Summary of Chapters 3, 4, 5: Social Cognition and The
Self
Chapter 3: Social Cognition
Social Inference
Social inferences involve processing incomplete or ambiguous information,
often influenced by systematic biases.
Stages: Gathering information, deciding what to use, integrating
information.
Impact of Prior Expectations:
o Provide structure but can lead to faulty inferences if expectations
are flawed, information is biased, or confirmatory biases dominate.
o Negative information is given more weight than positive.
Biases and Heuristics in Social Inference
1. Illusory Correlations: Perceiving relationships between categories or
events that don’t exist (e.g., stereotypes).
2. Framing Effects: The way information is presented (e.g., gains vs. risks)
strongly affects judgments.
3. Judgments of Covariation: Assessing how strongly two variables are
related based on biased or incomplete information.
Emotion and Inference
Mood-Congruent Memory: Positive moods enhance memory and
judgment, while negative moods have variable effects.
Automatic Evaluations: Many judgments occur unconsciously, guiding
behavior toward approach or avoidance.
Motivated Inferences: People evaluate information in self-serving ways,
sometimes prioritizing desired beliefs over accuracy.
Suppressing Thoughts/Emotions: Suppression leads to rebound effects,
physiological stress, and reduced well-being.
Affective Forecasting: People overestimate the emotional impact of
future events because they fail to account for intervening factors.
Schemas
Definition: Organized cognitive structures about people, roles, groups, or
events.
Advantages:
o Aid in recall, speed up processing, guide automatic inferences, and
help in interpretation.
Liabilities:
o Overgeneralization, ignoring schema-inconsistent information, and
resistance to schema change.
When Are Schemas Used?
Dual Processing Model: Quick, heuristic-based judgments or systematic
processing requiring cognitive effort.
Factors: Time pressure, salience, priming, individual goals.
Heuristics
1. Representativeness Heuristic: Judging based on similarity to a
prototype but neglecting base rates.
2. Availability Heuristic: Judgments based on easily recalled examples,
influenced by bias.
3. Simulation Heuristic: Judgments based on imagined scenarios,
influencing emotions like regret.
4. Anchoring and Adjustment: Starting with an initial value (anchor) and
adjusting to reach an estimate.
Chapter 4: The Self
Self-Concept
Definition: The beliefs we hold about ourselves; changes across life
stages (infancy, adolescence, adulthood).
Self-Esteem: Evaluation of self-worth, which can be implicit
(subconscious) or explicit (conscious)
Sources of Self-Knowledge
1. Socialization: Learning societal rules and values.
2. Reflected Appraisal: Self-perceptions shaped by others’ evaluations.
3. Social Comparison: Evaluating oneself relative to others (upward vs.
downward comparisons).
4. Social Identity: Part of self-concept derived from group memberships,
including ethnic identity.
Aspects of Self-Knowledge
Self-Schemas: Cognitive structures that influence behavior, memory, and
judgments.
Possible Selves: Representations of what one hopes or fears to become.
Self-Discrepancies:
o Ideal Self: Attributes one wishes to have.
o Ought Self: Attributes one believes they should have.
Self-Regulation
Definition: Controlling and directing behavior to meet goals.
Self-Complexity: The number of dimensions used to view oneself. Greater
complexity provides resilience to failures.
Self-Efficacy: Beliefs about one’s ability to succeed.
Self-Awareness: Public (appearance to others) vs. private (internal
focus).
Motivation and the Self
Self-Verification: Seeking consistency with existing self-concept.
Self-Enhancement: Maintaining a positive view of oneself, often through
positive illusions.
Self-Affirmation Theory: Coping with threats to self-worth by affirming
other aspects of the self.
Terror Management Theory: Managing mortality anxiety by maintaining
self-esteem and cultural worldviews.
Social Comparison Theory
Developed by Leon Festinger: People evaluate themselves by
comparing with others in the absence of objective standards.
Goals:
o Accurate Evaluation.
o Self-Enhancement (downward comparisons).
o Self-Improvement (upward comparisons).
Self-Presentation
Definition: Controlling how others perceive us to achieve desired
outcomes.
Strategies:
o Self-Promotion: Highlighting strengths but risking appearing
egotistical.
o Ingratiation: Flattering or helping others to gain favor.
o Self-Handicapping: Creating obstacles to attribute failures
externally, preserving self-esteem.
Cultural Differences:
o Independent cultures emphasize self-promotion.
o Interdependent cultures focus on reducing actual-ought
discrepancies.
Summary of Chapter 5: Attitudes and Persuasion
1. Attitudes
Definition: Enduring dispositions with Affective (emotions), Behavioral
(actions), and Cognitive (beliefs) components.
Components are not always related and can vary in influence.
Functions:
o Simplify decision-making by accessing related information.
o Influence behavior but are also influenced by behavior.
2. Theories of Attitudes
1. Learning Theory:
o Based on association, reinforcement, punishment, and
imitation.
o Example: Emotions associated with a car model can influence
attitudes toward the car.
o Works well with unfamiliar material but views people as passive.
2. Balance Theory (Heider):
o People seek consistency in their attitudes toward people and
objects.
o Imbalance: Causes discomfort and is resolved by altering one of
the attitudes.
3. Cognitive Dissonance Theory (Festinger):
o Inconsistencies between attitudes and behavior create dissonance,
a psychological tension.
o Reduction methods: Change behavior, trivialize the dissonance, or
change attitudes.
o Example: Cult members adjusted beliefs when their prophecy failed.
4. Self-Perception Theory (Bem):
o People infer attitudes from their behavior and the external situation.
o Works for unfamiliar or minor issues, unlike cognitive dissonance,
which applies to deeply engaging issues.
5. Expectancy-Value Theory:
o Attitudes form based on a rational evaluation of pros and cons:
Subjective Utility = Expectancy x Value.
6. Dual Processing Theories:
o Systematic processing: Requires motivation and ability, involves
careful evaluation.
o Heuristic processing: Uses shortcuts, common when
motivation/ability is low.
7. Cognitive Response Theory:
o Attitude change depends on the thoughts (cognitive responses)
people generate when exposed to persuasive messages.
3. Persuasion
Persuasion depends on:
o Communicator: Credibility, expertise, trustworthiness, and liking.
o Message: Length, arguments, and familiarity/repetition.
o Audience: Ego involvement, fear arousal, distraction levels, etc.
Elaboration Likelihood Model (Petty & Cacioppo):
o Central Route: High elaboration with detailed evaluation.
o Peripheral Route: Low elaboration with reliance on superficial
cues.
Fear Appeals:
o Effective when they provide a way to reduce fear. Too much fear
may backfire.
4. Attitudes and Behavior
Consistency Factors:
o Stable, important, and easily accessible attitudes predict behavior
more strongly.
o Consistency improves when attitudes and behaviors are measured
simultaneously.
o Direct experience strengthens attitude-behavior links.
The Reasoned Action Model:
o Behavior is influenced by attitudes, social norms, and perceived
behavioral control.
o Theory of Planned Behavior adds perceived control as a key
factor.
5. Additional Key Concepts
Sleeper Effect: Low-credibility sources can become persuasive over time
if the source is forgotten.
Inoculation: Building resistance to persuasion by addressing weak
counterarguments early.
This summary covers all key theories, concepts, and examples mentioned in the
document. Let me know if you'd like additional detail on specific sections!
