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2.

) Availability - the easier it is to bring


information to mind, the greater its
impact on subsequent.
prelIm 3.) Anchoring & Adjustment - tendency to
deal with uncertainty in many
Psychology – the scientific study of human situations. (neutralization)
behavior.  Starting point, and then making
adjustments.
(science = factual) 4.) Status Quo - “what is, is good.”
Something tried and tested is greater
4 GOALS
than something new.
1.) To describe human behavior
Schemas – basic component of social
2.) To explain and understand human
cognition, mental frameworks developed
behavior
through experiences. It guides our actions &
3.) To predict human behavior
the processing of relevant information.
4.) To control human behavior
 Affect – our current feelings or moods.
FACTORS AFFECTING SOCIAL BEHAVIOR

1.) Actions & characteristics of others  On attention: refers to what


2.) Cognitive processes information we notice.
3.) Environmental variables
Schemas act as a kind of filter.
4.) Biological variables / cultural variables
Information consistent with
schemas are noticed: information
 SOCIAL COGNITION
that does not fit is ignored.
Social Cognition – the manner in which we
 On encoding: refers to the processes
analyze, interpret, remember and use
through which information we notice
information about the social group.
gets stored in memory.
Heuristics – simple rules of thumb for making
decisions in a quick manner. (information  On retrieval: refers to what information
overload) we recover information from memory
in order to use it in some manner.
TYPES OF HEURISTICS

1.) Representativeness – a strategy for  Priming – schemas are often primed—


making judgements based on activated by experiences, events, and
resemblance. stimuli.
 The more similar an individual is to
typical members of a given group, the  Unpriming – the process by which
more likely he/she is to belong to that thoughts or actions that have been
group. primed by a recent experience
dissipates once it finds expression.
 Schemas can produce distortions in our 5.) Magical thinking – making assumptions
understanding of the social world. that don’t hold up to rational scrutiny
Unfortunately, schemas are often but that are compelling nonetheless.
resistant to change- they show a strong 6.) Terror management – belief in the
perseverance effect, remaining supernatural. Our efforts to cope with
unchanged even in the face of the knowledge that we will die.
contradictory information.

 Schemas can sometimes be self-  SOCIAL PERCEPTION


fulfilling (prophecy): they influence our
Social Perception – the process through
responses to the social world in ways
which we seek to know and understand
that make it consistent with the
other people.
schema.
Nonverbal Communication - information
provided by their words, but by their facial
 Metaphors – linguistic devices that expressions, eye contact, body movements,
relate a typically abstract concept to postures. It is a communication between
another dissimilar concept. It can shape individuals that does not involve the
how we perceive and respond to the content of spoken language.
social world.
FUNCTIONS

POTENTIAL SOURCES OF ERROR IN SOCIAL 1.) The facial feedback hypothesis


COGNITION
it suggests that we do not only show what we
1.) Optimistic bias – powerful feel in our facial expressions, but these
predispositions to overlook risks and expressions influence our emotional states.
expect on things to turn out well.
2.) Detection of deceptions
 Microexpressions: fleeting facial
2.) Overconfidence barrier – the tendency
expressions
to have greater confidence in our
 Interchannel discrepancies
beliefs or judgements than is justified /
 Eye contact: gazes, stares
reasonable.
3.) Planning fallacy – our tendency to  Exaggerated facial expressions:
believe that we can get more done in a
given period of time than we actually
can.
4.) Counterfactual thinking – imagining
“what might have been”.
BASIC CHANNELS e.g. SERVER FLIRTS WITH CUSTOMER

