Social Cognition: From Brains to Culture - Fiske & Taylor - 3rd edition - BulletPoints

What is social cognition and which place does it have in psychology? - Bulletpoints 1

• Asch came up with two models explaining how people form particular impressions of others they haven’t seen before:
  • The Configural Model, which hypothesizes that people form a unified view of others which denies variation.
  • The Algebraic Model, which hypothesizes that people add up traits to form a total picture.

• According to the elemental approach (Wundt, Ebbinghaus), information comes to us, forming ideas. These ideas then become associated through contiguity in space and time.
• According to the holistic approach (Gestalt; Kant), the mind organizes the world according to an order of grouping.
• In social psychology there are five general models of the social thinker that can be identified:
  1. The consistency seeker,.
  2. The naive scientist.
  3. The cognitive miser.
  4. The motivated tactician.
  5. The activated actor.

What are the dual modes in social cognition? - Bulletpoints 2

• People have the tendency to rely on relatively automatic processes depending on situational demands (the motivated tactician model).
• Subliminal priming is when a concept will be activated in our mind by some environmental cue that doesn’t penetrate the surface of our consciousness. Postconscious automaticity (conscious priming) occurs when we are consciously aware of a prime, but we have no awareness of how that thing impacts our subsequent behavior.
• Chronically accessible concepts are those attributes we learn to associate with others through experience (via proceduralization).
• A controlled process is one in which the perceiver’s conscious intent determines how a process operates. Examples:
  1. Goal-dependent automaticity (although mostly automatic, it requires some intentional processing and depends on the task being undertaken).
  2. Goal-inconsistent automaticity.
  3. Intentional thought.
• Our tactics to move between unconscious, automatic thoughts and controlled, conscious thoughts depend on our motives. Our main motives are:
  1. A sense of belonging.
  2. Understanding.
  3. A sense of control and dependency.
  4. Self-enhancement.
  5. Trusting the ingroup.
• Depending on the circumstances, people always try to make sense of themselves and other people around them in more and less thoughtful ways. There are several models that focus on these ways:
  1. The dual-process model of impression formation.
  2. The dual-process model of overconfident attribution.
  3. The elaboration likelihood model.
  4. The unimode model.

Which role does attention and encoding have in social cognition? - Bulletpoints 3

• Attention and encoding are the first steps in mental representation. Someone’s face is a very important social driver of attention.
• One’s noticeability (salience) can have a big impact on how we feel and interact. Social salience is context-dependent; we are socially salient whenever we present some sort of novelty.
• A stimulus is vivid when it is emotionally interesting, concrete, and imagery provoking, and close by in a sensory, temporal, or spatial way. Vivid information provokes internal visual representations, is more persuasive, and has a greater emotional impact than pallid information.
• Our brains naturally categorize and organize information. These categories may be more or less accessible, depending on priming.
• According to the selective accessibility model of assimilation and contrast, priming can affect our interpretation of things and people. Priming often results in the assimilation of stimuli into accessible categories. However, sometimes we see contrast effects. Assimilation and contrast depend on the consciousness of the prime, features of the stimuli involved, and the goal of the perceiver.
• Priming is most active at the moment of encoding.

How are certain events stored in your memory and what is the role of its mental representation? - Bulletpoints 4

• There are several associative network models of social memory:
  1. the PM-1 Model, which works as a computer simulation.
  2. The person memory model, which suggests that we get an impression from a target’s behavior.
  3. The twofold retrieval by associative pathways (TRAP) model, which favors both inconsistent and consistent memory, depending on the strategy enacted.
  4. The associated systems theory (AST), which creates representations of others through the visual, verbal/semantic, affective, and action system.
• The activation of social categories can occur via either serial or parallel processing. A parallel process activates many related pathways at once. A serial process occurs instead as a sequence of steps.
• Parallel distributed processing (PDP) models assume that memory consists of elementary units connected with links to one another. The connections represent constraints about what units are associated, and connection strengths represent the type and magnitude of association.
• According to the perceptual theory of knowledge, our internal and external experience is encoded using perceptual symbols. This view is particularly applicable to social cognition because it does not merely focus on archiving memories, but on preparing for situated actions, embedded in context.
• (Social) categories involve schemas. Categorical person perception is considered a top-down process, as we impose our previously assumed ideas onto reality. Other processes are bottom-up, based on actual data observed from real stimuli.
• The exemplar approach suggests that one remembers separate instances that they have encountered rather than an abstract prototype. They then compare perceived stimuli against their own memories of exemplars of the same category.

