Psychology Study Material: Social Cognition

SOCIAL COGNITION

‘Cognition’ refers to all those mental processes that deal with obtaining and processing of information. Extending this idea to the social world, the term ‘social cognition’ refers to all those psychological processes that deal with the gathering and processing of information related to social objects. These include all the processes that help in understanding, explaining and interpreting social behaviour.

The processing of information related to social objects (particularly individuals, groups, people, relationships, social issues, and the like) differs from the processing of information related to physical objects. People as social objects may themselves change as the cognitive process takes place. For instance, a teacher who observes a student in school may draw conclusions about her/him that are quite different from the conclusions drawn by the student’s mother, who observes her/him at home. The student may show a difference in her/his behaviour, depending on who is watching her/him — the teacher or the mother. Social cognition is guided by mental units called schemas.

SCHEMAS AND STEREOTYPES

A schema is defined as a mental structure that provides a framework, set of rules or guidelines for processing information about any object. Schemas (or ‘schemata’) are the basic units stored in our memory, and function as shorthand ways of processing information, thus reducing the time and mental effort required in cognition. In the case of social cognition, the basic units are social schemas. Some attitudes may also function like social schemas. We use many different schemas, and come to know about them through analysis and examples.

Most of the schemas are in the form of categories or classes. Schemas that function in the form of categories are called prototypes, which are the entire set of features or qualities that help us to define an object completely. In social cognition, category-based schemas that are related to groups of people are called stereotypes. These are category-based schemas that are overgeneralised, are not directly verified, and do not allow for exceptions. For example, suppose you have to define a group G. If you have never directly known or interacted with a member of this group, you will most likely use your ‘general knowledge’ about the typical member of group G. To that information you will add your likes and dislikes.

If you have heard more positive things about group G, then your social schema about the whole group will be more positive than negative. On the other hand, if you have heard more negative things about group G, your social schema will be in the form of a negative stereotype. The inferences you have drawn are not the result of your logical thinking or direct experience, but are based on pre-conceived ideas about a particular group. The next time you actually meet a member of group G, your impression of this person, and your behaviour towards her/him will be influenced by your stereotype. It was mentioned earlier that stereotypes provide fertile ground for the growth of prejudices and biases against specific groups. But prejudices can also develop without stereotypes.

IMPRESSION FORMATION AND EXPLAINING BEHAVIOUR OF OTHERS THROUGH ATTRIBUTIONS

Every social interaction begins with the formation of an impression about the person(s) we meet. Public figures and applicants appearing for job interviews are good examples that show it is very important to ‘make a good impression’ on others. The process of coming to know a person can be broadly divided into two parts :

(a) Impression formation, and (b) Attribution.

The person who forms the impression is called the perceiver. The individual about whom the impression is formed is called the target. The perceiver gathers information, or responds to a given information, about the qualities of the target, organises this information, and draws inferences about the target. In attribution, the perceiver goes further, and explains why the target behaved in a particular way. Attaching or assigning a cause for the target’s behaviour is the main idea in attribution. Often perceivers may form only an impression about the target, but if the situation requires it, they may also make attributions to the target. Impression formation and attribution are influenced by :

• the nature of information available to the perceiver,
• social schemas in the perceiver (including stereotypes),
• personality characteristics of the perceiver, and
• situational factors.

Impression Formation
The following aspects have been found in impression formation :
• The process of impression formation consists of the following three subprocesses :
(a) Selection : we take into account only some bits of information about the target person,
(b) Organisation : the selected information is combined in a systematic way.
(c) Inference : we draw a conclusion about what kind of person the target is.

• Some specific qualities influence impression formation more than other traits do.
• The order or sequence in which information is presented affects the kind of impression formed.

Mostly, the information presented first has a stronger effect than the information presented at the end. This is called the primacy effect (first impressions are the lasting impressions). However, if the perceiver may be asked to pay attention to all the information, and not merely to the first information, whatever information comes at the end may have a stronger influence. This is known as the recency effect.

• We have a tendency to think that a target person who has one set of positive qualities must also be having other specific positive qualities that are associated with the first set. This is known as the halo effect. For example, if we are told that a person is ‘tidy’ and ‘punctual’, we are likely to think that this person must also be ‘hard-working’.

(Current Affairs) Dialogue India: Other Issues 25 Aug to 25 Sept 2010

God did not create the universe

• British physicist Stephen Hawking has said the creation of the universe was a result of the inevitable laws of physics and it did not need God's help. In his latest book "The Grand Design", Hawking writes: "Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist." He rejects Isaac Newton's theory that the universe did not spontaneously begin to form but was set in motion by God.

Bopanna is India's hero

• History was made at the SDAT Tennis Stadium as India won both its reverse singles matches, effecting a 3-2 turnaround in its Davis Cup World Group play-off against Brazil. The win marked the first occasion of India rallying from a 0-2 deficit to claim a tie since its competition debut in 1921.
• With the host required to win both the reverse singles to retain its World Group slot, Rohan Bopanna dismissed Ricardo Mello in straight sets for a decisive victory, after Somdev Devvarman conspired with the heat to win by default against Thomaz Bellucci, who retired from their match due to exhaustion.

