus on Research Methods: Self-esteem and the Ultimate “Terror”
Terror management theory proposes that humans cope with anxiety, especially anxiety
related to knowledge that death will eventually occur, by establishing and maintaining high
self-esteem. To test whether high self-esteem indeed buffers anxiety, researchers had 150
North American students participate in studies in which self-esteem was manipulated by
having participants take a test and providing either positive or neutral feedback on it. Next,
participants were placed in either an anxiety-provoking or neutral situation. Afterwards,
anxiety was measured. High self-esteem participants were less anxious in the anxietyprovoking situation than neutral self-esteem participants. Researchers concluded that the
results supported terror management theory. Future research must examine other ways
people manage anxiety, with particular emphasis on other types of cultures.
C.
Social Identity Theory
Many people form a social identity (also known as group identity), which may create
associations based on nationality, gender, or religion. However, social identities can foster
prejudice, discrimination, and intergroup conflict based on the “us versus them”
phenomenon.
D.
Self-Schemas
One’s mental representation of self, or self-schema, can be unified or differentiated. People
with a unified self-schema interpret failure as implying incompetence in all areas of their
lives, whereas those with differentiated self-schemas limit feelings of failure to just the one
failed life area. Self-schemas also contain future, or possible, selves. Discrepancies between
the present and desired future selves can contribute to feelings of depression.
SOCIAL PERCEPTION
Social perception refers to the processes through which people interpret information about others,
draw inferences about them, and develop mental representations of them.
A.
The Role of Schemas
People often use schemas, or mental representations, to perceive and interpret new
information. Schemas influence our processing, retention, and judgment of new information.
B.
First Impressions
Schemas allow us to quickly categorize a person we have just met. The first impression is
formed quickly and is difficult to change.
1.
C.
Forming Impressions. Negative information is given more weight than positive
information.
2. Lasting Impressions. First impressions are difficult to change because they shape
interpretations of new information. People tend to remember their initial general
impressions better than later corrections.
3. Self-Fulfilling Prophecies. An initial impression can create a self-fulfilling prophecy.
People behave in ways that elicit behaviors consistent with their first impression of the
person.
Explaining Behavior: Attribution
We make attributions about a person’s behavior according to the internal characteristics of a
person or to the external characteristics of the situation.
1.
D.
E.
Sources of Attributions. How people go about making attributions depends on
consensus, consistency, and distinctiveness. An internal attribution is made if
consensus is low, consistency is high, and distinctiveness is low. An external
attribution is made if consistency and consensus are both either low or high and
distinctiveness is high.
2. Culture and Attribution. Individuals from different cultures tend to make different
kinds of attributions. Given the same information, individuals from one culture may
make internal attributions, whereas individuals from another culture may make
external attributions.
Biases in Attribution
1. The Fundamental Attribution Error. Attributional biases are tendencies to
systematically distort one’s view of behavior. The fundamental attribution error is the
tendency to attribute other people’s behavior to internal causes.
2. Other Attributional Biases. The actor-observer bias is the tendency to attribute others’
behavior to internal causes and our own behavior to external causes, especially when
the behavior is inappropriate or involves failure. The self-serving bias is the tendency
to take credit (make an internal attribution) for success and blame external causes for
failures.
The Self-Protective Functions of Social Cognition
As in the self-serving bias, people are often motivated to think in ways that protect them
from upsetting or threatening conclusions. Many people exhibit a pattern of unrealistic
optimism; they believe that positive events are more likely and negative events less likely to
happen to them than to others. Unique invulnerability contributes to unrealistic optimism.
III. ATTITUDES
An attitude is a tendency to think, feel, or act positively or negatively towards an object in our
environment.
A.
The Structure of Attitudes
Attitudes have three components: cognitive (belief), affective (emotional), and behavioral
(way of acting). These three components are not always strongly aligned. Four factors
determine whether behavior will be consistent with other attitude components: agreement
between the cognitive and affective components, attitude consistency with subjective norms,
perceived control of the attitudinal behavior, and direct experience with the attitude object.
Another theory suggests that behavior will be affected by how easily interconnected
evaluations and beliefs come to mind.
B.
Forming Attitudes
Learning plays an important role in attitude formation. Social learning is especially
important; classical and operant conditioning can also produce positive or negative attitudes.
The mere exposure effect plays a role in attitude formation; all else being equal, positive
attitudes are positively correlated with exposure frequency.
C.
Changing Attitudes
Persuasive communications can change attitudes, depending on several factors.
1.
D.