What is 'the self' in social cognition? - Bulletpoints 5

• A person’s self-concept is made up of their complex beliefs about who they are, and is influenced by cultural background. Self-schemas are cognitive-affective structures that represent the self’s qualities in any given domain. Self-esteem is the result of self-evaluations; it contributes to a sense of well-being, acts as a motivation for goals, and allows us to cope with difficult situations.
• Self-regulation describes how people control and direct their own actions, emotions, and thoughts. It is influenced by attention. We have two motivational systems that regulate our behavior; (1) the behavioral activation system (BAS), which causes us to approach other people and activities; (2) the behavioral inhibition system (BIS), which causes us to avoid others.
• Higgins distinguished two types of self-guides: the ideal self, and the ought self. Discrepancies from the ideal self serve as a motivator: people strive to improve themselves. Well-being is high when one experiences regulatory fit between their pursued goals and their regulatory focus (so when we are not there yet but feel that we are making steady progress).
• People are motivated by a desire to improve; self-improvement. Self-improvement is not the same as self-enhancement, which is the effort to maintain or create a positive sense of self. Self-affirmation is a way to maintain self-enhancement needs and helps us cope.
• Self-relevant information is naturally very important to someone. According to the simulation theory we self-reference, that is, we infer the mental state of others by imagining what our own thoughts would be in a similar situation.

What are attribution processes? - Bulletpoints 6

• Attribution concerns how people infer causal explanations for other people’s actions and mental states. Six main theoretical traditions form the basis of early attribution theory:
  1. Theory of commonsense psychology.
  2. Correspondent inference theory.
  3. Kelley’s attribution theory.
  4. Theory of emotional lability.
  5. Self-perception theory.
  6. Attributional model of motivated behavior.
• Early attribution theories focused primarily on the logical principles of attribution processes. Later research focused primarily on the mental operations that cause attributions. Theories that fit this research are:
  • Two-stage model of attribution processes.
  • Theory of spontaneous trait inferences.
  • Integrative stage theory.
• There are several attribution biases that can occur, the most important ones being:
  • Fundamental attribution error.
  • Actor-observer effect.
  • Self-serving attributional bias.
  • Self-centered bias.
  • Naive realism.
  • Attribution of responsibility.
  • Defensive attribution.

Which shortcuts can be distinguished in social cognition? - Bulletpoints 7

• Heuristics are standard shortcuts that allow us to reduce complex problem-solving to simple operations. Four main heuristics are:
  1. Representativeness heuristic.
  2. Availability heuristic.
  3. Simulation heuristic.
  4. Anchoring.
• Besides heuristics, we also use other shortcuts for decision-making, such as changing the decision frame (prospect theory), use of knowledge (Bayes’ theorem), integrating information (using correlation and covariation).
• The discounted utility (DU) model argues that the utility of any choice diminishes as consequences are spread over time. The farther ahead an event may be, the greater the weight of cognitive outcomes and the less the weight of affective outcomes.
• Temporal construal theory suggests that the greater the temporal distance to an event, the more one thinks about that event in abstract terms.

What does accuracy and efficiency in social inference mean? - Bulletpoints 8

• We tend to assume that people are rational and behave in certain ways in order to achieve goals.
• When we make an inference, our first step is to gather information. Off course we are unable to take all relevant information into account in a short time, so errors occur. Once we decide what information to collect, we have to sample that data. This also doesn’t go without errors, such as regression.
• If we want to improve the inference process, we have to consider the possible errors and biases. There are three perspectives on errors and biases:
  1. Errors are consequential and real: We need to intervene.
  2. Errors are a byproduct of laboratory experimentation: We need to trust the checks and balances that exist in real social contexts.
  3. Heuristics might be superior to considerate reasoning: We should not over-analyze the issue.
• People can be trained to improve their reasoning skills, for instance via learning through example (the guided induction approach).
• When we analyze the reasons behind our inferences, we can actually change those inferences. Sometimes conscious deliberation can be detrimental – a complex decision can sometimes be more easily trusted to intuition. Social inferences are not based solely on utilitarian needs for accuracy and efficiency. They meet our motivational needs. It can be psychologically advantageous to hold false beliefs.