1.) Facial expressions: as clues to others’ high consensus: many other servers flirt
emotions (anger, fear, happiness, with the customer.
sadness, disgust)
2.) Gazes and stares: eye contact high consistency: this server also flirts
3.) Body language: gestures, posture, and with this customer at other times.
movements. high distinctiveness: this server does
4.) Touching not flirt with other customer.
5.) Scent
low consensus: no other servers flirts
with the customer.
Attribution – the process through which we
seek to identify the causes of others’ behavior high consistency: this server also flirts
and so gain knowledge of their stable traits & with the customer at other times.
disposition.
low distinctiveness: this server also
 Theory of Correspondent-inference: flirts with other customers.
“what you do becomes who you are”
(behavior is attributed to internal
States that others’ behavior reflects their causes)
stable traits; that they possess specific traits
or dispositions they carry with them is SOURCES OF ERROR IN ATTRIBUTION
stable over time. 1.) Correspondence bias - the
tendency to explain others’ action
 Causal Attribution Theory
as stemming from dispositions,
States that behavior stems from either even in the presence of clear
internal/external causes focusing on situational causes.
information relating to: consensus, 2.) Self-serving bias - the tendency to
consistency, and distinctiveness. attribute positive outcomes to
internal causes, but negative
- Consensus: refers to the extent to outcomes to external causes.
which actions by one person are 3.) Actor-observer effect – the
also shown by others. tendency to attribute our own
- Consistency: refers to the extent to behavior mainly to situational
which the person in question reacts causes but others’ behavior to
to the stimulus/event in the same internal causes.
way on other occasions across time.
- Distinctiveness: the extent to which
 Impression formation – the process
an individual responds in the same
through which we form impressions of
manner to different stimuli/events
others.
 Implicit Personality Theories exposure to stimuli that are below
individuals’ threshold of conscious
Belief about what traits/characteristics tend to awareness.
go together, which can be viewed as a specific - Mere exposure – by having seen
kind of schema. It suggests that when before, but not necessarily
individuals possess some traits, they are likely remembering having done so,
to possess others too. (such expectations are attitudes towards an object is
strongly shaped by the cultures in which we formed.
live) - Illusion of truth effect – the mere
repetition of information creates a
 Impression management (self-
sense of familiarity and more
presentation) – efforts to make a good
positive attitudes.
impression on others.

TACTICS 3.) Operant Conditioning /


Instrumental Conditioning –
1.) Self-enhancement – specific learning based on consequences.
strategies include efforts to boost
one’s appearance—either physical 4.) Observational Learning – occurs
or professional. when individuals acquire attitudes /
2.) Ingratiation (other enhancement) – behaviors simply by observing
flattering others in various ways; others.
expressing agreement with the
target person’s views. - Social comparison – the process by
which we compare ourselves to
 ATTITUDES others to determine whether our
Attitude – people’s evaluations of almost any view of social reality is corrected or
aspect of the social world. not.
- Reference groups – groups of
 Explicit attitude - conscious and people with whom we identify and
reportable whose opinions we value.
 Implicit attitude - uncontrollable and
not consciously accessible to us. WHEN & WHY ATTITUDES
INFLUENCE BEHAVIOR?
ATTTUDE FORMATION
1.) Rule of social context – moderates
1. Social Learning Theory / Approach –
the relationship between attitude &
views are acquired in situations in
behavior (role of norms, situational
which we interact with others.
constraints)
2. Classical Conditioning – learning based
2.) Strength of attitudes
on association (Pavlov)
- attitude extremity: how strong the
- Subliminal Conditioning – classical
emotional reaction is (role of vested
conditioning of attitudes by
interest)
- attitude certainty: clear & Heuristic processing – “peripheral route to
experienced as correct / more likely persuasion”, attitude change that involves the
to affect behavior (lack of clarity & use of mental shortcuts, such as expertise of
certainty) the persuaders.
- personal experience: people who
are involved with an issue & whose WHY DO WE RESIST PERSUASION ATTEMPTS?
values are linked with that issue are 1.) Forewarning
more likely to act on their attitudes. 2.) Reactance - doing the opposite, power
in negative attitude change.
HOW DO ATTITUDES GUIDE BEHAVIOR?
3.) Selective avoidance
1.) Attitudes based on reasoned
thought
- Theory of reasoned action: states  PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR
that the decision to engage in a
particular action is a result of Prosocial behavior – actions by individuals
rational process. that help others with no immediate benefit
to the other.
- Theory of planned behavior:
FIVE CRUCIAL STEPS IN DECIDING TO HELP
individuals consider their ability to
OR NOT
perform the behavior.
1.) Noticing, or failure to notice, that
something unusual is happening.
2.) Attitudes and spontaneous 2.) Correctly interpreting an event as
behavioral reactions (attitude-to- an emergency.
behavior process model) 3.) Deciding that it is your
responsibility to help
Cognitive dissonance - an unpleasant state that
4.) Deciding that you have the
results when individuals notice inconsistencies
knowledge and/or skills to act.
among 2/more attitudes or between attitudes
5.) Making the final decision to provide
and behavior.
help.

THEORETICAL EXPLANATIONS FOR PROSOCIAL


midterm BEHAVIOR (MOTIVES)

Persuasion – efforts to change others’ 1.) Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis – the


attitudes. desire to help someone in need by
the fact that it feels good to provide
Systematic processing – “central route to help.
persuasion”, attitude can change resulting from
careful consideration of message content &
ideas.

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