LECTURE 3SOCIAL & SELF-PERCEPTIONS

Chapters 4 and 5

1) Administration2) Perceptions of Others3) Break4) Perceptions of Ourselves5) Next Class

Questions?

First Exam Do not be late Bring photo ID and Student ID Bring a pencil and eraser This exam will consist of approximately 70 multiple

choice and 3 short answer questions Check out textbook website (my psychlab) for multiple

choice practice questions 2.5 hours Contact Caroline Erentzen with any questions

Email: erentzen@yorku.ca

Example Multiple Choice Question

1) Which of the following people are demonstrating the fundamental attribution error?

a. Tim, who points to a person who fell down and says, “What a clumsy oaf!”

b. Sophie, who explains her poor exam performance by pointing out how hard the questions were.

c. Don, who attributes his loss in a chess game to bad luck.d. Alex, who explains his girlfriend's tears by saying, “She didn't get

enough sleep last night.”e. Beatriz, who points to an erratic driver and says, “Look at that!

The roads are slick tonight.”

Example Short Answer Question

2) Define the term self-fulfilling prophecy and provide one example of how this process might work with regard to teenage drinking. How is this process related to schemas? (5 marks)

a) define• We have expectations about other people.• These expectations can influence how we act toward these people.• These actions can cause these people to act in ways that are consistent with our

expectations.

b) Teenage drinking example

c) How related to schemas

*** note that there are 3 sections to this question

Perceptions of Others

Question: How do we come to know and understand our social world?

Answer: We perceive others?

We watch their actions, gestures, facial expressions, and we listen to them. We try to understand them and why they act and feel and think the way they do.*

Attribution Theory

Is the study of how we infer the causes of other people’s behavior.

Heider (1958) – Internal attribution (disposition) – a person’s behavior was

caused by something internal, such as his/her attitudes, character, or personality

– External attribution (situation) – a person’s behavior was caused by something external, such as the situation; assume that most other people in that same situation would behave similarly

*

Attribution Theory

How do people decide if another person’s behavior (B) was primarily caused by the situation (S) or his/her disposition (D)?

Lewinian Equation:B = S + DA person’s behavior is a joint function of the situation the person is in and the person’s unique predispositions to act.

D = B – STo know whether a person has a disposition to behave in a certain way we need to observe the behavior and “subtract out” the effect of the situation.*

Discounting Principle

D = B – S

We should not assume that D has an effect when B = S. When we try to estimate a person’s disposition, the behavior should be discounted or ignored when it is precisely the type of behavior that the situation demands.

The behavior is nondiagnostic – it tells us nothing about the person’s unique disposition and enduring tendencies to behave in a certain way.

e.g., Car with fan

Fundamental Attribution Error

(also know as the Correspondence Bias)

i.e., We are not very good at following the discounting principle.

We overestimate the extent to which other people’s behavior is due to internal, dispositional factors and we underestimate the role of situational factors

Behavior, we often believe, corresponds to disposition.

Fundamental Attribution Error

• Jones and Harris (1967)– Participants watch debaters argue pro-Castro or anti-Castro issues. They

are told that the debaters was either given a choice on which side to debate or no choice. (2 independent variables)

– What is the debater’s real attitude? How Pro-Castro is the debater? (dependent variable)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Chosen Assigned

Pro-Castro

Anti-Castro

Causes of Correspondence Bias

1) We want dispositions (estimate of D)• It gives us a sense of control

2) We misunderstand situations (estimate of S)• We don’t realize the constraints of the situation. We

underestimate the capacity of the situation to alter behaviour

• Role of perceptual salience3) We misperceive behavior (estimate of B)

• It is sometimes difficult to estimate B4) We fail to use information

• The situation is the first automatic attribution and then only after disposition.

Three Stage Model of Attribution

Identificationof Behavior

ATTRIBUTION

Automatic dispositionalinference

Effortful situationalcorrectionWhen can we/can’t we do the 3rd phase?

Three Stage Model of AttributionGilbert, Pelham, & Krull (1988)

ideal vacation, fashion trends hidden secrets, their sex lives

Half of the participants cognitively busy and half not cognitively busy.

How dispositionally anxious is this women?

Three Stage Model of AttributionGilbert, Pelham, & Krull (1988)

6

7

8

9

10

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12

Not Cognitively Busy Cognitively Busy

Bland TopicsAnxious Topics

Dis

posi

tiona

l Anx

iety

Three Stage Model of Attribution

Identification of Behavior

ATTRIBUTION

Automatic dispositionalinference

Effortful situationalcorrection

Actor/Observer Differences

Observer Attributions (perceptions of other’s behavior)

We tend to attribute other people’s behavior to internal reasons and assume their behavior is caused by their disposition.

Actor Attributions (perceptions of own behavior)

We tend to attribute our own behavior to external reasons and assume that our behavior is caused by the situation.

Why are Actor Attributions Different?

1) We want to see ourselves as flexible – and that we can change according to the demands of the situation (estimate of D)

• We also use our estimate of D in a self-serving way.*2) We understand situations better (estimate of S)

• We realize that situations can constrain our behavior. We know our behavior differs in different situations and not due only to our disposition.

• Role of perceptual salience3) We fail to use information

• The situation is the first automatic attribution and then only after disposition.

Self-Attributions

Identificationof behavior

ATTRIBUTION

Automatic situationalinference

Effortful dispositionalcorrection

Knowledge about OthersHow accurate are we at understanding others?

