introduction to psychology chapter 12 social cognition and emotion
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INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY
Chapter 12
Social Cognition and Emotion
At the end of this Chapter you should be able to:
Learn the importance of perceiving and understanding others
Learn the importance of perceiving and understanding ourselves
Understand the Attitudes
Learn about Emotion
Perceiving and understanding others
Social Cognition: How we perceive and think about ourselves and each other; how we process and make meaning about our encounters
One focus: why did someone else act as they did? We make attributions about others’ actions – and about our own
Attribution
Kelly: early social psychologist– According to Kelly… we specifically look for
ways that events co-vary: “cause and effect”– Or: Causal attributions
2 types of attributions– Situational attributions and Dispositional
attributions Attributional styles also vary by culture
– E.g., individualistic and collectivistic
Fundamental Attribution Error
In an individualistic culture, the most common error made is the fundamental attribution error; a bias to explain others’ behavior by attributing it to their disposition, our own to our situation
In collectivistic cultures: focus on group actions / contextual cues to explain behavior
Actor-observer differenceActor-observer difference: : Observer who watched from Observer who watched from behind Actor A believed that B controlled the conversation, behind Actor A believed that B controlled the conversation, and the observer who watched from behind Actor B and the observer who watched from behind Actor B thought the reverse. The observer who watched from thought the reverse. The observer who watched from midway between the two believed that both were equally midway between the two believed that both were equally influential.influential.
Person Perception and Cognitive Schemas
Cognitive schemas: shortcuts when limited information is available
Schemas: operate when trying to explain why people behave the way they do
Implicit theories of personality: our schemas for
- How we remember other people– How we perceive them– How we interpret what they have done
Stereotypes
One type of schematic thinking – Stereotypes often are used when we think
about identified groups of people: e.g., Greeks, women, old people, etc.
Origins of stereotypes: explicitly and implicitly communicated to us by others
Used more often when we have little or no exposure in daily life to that group
Effects of stereotypes:
Self-fulfilling prophecies– We often pick up on others’ expectations for us
(dictated by a stereotype) and behave in that way
Stereotype threat – When a stereotype about us is made salient, in
a “performance” situation, we often feel under threat – which holds performance down
– Poor performance then may confirm stereotype
Combating prejudice
“Robbers cave” experiment (Sherif, 1966):– When groups compete, prejudice and hostility
grow– When groups collaborate/cooperate to
achieve an important task, prejudice and hostility decrease
– To achieve this:Status must be held equal for all membersContact must be sustained for a long time
Perceiving and understanding ourselves
Social psychology: also concerned with how we perceive ourselves– We are “actors” in the drama of the social
world– We seek to understand our own behavior
as well
Attitudes
Attitude: belief, feeling, predisposition to act in a certain way
Cover a wide range of topics about which we may feel quite strongly: nuclear power, abortion, bilingual education, etc.
Attitude Formation
Occur as a result of…– Classical conditioning
Advertising for expensive car always accompanied by beautiful surroundings/people
– Operant conditioningIf a reward given for behavior, attitude for
that behavior will change– Observational learning
Attitude Change: Being Persuaded by Others
Central route to persuasion: we attend to the message, the message-bearer, and make decisions accordingly
Peripheral route to persuasion: context in which information is given is capable of determining our attitude
Attitude Change: Being Persuaded by Ourselves: Cognitive Dissonance
Festinger & Carlsmith (1959): Under different conditions of reward, people justify behavior with different explanations
“Insufficient justification”: the notion that we try to justify our own behavior; if we cannot justify it, we experience dissonance between beliefs and actions
We try to resolve that “cognitive dissonance” through the process of bringing attitudes in line with our behavior
Emotion
– Emotions encompass: changes in behavior, changes in subjective experience, and changes in physiology
– Emotions: briefer and more targeted than moods
Theories of emotion: developed for over a century
Common sense notions: we feel an emotion and then take action: feel fear, then run!
James-Lange Theory of Emotion
Posited the reverse:– Emotional experiences cause emotional
behavior– See a bear, run, “feel” our behavior as fear
only after we run– Support: facial feedback theory
The configuration in which we hold our facial muscles influences the emotion we then claim as our experience
James Lang theoryJames Lang theory: We see a dangerous object : We see a dangerous object (attacking bear); this triggers a bodily response (attacking bear); this triggers a bodily response (running, pounding heart), and the awareness of (running, pounding heart), and the awareness of this response is emotion (fear).this response is emotion (fear).
Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion
Critique of James-Lange: our bodily experiences happen too slowly to be the source of our emotions
Cannon-Bard: physiological and experiential responses occur simultaneously
Both are triggered by changes in brain-state
Cannon-Bard theory: A stimulus (such as a bear) Cannon-Bard theory: A stimulus (such as a bear) triggers changes in the brain, and this brain triggers changes in the brain, and this brain activity then causes changes in both physiology activity then causes changes in both physiology and experienceand experience
Functions of Emotion
Help set up the body for reaction to threat/danger: “fight or flight” reaction and the accompanying emotion of fear
Help recover from stress Aid in marking important memories Signal social intent/connection
Emotion Regulation
Two primary forms:– Cognitive reappraisal: decrease emotional
response by re-interpretation of stimuli– Suppression: Decrease in emotional
reaction by decreasing strength of facial expression or denying other behavior appropriate to that emotion (e.g., refusing to frown or cry when sad)
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