社会心理学第三章英文版Lecture3-Socialbeliefsandjudgements

1、Tieyuan GuoOutlinesPerceiving social worldsJudging social worldsExplaining social worldsEffects of our expectation of social worldsPerceiving Our Social WorldsPrimingActivating particular associations in memoryExample: Watching a scary movie at home may prime us to interpret window noises as a possi

2、ble intruderExperimentIn one ear, you heard “We stood by the bank”.In the other ear, you heard “river” or “money”.Results: The words in the second ear “primes” your interpretation of the sentence.Perceiving Our Social WorldsPrimingEven subliminal stimuli can subtly change our behavior.Flashing the w

3、ord “bread” subliminally can make people identify the word “butter” more quickly.Embodied cognitionThe mutual influence of bodily sensation on cognitive preference and social judgementsExperiments: Physical sensation cognitive preference and judgementParticipants who were exposed to the scent of cle

4、aner a) were quicker to identify cleaning related words, b) recalled more cleaning related activities, and c) even kept their desk cleaner while eating crumbly cookie.Participants who were holding a warm drink rated others as being more warmly and generously than those holding a cold drink.Sitting i

5、n a hard chair vs. soft chair hard or soft criminal sentenceEmbodied cognitionThe mutual influence of bodily sensation on cognitive preference and social judgementsThe other way around: Cognitive preference and judgement Physical behavior/sensationParticipants who recalled personal immoral behavior

6、washed their hands longer than those who recalled moral behavior.The power of preconceptionsPreconceptions can bias our perception of the social world.In Political PerceptionsWhat if someone say “UM Rector Zhao Wei is an okay leader”?For those who admire and respect Zhao: The comment sounds like a c

7、ritique. This person is biased.For those who dislike Zhao: This is a praise. This person is biased. This may explain why sports fans perceive referees as partial to the other side, and political candidates and their supporters always perceive the news media as biased. The power of preconceptionsPrec

8、onceptions can bias our perception of the social world.In Political PerceptionsExperimentShowed Pro-Israeli and Pro-Arab students six news segments describes a killing event.Results: Each group perceived the news as hostile to its side.The power of preconceptionsPreconceptions can persevere itself b

9、y adopting favorable evidence and ignoring disapproval information. In Political PerceptionsExperimentParticipants who favored death punishment and who didnt.Both group of participants read two “studies”: one confirmed and one disconfirmed the deterrent effect of death penalty.Results: The group who

10、 favored death penalty supported death penalty even more, and the group who opposed death penalty opposed more, i.e., the mixed evidence increased the disagreement.That may explain why presidential debates usually reinforce predebate opinions.The power of preconceptionsIn Perception of OthersPreconc

11、eptions can bias our perception of others.ExperimentOne group: a Nazi leader for medical experiments on concentration camp inmatesCruel facial expressionThe other group: An anti-Nazi underground leader who saved thousands of Jewish lives.Warm and kind facial expressionOthers perception of usSpontane

12、ous trait transferenceWhen we say something good or bad about another, people spontaneously tend to associate that trait with us. A person who goes around say another person is gossip, we tend to perceive this person as being gossip.Belief PerseveranceBelief PerseverancePersistence of ones initial c

13、onceptions, as when the basis for ones belief is discredited but an explanation of why the belief might be true survives Belief PerseveranceBelief PerseveranceExperimentImplant a belief- participants were told that individuals who take risk make either good or bad firefighters.Explain why- participa

14、nts explained why risk-taking or being cautious is good for successful firefighters.Discredit information- participants were told that the information they initially received was completely made up for the experiment, and half others received the other version. Results- the initial belief persevered

15、. Those who were told risk-taking or being cautious are good for firefighters continue to maintain their beliefs. Constructing MemoriesConstructing MemoriesMemories are not exactly copies of our experiences/information- We (re)construct our memories.Misinformation effect Incorporating “misinformatio

16、n” into ones memory of the event after witnessing an event and receiving misleading information about itMisinformation effect Show a film of a car accident, then ask participantsHow fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?40 milesHow fast were the cars going when they contacted ea

17、ch other?30 milesA week later, ask participants if they saw any broken glasses (in fact, no broken glasses in the film)“Smashed into” condition, 33% reported yes.“Contacted” condition, 14% reported yes.Constructing MemoriesReconstructing our past attitudesPeople tend to believe they always have simi

18、lar attitudes even if their attitudes had been changed.ExperimentMeasured students attitudes toward a policy allowing students control the university curriculum.A week later, asked students to wrote an essay opposing students control- the manipulation changed their attitudesRecall their initial atti

19、tudes a week ago.Results: Students believed that their initial attitudes were the same as the present ones- denied changes.Constructing MemoriesReconstructing our past attitudesRosy retrospection- The “good” old days.The construction of positive memories.ExperimentParticipants reported their daily f

20、eelings when they had a 3-week bike trip.After the trip, they recalled the experiencesResults: The trip was more fondly in recall than it actually was. Constructing MemoriesReconstructing our past attitudesIn close relationship- the love-at-first-sight illusionWhen people are satisfied with their pa

21、rtner, they overestimate their initial liking.ExperimentParticipants rated their steady dating partner when they started the relationship and 2 month laterResults: Those who love each other more overestimate their initial liking- love at the first sight, and those who broke up underestimate it.Const

22、ructing MemoriesReconstructing our past behavior ExperimentIn “one” study, some participants were convinced the desirability of tooth brushing. Then in an seemingly “unrelated” study, they recalled brushing their teeth more often in the preceding two weeks than those who didnt heard the information.

