conditioning during research on the salivary responses in dogs.
Sovfoto Universal Images Group/Newscom.
Social cognition can be defined as the “mental processes involved in perceiving, attending to, remembering, thinking about, and making sense of” oneself and others (Moskowitz, 2005, p. 3). As you read these words, your mind is switching among the multiple mental processes required to focus on and comprehend them, interpret their meaning, glance at the time, remember you have a lunch date, make a quick decision about whether to answer the text message you just received, and choose between continuing to read or getting your third cup of coffee.
Although each of these activities is conscious, social cognitive processes often take place beneath the surface, nonconsciously (Carlston, 2013). Recall the research mentioned earlier that involved unscrambling sentences: Participants exposed to elderly related words walked more slowly (Bargh et al., 1996). Were they aware of this? Certainly not. Even when specifically asked if they thought that the task affected their behavior in any way, they denied it. It is not that the students were lying about the influence of the elderly related words. Rather, they were simply unaware of that influence.
Let’s say your lunch date is with your new boss who you have only seen in passing. One of your coworkers told you that the boss is usually late, wears shabby clothes, has terrible body odor, and talks with her mouth full. What kind of expectations would you hold of your boss? Imagine, instead, that the boss has a reputation for being timely, generous, well groomed, and polite. Would your expectations change? Regardless of which expectations you held, your behavior during lunch is likely to be affected by them. In the one case, you might not worry about being a few minutes late, you may dress casually, decide not to eat at all (so you don’t get grossed out), and wear extra cologne to mask undesirable smells. In the other, you’d be on time, dress well, plan to eat, and wear the usual amount of cologne (or none at all). This simple example demonstrates how expectations—another component of social cognition—can affect behavior. Chapter 3 is devoted in its entirety to explaining the centrality of social cognitive processes to virtually everything that we do. What we have learned and how we think about ourselves and others have repercussions for the kinds of romantic relationships that we seek, as we will see in Chapter 11.
Classical Conditioning: Form of learning in which a previously neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus after being paired with an unconditioned stimulus
Instrumental Conditioning: Form of learning in which reinforcement is given or punishment is administered in order to increase or decrease a specific behavior
Social Learning: Learning by observing or hearing that someone else was reinforced or punished for engaging in a particular behavior
Social Cognition: Mental processes involved in perceiving, attending to, remembering, thinking about, and making sense of oneself and others
Social Psychology in Europe
As mentioned above, the bulk of the empirical research in social psychology has focused on North American, white, educated males, and was conducted by North American scholars (Henrich, Heine, & Norenzayan, 2010). Nevertheless, social psychologists from Europe and elsewhere have had and continue to have a very important impact on the theory and research. From a historical perspective, two of social psychology’s founding “fathers”—Sherif and Lewin—in addition to many other, lesser-known scholars, were immigrants to the United States. Moreover, European social psychologists have made significant contributions to our understanding of social identity, intergroup relations, minority influence in groups, and many other topics discussed later in this text (Jahoda, 2007; Moscovici & Markova, 2006).
Emerging Trends
Social psychology is a dynamic and exciting field that continues to move in new directions. The final chapter of this book highlights three of these emerging topics and offers insights into where the field may be heading in the next 10 to 20 years. First we’ll describe the rise of positive psychology and incorporation of “happiness studies” into social psychology. Second, we’ll explore the renewed interest in the study of religion and will explain how we can scientifically investigate religious phenomena. Finally, we’ll discuss the emergence of the social psychological study of environmental sustainability—how social psychological insights can help us create a greener, cleaner, future.
Integrating Explanations
As you can see, there are many approaches to understanding the causes of social behavior. Which one is correct? The answer is that, on its own, none is: Social behavior cannot be reduced to a single cause. Not only is every social phenomenon a product of both personal and situational factors—which right away suggests more than a single cause—but virtually any behavior can be examined from each of these three levels of analysis. A complete understanding of a particular behavior will involve utilizing multiple explanations (see Figure 1.3). Let’s take obedience to authority as an illustration. From an evolutionary perspective, we could ask whether it was adaptive for our ancestors to have been, at least some of the time, obedient to the authority in their group, family network, tribe, or community. The answer would be yes, because too much disobedience would likely have led to expulsion from the group, and that would have placed the rebel at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to mating, finding food, and protection from dangerous animals and humans.
Yet group-level influences are also evident when we consider how obedience can differ across cultures. Obedience and respect for authority are much more important in collectivistic than individualistic cultures (Blass, 2012; Bond & Smith, 1996b). Individual experiences and learning history play a role in that from a very early age we are rewarded for doing what our parents or other authorities tell us to do and punished when we disobey. Moreover, social cognitive processes are also crucial to obedience: We must attend to the authority, interpret what she says as a command that applies to us, and so on. As you can see, these approaches are complementary and together provide a more complete understanding of social phenomena.
One quick qualification is necessary: Often one of these three perspectives provides more insight or explanatory power for a specific social behavior than the others, and for the purposes of this text, we may focus only on that primary explanation. For instance, certain characteristics that men prefer in potential female mates are considered to be universal and therefore apply to all cultures. In this case, we’ll emphasize the evolutionary perspective. In contrast, if we focus instead on ways that marital arrangements vary across cultures, then we’ll emphasize culture-based explanations. Let’s take a look at the guiding principles that guide social psychology’s investigation of human behavior.
Think Again!
1 What are the two elements of Lewin’s field theory, and why are they important?
2 Can you briefly describe the three levels of understanding and apply them to explain one of your behaviors?
Principle Matters: Social Psychology’s Guiding Principles
We stated above that one impetus for social psychological theory and research stems from life’s enduring questions. As important and fascinating as these questions are, they reveal more about the possibilities and complexities of human nature than they do about how humans actually behave. What we need is a general framework for understanding the actual causes of social behavior. Fortunately, social psychology has such a framework.