WADA decision gives dope-accused hope

• In a major development, following the re-classification of the prohibited substance, methylhexaneamine, by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), a dozen Indian sportspersons, reported for an adverse analytical finding stand a chance to escape with a mere warning and come back into the Indian teams for the Commonwealth Games.
• Methylhexaneamine, at the centre of a raging controversy for more than two weeks, has been shifted to the ‘specified substance' list from the ‘non-specified stimulants' batch in the 2011 Prohibited List (effective from January 1 next year) by the WADA at its Executive Committee meeting held in Montreal on Saturday.

Russian drought, Pakistan floods will impact prices: WFP official

• The drought in Russia and the floods in Pakistan that have affected wheat production will impact food prices as in 2007-08, says a senior official of the World Food Programme.
• WFP Deputy Executive Director Ramiro Lopes da Silva says: “The world is not yet there,” because the outlook for global wheat production is still positive. “But if countries start reacting to the phenomenon by imposing export bans, import duty and that kind of restrictions that start distorting the market, … we have the risk of having an inflationary trend on food prices in 2011 and 2012.

Glaciers: weaknesses in IPCC review to the fore

• The review by the Inter-Academy Council (IAC) of the working of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was released on, has brought out some interesting facts about the Himalayan glacier controversy.
• Significantly, besides revealing the weaknesses in the multi-layered process established by the IPCC to review draft chapters of its reports and correct errors, the IAC report highlights the shortcomings in the internal process of review within the government when the reports are received by it for comments.
• The observation on the Himalayan glaciers in the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) of the IPCC, issued in 2007, was one of the controversial statements in the report that led the Panel to request the IAC on March 10 to “conduct a thorough and independent review of the processes and procedures followed by the IPCC in preparing its Assessment Reports.”
• The controversial statement on the Himalayan glaciers appeared in Section 10.6.2 of the report of the Working Group II on Impacts, Vulnerability and Adaptation. Citing a 2005 report of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), a non-peer-reviewed (grey) literature, it said: “Glaciers in the Himalayas are receding faster than in any other part of the world…and, if the present rate continues, the likelihood of them disappearing by… 2035 and perhaps sooner is very high if the Earth keeps warming at the current rate. Its total area will likely shrink from the present 500,000 km2 to 100,000 km2 by … 2035.”
• The WWF report had, in turn, cited a 1999 report of the Working Group on Himalayan Glaciology (WGHG) of the International Commission for Snow and Ice (ICSI) whose chairman at that time was the well-known Indian glaciologist, Syed Iqbal Hasnain, formerly of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and now with The Energy Research Institute (TERI), New Delhi. The ICSI report had also resulted in a New Scientist article in June 1999 that quoted Professor Hasnain as saying that the Himalayan glaciers would vanish within 40 years as a result of global warming.

Afghans go to polls unfazed by rocket attacks, Taliban threats

• Afghanistan held crucial parliamentary elections on Saturday despite a string of rocket attacks and threats of reprisals by the Taliban.
• Voters turned out in modest numbers to elect 249 representatives to the Wolesi Jirga, the Afghan lower house of parliament.
• More than 2,500 candidates including over 400 women contested, the second after 2001, when the Taliban were evicted from power in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in the United States.
• At daybreak, it became evident that those hostile to the elections were making serious attempts to disrupt polling.
• Around 4 a.m., a rocket exploded in Central Kabul, close to the American embassy and the headquarters of the NATO-led forces.
• Reuters reported that an explosion close to a polling station in eastern Khost province, near the Pakistan border, wounded two Afghan election observers. As polling came to a close, reports emerged that 11 people had been killed, including six policemen in the north.
• Ahead of the voting, the Taliban urged Afghans to boycott the polls, and counselled them to stick to “jihad,” (holy war).

India set for building prototype gravitational wave detector

• Indian gravitational astronomy research got a major boost on September 14 with the approval of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) to fund a Rs.2-crore proposal for building a prototype gravitational wave (GW) detector.
• This three-metre-long optical interferometer-based detector is the first step in the four-phase strategy recommended by a consortium of Indian gravitational astronomy researchers towards building a four-km class Indian Interferometric Gravitational Wave Observatory (IndIGO) by the year 2020.
• The building of the prototype, led by C.S. Unnikrishnan and G. Rajalakshmi of the TIFR, is expected to be completed in three years.

Egypt discovers ancient burial chamber in Luxor

• The Egyptian Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni announced on September 15 the discovery of a 2,800-year-old burial chamber which belongs to the priest Karakhamun from 25th Dynasty (755 BC).
• The Ministry of Culture said the chamber was uncovered during conservation and restoration work on the west bank of Luxor by an Egyptian-American expedition. “The restoration work of this tomb is part of a much larger project known as the South Asasif Conservation Project (ACP), which contains nobles' tombs from the New Kingdom, as well as the 25th-26th Dynasties,” Hosni said.
• The burial chamber was found at the bottom of an eight-metre deep burial shaft, Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) said. Hawass said that the chamber is in very good condition and contains beautifully painted scenes, adding that its entrance is decorated with an image of Karakhamun and the ceiling is decorated with several astrological scenes, including a depiction of the sky goddess Nut. The leader of the expedition, Dr. Elena Pischikova, said that the tomb of Priest Karakhamun was discovered in the 19th Century in a dilapidated condition. It continued to deteriorate, and only parts of it were accessible to visitors in the early 1970s. Later it collapsed and was buried under the sand.