23、 Constructing MemoriesReconstructing our past behavior Believe in self-improvement programs reconstructing past behavior/performanceExperimentStudents reported their initial learning skill before and after a learning skill “training” program. The training program is actually useless.After the “train

24、ing” program, student rated their initial skill as being worse than their initial ratings. This may explain why people believe many training programs are effective. OutlinesPerceiving social worldsJudging social worldsExplaining social worldsEffects of our expectation of social worldsJudging Our Soc

25、ial WorldIntuitive Judgments- Powers of intuition Controlled processingReflective, deliberate, and consciousAutomatic processingImpulsive, effortless, and without our awarenessExamplesEmotional reactions are often happening before deliberate thinking- Direct neural shortcuts to emotion processing ce

26、nter before going to cortex.Unconscious thinking leads to satisfying choicesJudging Our Social WorldIntuitive Judgments- Powers of intuition Implicit memories and cognitionsPatients who cannot form new explicit memoriesCannot memorize explicitly, but their behavior was affected by previous experienc

27、e Blindsight- Patients couldnt see objects because part of their visual cortex was removed, but they could guess if a stick is vertical or horizontal.OverconfidenceTendency to be more confident than correct to overestimate the accuracy of ones beliefs Experiments“I feel 98% certain that the air dist

28、ance between New Delhi and Beijing is more than _miles and less than _miles.”Results- About 30% of time, the real distance is outside the range participants 98% confident about.OverconfidenceIncompetence feeds overconfidence Those who lacks of competence tend to have more overconfidenceExample- Thos

29、e who dont know the logic are often unware they lack it.Our ignorance of our ignorance sustains our overconfidence.ExamplesPlanning fallacyStockbroker overconfidence- Stocks selected by analysts do not outperform randomly selected stocks. What produces overconfidenceRecall mistaken judgement as “alm

30、ost” right.Confirmation bias- a tendency to search for information that confirms ones preconceptions, and ignore information that might disapprove their preconception.Demonstration- I generated the following 3 numbers according to a rule, and would like you to guess what is the rule. You can generat

31、e additional 3 numbers and Ill tell you whether your numbers follow the rule or not.2, 4, 6, _, _, _So what is the rule? My rule is “they are ascending numbers”Remedies for OverconfidenceGive prompt feedback to explain why statement is incorrectFor planning fallacy, ask one to “unpack a task” break

32、it down into estimated time requirements for each partGet people to think of one good reason why their judgments might be wrongHeuristicsHeuristics- mental shortcuts, simple, efficient thinking strategies. Representativeness heuristic Tendency to presume, sometimes despite contrary odds, that someon

33、e or something belongs to a particular group if resembling (representing) a typical memberHeuristicsRepresentativeness heuristic Linda, who is 31, single, outspoken, and very bright. She majored in philosophy in college. As a student, she was deeply concerned with discrimination and other social iss

34、ues, and she participated in antinuclear demonstrations.A: Linda is a bank tellerB: Linda is a bank teller and active in the feminist movement.HeuristicsAvailability heuristicCognitive rule that judges the likelihood of things in terms of their availability in memoryThe more easily we recall somethi

35、ng the more likely it seemsEvidence: Media attention to gay-lesbian issues make gays and lesbians cognitively available Overestimates the number of gays and lesbians. In USA, the estimation by general public is 25%, which is 7 times of the actual percentage of gays and lesbians.HeuristicsAvailabilit

36、y heuristicAre there more words that begin with the letter “k” or have “k” in the third position in the text book?Easier to think words begin with “k” than have “k” in the third position.Travel by plane or by car?People has certain fear to travel by airplanes.Actually, airplane traveling is much saf

37、er than driving.After 9/11, people choose to drive instead of taking airplanes, and the number of death in travel accidents increased significantly.HeuristicsAvailability heuristicChange answers in multiple choice questionsImagine that in answering the multiple choice questions in a exam, you answer

38、ed a question. But then, after giving it some additional thought, you decided to change your answer to another choice. Were you more likely to change from wrong to right or right to wrong answer?Availability heuristicA survey of 1561 students on multiple choice questions. Of the 3291 answers that ha

39、s been changed:From wrong to wrong: 23%From wrong to right: 51%From right to wrong: 25%However, majority of students believed they should stick with their first answer. Why does this happen?Availability heuristicInstances that changing from right to wrong answers are more memorable than those that c

40、hanging from wrong to right.“I had that one right!” instead of “I had that one wrong”Experiment- participants completed a multiple choice test, received answer key shortly. 4 to 6 weeks later, participants recalled instances in which they changed answers. Results showed that participants overestimat