Two Routes to Attitude Change. Attitude change depends on three things:
characteristics of the communicator, message content, and audience. According to the
elaboration likelihood model of attitude change, messages can change attitudes through
two routes: peripheral (generally ignores content) and central (focuses on logic and
content). The peripheral route is more likely when a person is busy thinking about
something else.
2. Cognitive Dissonance Theory. Cognitive dissonance theory holds that when attitudes
and behaviors are inconsistent (or “dissonant”), people feel uneasy and are motivated
to make them consistent. One way to do so is to change the inconsistent attitude.
3. Self-Perception Theory. The self-perception theory suggests that when situations occur
in which people are unsure about their attitudes, they will observe their own behavior
and infer what their attitudes must have been.
Linkages: Biological and Social Psychology
Social neuroscience is an emerging field that focuses on the influence of social processes on
biological phenomenon, and vice versa. Research showing stress’s health consequences
points to the importance of this field. New research shows that the amygdala is more active
when a European American prejudiced person looks at a picture of an African American
than at a picture of a European American. Though still in its infancy, social cognitive
neuroscience shows promise for illuminating links between cognitive, social and biological
phenomena.
IV. PREJUDICE AND STEREOTYPES
Stereotypes are general impressions or schemas of entire groups of people. They often lead to
prejudice, a positive or negative attitude toward the group. The behavioral component of prejudice
is often discrimination.
A.
B.
Theories of Prejudice and Stereotyping
1. Motivational Theories. People with authoritarian personalities tend to accept
traditional values and unquestioningly follow orders of authority figures. To protect
themselves from threats, they strongly identify with their own ethnic, cultural, or social
group—known as their in-group—and they develop negative stereotypes of people in
their out-groups.
2. Cognitive Theories. Given the complexity of the world, people tend to categorize
others in groups. Grouping people into social categories can result in stereotypes and
illusory correlations between behavior and an ethnicity.
3. Learning Theories. Children often learn stereotypes from their parents, their peers, and
others.
Reducing Prejudice
The contact hypothesis states that stereotypes and prejudices about a group should be
reduced as friendly contact between members of equal standing in the two groups is
increased. Research suggests that intergroup contact has positive effects when members
have equal social and economic status, are in a situation that demands interdependence and
cooperation, interact on a one-on-one basis, and are perceived as typical of that group.
C.
Thinking Critically: Is Ethnic Prejudice Too Ingrained Ever to Be Eliminated?
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
People who deny having prejudices still have negative stereotypes about and show
discrimination toward ethnic out-groups. These negative attitudes run so deep in all of us
that ethnic prejudice can never be eliminated.
What evidence is available to support the assertion?
The theory of aversive racism suggests that although many European Americans find ethnic
prejudice aversive, they will still display it, especially when they don’t have to admit that
they are prejudiced. Several studies show that people who consider themselves unprejudiced
are inclined to discriminate. Priming studies show that negative stereotypes can be activated
even among people who believe they are free of prejudice.
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
If people are unaware of their prejudices, such views will be difficult to change. But
unconscious stereotypes may not affect everyone in the same way.
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
Responses of nonprejudiced people need to be compared in different experimental
situations. One study found that when unconscious stereotypes are activated in
nonprejudiced people, the effects are more subtle.
What conclusions are most reasonable?
Prejudice may be subconscious in some people. We should carry on the fight against
conscious stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination.
V.
INTERPERSONAL ATTRACTION
A. Keys to Attraction
1. The Environment. Proximity is an important predictor of attraction. The more often
people interact, the more they tend to like each other. The situation in which people
meet also influences attraction. If people meet others in positive circumstances, they
are more likely to be attracted to each other.
2. Similarity. People tend to like others who have attitudes similar to their own, especially
attitudes about other people. Attitudes influence attraction, and attraction influences
attitudes.
3. Physical Attractiveness. People tend to like attractive people. But, according to the
matching hypothesis, people tend to form committed relationships with people who are
similar in physical attractiveness.
B. Intimate Relationships
1. Intimate Relationships. Interdependence and commitment to the relationship are the
key components of intimate relationships.
2. Analyzing Love. Sternberg’s triangular theory of love suggests that love is a function of
intimacy, passion, and commitment. Romantic love is characterized by passion and
intimacy. Companionate love is marked by commitment and intimacy. The most
complete and satisfying love is consummate love, which includes a high level of
passion, intimacy, and commitment.
3. Strong and Weak Marriages. People report high levels of marital satisfaction when the
relationship is perceived as equitable. Marriages that will end in divorce do not involve
more negative communications between partners than marriages that last, but they do
involve significantly fewer positive communications.