Sushil Kumar on top of the world

• Sushil Kumar made history by becoming the first Indian to win a World wrestling championship gold medal when he overpowered home favourite Alan Gogaev to win the 66kg freestyle title in Moscow.
• The exciting 3-1 victory in the title-bout also made Sushil the first Indian grappler to bag Olympic and World championship medals.
• The 27-year-old already holds the Asian and Commonwealth titles.
• On his way to the final, Sushil convincingly defeated Anastasios Akritidis of Greece (6-0), Martin Sebastian Daum of Germany (4-1) and Batzorig Buyanjar of Mongolia (9-1) before rallying to beat reigning European champion Jabrayil Hasanov of Azerbaijan (4-3).
• In the final, Sushil got the better of Gogaev in two straight rounds, winning 2-1 and 1-0 and sealing a historic triumph.
• The Delhi wrestler had won the bronze in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, becoming the second Indian wrestler, the first being K.D. Jadhav, to achieve the distinction.

World's oldest stock certificate found

• A Dutch history student has unearthed the world's oldest share, dating back to 1606 and issued by the sea trading firm, the Dutch East India Company. As the Netherlands' largest trading company in the 17th and 18th Centuries, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) was also the world's first company to issue stock.
• The Westfries Museum, in Hoorn, the Netherlands, has identified it as being the oldest share in the world. It is said to have been issued three weeks before what had been the oldest known share in the company.

Treat the malignancy

• Cricket might be facing the worst emergency in its history — the challenge of ridding itself of the stench of cheating and corruption.
• The International Cricket Council (ICC), headed by Sharad Pawar, has done the right thing in finding that Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif, and Mohammad Amir have “a really arguable case to answer,” charging them with “various offences” under Article 2 of its anti-corruption code, and suspending them pending a decision on those charges.
• As far as we know, match-fixing, including its no-less crooked variant, spot-fixing, is of fairly recent origin. The world of cricket woke up to it a decade ago following the disgrace and downfall of Hansie Cronje and the banning of South African, Indian, and Pakistani players for varying periods. The response of the ICC was to constitute an Anti-Corruption and Security Unit to investigate and act against player-corruption.
• The ICC's anti-corruption unit functions under serious limitations when it comes to policing and uncovering evidence. To be fair, it has raised the level of awareness among players, managers, and administrators of the game.

Ideology ruins science

• Human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research in the United States has hit a major roadblock once again.
• A temporary injunction by the Federal Court for the District of Columbia has turned the clock back and brought to a halt all federally funded research on hESC.
• The court's order comes a year and a half after President Barack Obama, through an executive order, broke the shackles on embryonic stem cell research, and provided the much-needed federal funding.
• However, this came with a rider. Money would be provided only after stem cells were harvested from the embryos, and could not be used for extracting embryonic stem cells, which would lead to the destruction of the embryos.
• This manoeuvre allowed the administration to sidestep the tricky Dickey-Wicker Amendment, a 1996 law that bars federal funding of any research that results in injury to or destruction of human embryos.
• Funding was also subject to certain conditions: that the embryos were no longer required for reproductive purposes, the donors provided informed consent, and no payments were offered for the embryos. But the judgment was based on a totally different reading of the Dickey-Wicker Amendment that federal support for the entire project should be denied even “if one step or ‘piece of research'…results in the destruction of an embryo.”
• The consequences of the Federal Court judgment are dramatic: it can derail the entire field of hESC research. It is unclear if the court order would make ineligible even the 21 embryonic stem cell lines approved for federal funding by President George W. Bush in August 2001.

(BREAKING NEWS) UPSC Declares Official Syllabus for Civil Services (Prelim) Exam 2011 which includes CSAT. Posted: 18 Oct 2010 10:39 AM PDT From Civil Service Examination 2011, Preliminary Examination would consist of two papers- Paper I and Paper II. The syllabus and pattern of the Preliminary Examination would be as under : (Paper 1) (200 marks) - Duration : Two hrs. Current events of national and international importance History of India and Indian national movement Indian and World Geography- physical, social, economic geography of India and the world Indian Polity and governance – constitution, political system, panchayati raj, public policy, Rights issues, etc. Economic and social development – sustainable development, poverty, inclusion, demographics, social sector initiatives etc. General issues on environmental ecology, bio-diversity and climate change-that donot require subject specialization General science. (Paper II) (200 marks) – Duration : Two hrs Comprehension Interpersonal skills including communication skills Logical reasoning and analytical ability Decision making and problem solving General mental ability Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude etc. (Class X level), Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc. –Class X level) English language comprehension skills (Class X level)