What are the cognitive structures of attitudes? - Bulletpoints 9

• The most influential approaches to the study of attitudes have been cognitive consistency theories, which all assume that inconsistencies among cognitions, affects, etc. cause attitude change.
• There are two main consistency theories that explain cognitive representation: (1) dissonance theory, which predicts selective learning; (2) balance theory, which posits that there are structures in the social perceiver’s mind that represent the perceiver, another person, and the mutual object.
• According to the associative-propositional evaluation model of attitudes, both discrete, declarative representations and distributed, procedural representations play a role in our formation of attitudes.
• People are likely to perceive a message as trustworthy when it is communicated by someone we respect, who is relatable, and who seems to be risking a lot to express their dissident opinion.
• When a group is unevenly split on an issue, this causes group polarization. An even split in a discussion causes the winning side to form a more moderate version of their original point of view.
• Conviction is the emotional commitment we feel towards an attitude. Attitude strength is the degree to which we try to persuade others to share our opinions. Attitude importance is our interest or concern about an attitude, and predicts whether we will seek out relevant information.
• Attitude functions can be divided in several ways; knowledge, values, and sociality.

How does the cognitive processing of attitudes work? - Bulletpoints 10

• According to the heuristic-systematic model people engage in considerate, thoughtful processes when they are sufficiently motivated to do so, and when they are not overwhelmed with confounding information. People engage in both systematic processing, as well as heuristic processing.
• According to the elaboration likelihood model (ELM), there are two routes to persuasion: (1) the central route, which involves elaborative thinking, and (2) the peripheral route, which includes attitude change that occurs outside of elaboration. Elaboration involves making relevant associations, scrutinizing arguments, inferring value, and evaluating overall message.
• Not only the expertise and attractiveness of the communicator can have a strong impact on the outcomes of persuasion, the message itself also influences persuasion: via repeated exposure, comprehensiveness, and relevance.
• Individual differences in cognitive responses and persuasion are: (1) the need for cognition; (2) uncertainty orientation; (3) need to evaluate.
• The MODE model of attitude processing focuses on how attitudes operate and how they are activated: it views attitudes as associations in memory between the object and one’s evaluation if that object.
• Embodied expressions of attitudes are physical expressions that occur even when we are not conscious of the fact that we are evaluating stimuli.

What are the cognitive aspects of stereotyping? - Bulletpoints 11

• Four group identity theories have tried to explain intergroup conflict:
  1. Social identity theory (SIT).
  2. Self-categorization theory (SCT).
  3. optimal distinctiveness theory (ODT).
  4. Subjective uncertainty reduction theory.
• Categorization into groups can produce overt bias, such as ingroup favoritism.
• The next few theories all explain society’s intergroup relations as reasonable, inevitable, and legitimate:
  1. Social dominance theory.
  2. Terror management theory (TMT).
  3. System justification theory (SJT).
• Once groups are categorized, they seem to possess the property of being a real entity (entitativity). This often polarizes intergroup relations, and thus strengthening belief systems. When groups are considered an entity, they are often given a second property, namely an essence
• When it comes to emotions, we ascribe primary emotions to both our own groups and to others. Secondary emotions, on the other hand, are put aside for the ingroup. This infra-human perception allows people to sympathize less with infrahumanized groups. Dehumanization takes on two forms: animalistic and mechanistic dehumanization.
• Stereotypes can be automatic, ambiguous, and ambivalent. The basic implicit association test (IAT) underscores associations between ingroup and positive attitude objects, as well as between outgroup and negative attitude objects. The IAT reveals stereotypes of all kinds of race and gender-stereotypes, such as activities, objects, professions, and roles.

What is the interplay of cognitive and affective biases? - Bulletpoints 12

• Some emotions, such as anger and happiness, make people stereotype more, while other emotions, such as sadness, make people stereotype less. Groups also usually evoke affect as an integral function of who the individuals in that group seem to be and the situation in which they appear.
• According to several theories, different groups trigger different affective configurations as an integral feature of the encounter. Theories discussed in this chapter are:
  • The stereotype content model (SCM).
  • Intergroup emotions theory.
  • Enemy images theory.
  • Biocultural approach
• The integrated threat theory (ITT) focuses on one major emotion to predict attitudes; anxiety. According to this theory, threats – which can take a realistic or symbolic form – mediate between antecedents and attitudes. The threats serve as a cognitive appraisal, the stereotypes as a cognitive response, and anxiety as an emotional response.
• Guilty feelings of remorse depend on the level of prejudice. People that aren’t very prejudiced have high, internalized standards regarding their own interracial behavior. When they violate these standards, they feel conflicted and guilty. Highly prejudiced people have lower, more externalized standards. When they violate these standards, they experience anger.
• Racial prejudices are unusual in several ways:
  • They are emotionally loaded.
  • They are aversive to most people who hold them.
  • They aren’t plausibly evolved.
  • Racial groups remain hypersegregated.
• Men and women are expected to conform to gender stereotypes. Along with male status, intimate interdependence creates ambivalent sexism.
• People also hold prejudices against older adults. Pity and sympathy are the main prejudices addressed to older adults.
• A final group to which prejudices are addressed, are gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals. These prejudices differ from other prejudices in at least three primary respects:
  1. Sexual orientation is not as clear as race, gender, and age,
  2. Sexual orientation is the most widespread prejudice.
  3. Belief that homosexuality is biologically determined tends to correlate with tolerance, whereas with race, gender, and age, the belief that biology is destiny tends to correlate with prejudice.