We are often not accurate because of the following biases:

The fundamental attribution errorThe actor/observer differenceThe defensive (self-serving) attributions

Vs.

We can be surprisingly accurate in our assessment of personalities from thin slices of information (a brief glimpse of others).

Questions?

Perceptions of Ourselves

1) Self-Concept – Who am I?

2) Self-Knowledge – Do I know myself?

3) Liking vs. Knowing the Self

4) Social Self – Interacting with others

5) Cultural Self – How culture impacts the self

Self-Concept: Who am I?

1. I am _________________________2. I am _________________________3. I am _________________________4. I am _________________________5. I am __________________________

Who am I?

Self-Concept: the content of the self; our knowledge about who we are

Self-Schemas: beliefs about the self that organize and guide the processing of self-relevant information. They are elements of the self-concept

Self-Awareness: the act of thinking about ourselves

Self-Knowledge:Do We Know Ourselves?

Intuitions/introspection about the self

Predicting our feelings –- affective forecasting

Predicting our own behaviors

Introspection Do we know ourselves any better than other people know us?

The process whereby people look inward and examine their own thoughts, feelings, and motives.

Nisbett and Wilson (1977) suggest that we can’t look inside and know why we do something or how we reached a certain decision.

The reasons that we often provide for thoughts and feelings may be wrong and based on common naive theories related to these experiences.

Predicting Our Own Feelings

Affective Forecasting

How would you feel if: you failed this course? you won the lottery? you lost your arm? you became a mother/father for the first time?

Imagine …..(forecasters)

vs.

Actually Happens ….(experiencers)

Predicting Our Own Feelings

Affective Forecasting People often mispredict how they will be emotionally

influenced by events. Problems with intensity Problems with duration Explanations

a) focus b) psychological immune system

Strategies for rationalizing, discounting, forgiving, and limiting emotional trauma

Predicting Our Own Behaviors

Behavioral Forecasting

TED Talk: Dan Gilbert (2004)http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy.html

The Social SelfSocial Comparison Theory

We learn about our own abilities and attitudes by comparing ourselves to other people.

We compare ourselves with others who are similar on important attributes or dimensions

We compare ourselves to others when there is no objective standard.

Downward Social Comparisons can make us feel better

Upward Social Comparisons can make us feel worse or they inspire us (sometimes…)

Social Identities

Social identities are the part of our answer to “Who am I” that comes from our group memberships.”

Race, Age, Sex, Job, SES, Height, Weight, Attractiveness, Nationality, Intelligence - These are just some of the social categories that we belong to and for which we have relevant social identities.

Which is more important our personal or our social identity?

The Cultural Self

CultureThe enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a large group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next.

The self is determined in part by the culture that we live in.

Who am I?

1. I am _________________________2. I am _________________________3. I am _________________________4. I am _________________________5. I am __________________________

Who am I?

A North American would likely answer: I am tall. I am good at sports. I am outgoing.

An Asian would likely answer: I am a Kawakami. I am a Buddhist. I am my father’s daughter.

North American vs. Japanese Culture

– Individualistic– Independence– Context Independent– Analytic Reasoning– Internal Attributions

Collectivistic Interdependence Context Dependent Holistic Reasoning External Attributions

North American/Western Cultures

IndividualismPromote the concept of giving priority to one’s own goals over group goals and defining one’s identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications.

– Individual traits and goals– Personal achievement and rights– Reject Conformity

For example, I am a good student, I am smart, I am good at basketball.A great example is the novel The Giver.

North American/Western Cultures

Independent SelvesSelf-schema in which others are not represented as part of the selfContext IndependentAttend to focal object and not gestaltAnalytic ReasoningEmphasis is on the proper use of rules and that contradictory statements cannot be trueInternal AttributionsAssume behavior of others correspond to their traits

Self

mother father

friend sibling

Cultural Attributions

• He is the leader. He is a strong swimmer. (Western)• The other fish are chasing him. (Asian)

Eastern Cultures

CollectivismPromote the concept of giving priority to the goals of one’s group (often one’s extended family or work group) and defining one’s identity accordingly. (Not only Asian cultures but also African and South American cultures)

Connections with others Group goals and solidarity Reject Egotism

For example, I am a sister, I am Jill’s friend

Eastern Cultures

Interdependent SelvesSelf-schema in which others are represented as part of the self. Context DependentAttend to surroundings and gestaltHolistic ReasoningEmphasis is on considering all possible influences and balancing competing forcesExternal AttributionsAssume behavior of others correspond to the situation more than people from a Western culture

Selfmother father

friend sibling

Cultural Attributions

• The other fish are swimming too fast. The other fish don’t like him. (Asian)• He is slow. He is guarding the rest. (Western)

Questions?

Next Classes

Class 4: January 28th – no class

Class 5: February 4th - First In-Class ExamChapters 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5*** Please be on time

Next Classes

Class 6: February 11th -Attitudes

Reading material:Chapter 6: Attitudes and Attitude Change: Influencing Thoughts, Feelings, and Behavior, pp. 152-189.

Do Web demonstrations of the IAT – https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/

Web demonstrations of the IATThe Implicit Association Test

• Do this task before you come to class• Go to the website• Select United States• Follow instructions• Do at least 2 tests and make sure one of them is the

Race IAT• Write down which tests you did and your results for

each test