41、ed right to wrong changes, and underestimated wrong to right changes.HeuristicsCounterfactual ThinkingImagining alternative scenarios and outcomes that might have happened, but didnt Evidences:In Olympic competition, bronze medalists (for whom an easily imagined alternative was finishing without a m

42、edal) exhibit more joy than silver medalists (who would more easily imagine having won the gold)Similarly, the B+ students who misses an A- by a point feels worse than the B+ students who just made a B+ by a point.Counterfactual ThinkingRegret- What do you regret for? Think about the 3 things you re

43、gret most in your lifePeople are less likely to regret over things they did than over things they failed to doExamples: People are likely to regret for not taking their education seriously, not expressing their romantic feelings toward someone.Illusory Thinking- Our search for order in random events

44、Illusory correlation-Perception of a relationship where none exists, or perception of a stronger relationship than actually exists Reason- People easily misperceive random events as confirming their beliefs, i.e., when we believe a correlation exists, we are more likely to notice and recall confirmi

45、ng instances, and ignore or forget disconfirming instances.ExamplesPMSJoint pains and raining weatherOverweight women are unhappier (Viken & others, 2005)Illusory ThinkingIllusion of controlPerception of uncontrollable events as subject to ones control or as more controllable than they areGamblingPe

46、ople asked four times as much money for selling their lottery ticket if they chose the numbers themselves than if the numbers were assigned by others (Langer, 1977). People bet more when throw the dice or spins the wheel (Wohl & Enzle, 2002).Illusory ThinkingIllusion of controlRegression toward the

47、averageStatistical tendency for extreme scores or extreme behavior to return toward ones average ExperimentGoal: Train a imaginary boy to come to school at 8:30.Tools: Strong praise to strong punishmentTime to arrive school: The praise and punishment have no actual effect- The boy come to school at

48、a random time between 8:20 to 8:40, generated by computer. Results: participants believed that punishment is effective. Explanation: participants used punishment when the boy is very late, and because of regression toward the average, the next time, the boy is likely to arrive school earlier. Moods

49、and Judgments Good and bad moods trigger memories of experiences associated with those moods In a good mood (after receiving a gift), people more likely reported that their cars and TV sets working perfectly than those in a neutral mood. Moods color our interpretations of current experiences and pre

50、dictions of future eventsSports fans predict wars less likely to happen when their team wins than when their team loses.Moods and Judgments ExperimentVideo taped participants talking with another person.Then they were put in either a good or bad mood.Rated their own social skills in the video taped

51、conversation.A temporary good or bad mood strongly influenced peoples ratings of their videotaped behavior. Those in a bad mood detected far fewer positive behaviors. OutlinesPerceiving social worldsJudging social worldsExplaining social worldsEffects of our expectation of social worldsExplaining Ou

52、r Social WorldImportance of attributionUnhappy spouse: “He was late because he doesnt care about me” and “He bought me flowers because he wants sex” Happy spouse: “He was late because of heavy traffic” and “He bought me flowers because he loves me”MisattributionMisattribution- Mistakenly attributing

53、 a behavior to the wrong sourceMen are more likely than women to attribute a womans friendliness/warmth as a sexual come-on, especially for men with high power. This may contribute to sexual harassment and even rape. 23% of American women reported they had been forced into unwanted sex, while only 3

54、% of men said they had done that.Misattribution- Excitation TransferDutton & Aron (1974)Men were approached by an attractive woman after crossing bridgeShaky suspension bridgeStable bridgeAsked to participate in a short study (shown picture, asked to make up story)Woman gives phone number in case pa

55、rticipant has questions about the studyDutton & Aron (1974)Compared to the men on stable bridge, men on the suspension bridge :Used more sexual imagery in their storiesMore likely to call the attractive female research assistant% Calling Experimenter0102030405060Stable BridgeSuspension BridgeAttribu

56、tion theoryTheory of how people explain others behaviorDispositional attributionAttribute a persons actions to something internal to that person Situational attribution Attribute a persons actions to factors that are external to that personKelleys Covariation TheoryCovariation Principle (共變原則) tende

57、ncy to attribute behavior to factors that are present when the behavior occurs, and absent when it is not3 kinds of covariation:Consistency- whether the behavior occurs repeatedly in response to this situation.Distinctiveness- whether the behavior is specific to a particular situation.Consensus- whe

58、ther other people also produce the same behavior in the same situation.Kelleys Covariation TheoryFundamental Attribution ErrorTendency for observers to underestimate situational influences and overestimate dispositional influences upon others behavior ExperimentParticipants read debaters speeches su

59、pporting or attacking Cubas leader, Castro.Participants were told the debaters either chose their positions or were assigned a position by others.Rating the debaters real attitudes.Fundamental Attribution ErrorThe ratings were affected by the debaters position, even when their position was chosen by

60、 others.Ross, Amabile, & SteinmetzParticipants were randomly assigned to play:Questioner ContestantObserverQuestioners were instructed to write 10 challenging questionsContestants answered 4/10 questions correctlyAll participants rated general knowledge of:QuestionersContestantsWhy Do We Make the At