How does a person go from social cognition to affect? - Bulletpoints 13

• There are several theories trying to explain emotional processes. These theories can be categorized into categories:
  • Early theories (James-Lange view).
  • Physiological theories (facial feedback hypothesis).
  • Social cognitive theories (arousal-plus-mind theory, Mandler’s theory of emotion, complexity-extremity hypothesis, thought-polarization hypothesis)
• Weiner’s attributional theory describes some basic dimensions upon which we make sense of our successes and failures. These dimensions inspire particular emotions: (1) internal vs. external locus of control; (2) stability over time; (3) controllability.
• One perspective on emotions is that they help us manage our goals and priorities. This is based on the observation that the interruption/facilitation of planned behavior causes emotion. Emotions can also act as interruptions themselves, alerting us to other important goals. Emotions shuffle our priorities.
• According to the cybernetic theory of self-attention self-focused people notice discrepancies between their current state and some goal or standard. To reduce this discrepancy, people try to adjust their behavior. People constantly continue adjusting and comparing until they meet the standard or give up.
• Appraisal theories – such as Lazarus’ theory of personal meaning suggest that when we encounter something, we quickly appraise it for personal significance, which allows us to decide whether to act.

How does a person go from affect to social cognition? - Bulletpoints 14

• Positive and negative moods are not opposite to one another and our emotional spectrum is therefore asymmetrical.
• Good moods lead us to help others. Four main mechanisms are at work here: (1) attention; (2) separate process; (3) social outlook; (4) mood maintenance. Grumpy people who imagine their own reactions to a negative situation will be less helpful. The negative state-relief hypothesis suggests that unhappy people help when it will make them happier.
• Mood also has an affect on memory. We are more likely to remember happy things when happy, and sad things when sad (mood-congruent memory). We pay attention to stimuli that reflect our moods as well.
• Mood also influences our judgments. When in a good mood, we rate just about everything more positively and feel more benevolent. Negative mood effects are less extreme compared to the norm. When depressed, people do judge others on their flaws more than their strengths, and perceive themselves as being more alone than they are.
  • Two negative moods with strong effects are fear (effect: avoidance) and anger (effect: risk-seeking).
• Mood also influences the manner in which we make judgments. Overall, happy people are flexible decision makers. Sad people, on the other hand, seem to be more likely to be careful and to mull over their decisions.
• Finally, mood also has an influence on well-being: cheerful people experience more long-term well-being.
• The separate-systems view of cognition and affect suggests that they exist as parallel pathways and do not actually influence one another, this view sees affective reactions as primary, instinctive, and inescapable, while cognition is a secondary response, considered and easier to ignore. Many researchers disagree with the separate-systems view.

What does self-regulation mean? - Bulletpoints 15

• Self-regulation is how people control and direct their behavior. They usually do this in pursuit of attaining goals.
• We constantly assess the situations we are in, and we choose what situations we get ourselves in to. When constructing goal-oriented situations, we go through motivational and volitional stages:
  • Stage 1: Deliberative mindset.
  • Stage 2: Implementational mindset.
  • Stage 3: Goal-shielding.
• Some goal pursuit is conscious and deliberate, but much of our self-regulatory activity goes on subconsciously. Goals with a promotion focus promise a sense of accomplishment or reward. Prevention focused goals involve a sense of responsibility, with goal attainment bringing one some sense of security.
• We base our self-concept on certain prototypic behaviors that we consistently enact. In order for a cognition to predict behavior, it must be strong and clear. Consummatory behavior (behavior engaged in for its own sake) is affect-driven. Instrumental behavior (goal-directed behavior) seems cognition-driven.
• There are five maintenance indicators that determine the potential disruption of an action identity:
  • Difficulty.
  • Familiarity.
  • Complexity.
  • Time to enact.
  • Time to master.
• Attitude-behavior consistency is affected by the meaning we place on the attitude and the behavior made salient by situational cues.
• We engage in confirmatory hypothesis testing when we have a hypothesis about another person’s personality – we ask them leading questions that only prove our hypothesis, rather than disprove it.