Self & Other: Part 1Intro to Psych

4/15/14

Two lecture series on Social Psychology◦ How we think about ourselves◦ How we think about other people◦ How we think about other groups of people

Our minds do a lot to adapt to & deal with the material word◦ Choose food◦ Navigate around the world◦ Recognize objects◦ Understand physical interactions

But what is the most interesting aspect of our evolved minds?

Self & Other

Our capacity to understand and deal with other people

We are intensely interested in how other people work & other peoples’ social lives

Especially celebrities

Self & Other

Phone Book Experiment◦ Developed by science writer Malcom Gladwell◦ 250 names chosen randomly from a Manhattan

phone book◦ Here’s what you do:

Go thru the names and circle any last names you recognize as belonging to people you know and who know you

If you know multiple people with that last name, circle it twice

When you’re done, add up the number of circles you made

Individual Difference

Another example:◦ 160 people in Omaha, Nebraska are given a

package and told to, somehow, get it to a stockbroker in Boston, but who lives in Sharon

◦ This was before the internet, email, Fed-Ex◦ The result: most of the people were able to do it◦ No one knew this man personally, but they knew

people who might know people who would know this man

◦ It took a max of six degrees of separation (where the phrase comes from)

Individual Difference

The idea behind the two examples:◦ People are connected to one another via chains of

people◦ Within those chains are people who are

“connectors”◦ These people are like hubs, they know a lot of

people and can connect others who may not know as many

◦ Some people in this room might be connectors◦ Let’s look at scores

Individual Difference

Phone Book Experiment◦ How many circles did you make?◦ How many made less than 10?◦ Between 10 – 20?◦ 20 – 30? 30 – 40? 40 – 50? 50 – 60? Over 60?◦ The average is 21◦ Some score over 100◦ Typically, the older you are the higher you tend to

score◦ Some people are more social than others and that

can lead to many interesting connections

Individual Differences

Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon◦ Take any actor and figure out how many steps it

would take to get to Kevin Bacon◦ “Bacon Number” – how many steps it takes

someone to get to Kevin Bacon

Whose Bacon Number should we look up?http://oracleofbacon.org/

Connections

Connections have social factors Example: It’s good to go to Harvard

◦ Why? Beside the fancy education…◦ You develop powerful acquaintances ◦ Different than close friends◦ So much in life can happen because your

acquaintances, your connections, matter◦ Jobs, relationships, buying a house, what city you

live in

Connections

Over the next 2 lectures we’ll talk about:

◦ The Self Differences between what we think of ourselves and

how think about other people

◦ Others How we think about other overall (not related to

ourselves) How we think about groups (Harvard students, gay

people, people of other races, etc)

What are we talking about today?

The Spotlight Effect Definition: The tendency to believe that

other people are paying closer attention to one’s appearance and behavior than they really are

Experiment:◦ Subjects wore a shirt with a picture of Barry

Manilow on it for 1 day◦ Psychologists then asked everyone else “Who

noticed this person’s t-shirt?”◦ The psychologists thought 100 people would

notice◦ Only 50 people did – HALF of what they thought

The Self

The Spotlight Effect◦ People are too busy noticing themselves to notice

someone’s Barry Manilow t-shirt

People just don’t care as much as other people think they do

The Self

The Transparency Effect◦ We believe we’re more transparent than we are

I need a volunteer! Someone who thinks they’re a bad liar◦ (If no one volunteers, I’ll pick someone, FYI)

Say three sentences:◦ Have you been in London?◦ Do you have a younger sibling?◦ Do you like sushi?

Lie on one of them!

The Self

The Transparency Effect◦ One of those answers was a lie – Which one?◦ Take a vote – raise your hand for the one you think

was a lie◦ #2 was the lie

There are 2 aspects to this effect◦ People are actually pretty good at lying

The transparency effect makes us think that’s not true◦ You think you’re terrific!

People systematically & dramatically view themselves as better than average

The Self

How are you as a student? As a significant other? As a driver?

◦ Most people see themselves as better than average when asked how good they are

Lake Wobegon effect◦ A systematic bias to see ourselves as better than

average◦ Psychologists don’t really know why it exists, but

there are some ideas…

You’re Terrific!

1) The nature of feedback we get informs our perspective on ourselves◦ For a lot of things in life, we get feedback when

we’re good/do something good◦ Could lead to an inflated self-esteem

2) There’s different criteria for goodness◦ I ask “How good are you as a driver?” and you

think “I’m better than average”, but you’re likely focusing on only one aspect of your driving

◦ “I’m an amazing parallel parker” but you might also be a terrible tailgaiter. You just don’t focus on it

You’re Terrific!

2) continued…◦ This focus on one aspect of your driving shows

there is a motivation to feel good about yourself You think you’re important, which is why the

spotlight effect exists You think your thoughts bleed out to others,

which is why the transparency effect exists Above and beyond that, you think you’re

terrific

You’re Terrific!

The Self-Serving Bias◦ Example: About ½ of you did above average on

the first test. The other half did below average. If I asked each of you why, the answers I’d get

wouldn’t be symmetrical

Those who did well would describe their good grade in terms of their capabilities or abilities “It’s because I’m smart, I’m hardworking, I’m brilliant”

People who did poorly would say “The test was unfair. I was busy. I have better things to do with my time.”

You’re Terrific!

Anyone thinks this, not just students When something good happens, people think

it’s because they’re awesome and that’s why When something happens to make them feel

rejected, it’s someone else’s fault; there’s a conspiracy against them

You think you’re terrific & because you’re terrific the good things that happen to you are because of your terrific-ness

The bad things that happen to you are because of accident and setback

You’re Terrific!

Cognitive Dissonance Theory◦ The idea that when people experience an

inconsistency in their head, it causes an unpleasant emotional state; a “dissonance”

◦ We act the way we do (the self-serving bias) to reduce dissonance

◦ When there’s a contradiction in our heads we’re not happy and we will take steps to make the contradiction go away

Cognitive Dissonance

The Confirmation Bias◦ People want to have information that confirms

what they believe

Example: Politics Right wing or left wing People read the magazines that correspond to their

political leanings – they want to read info that supports & confirms their beliefs

Cognitive Dissonance

Changing our attitudes to match our decisions

Insufficient Justification Effect◦ When people have an internal conflict their minds

rationalize it by inventing a comfortable illusion

Cognitive Dissonance

Example:◦ A group of people are convinced the world is going to

end on a certain date◦ They give away their homes, their money, their stuff,

quit their jobs◦ They climb to the top of a mountain to wait for the end –

it obviously didn’t◦ When the prediction of the end of the world didn’t come

true, the people didn’t say “I’m such an idiot!” ◦ They said “This shows us that going to the mountain has

delayed the end and this shows that we’re doing exactly the right things. I’m so smart.”

◦ When people devote a lot of energy or money to something they are VERY resistant to having it proven wrong

Cognitive Dissonance

How can cognitive dissonance be manipulated?

Example: Hazing◦ People who want to join a frat are often hazed◦ They are humiliated, cause them pain, perform

various forms of torture and unpleasantness ◦ Why?◦ It’s very successful at getting someone to like the

group◦ It makes people think this is really, really

valuable, I’m lucky to have it

Cognitive Dissonance

Hazing◦ Say I join a frat and they “Welcome, Tara. Here,

have a mint.” And then we have a good time and all that

◦ I think “That’s cool, okay.”

◦ But if I join a frat and they pour cow poo on my head and make me stand in the rain for a week wearing a bathing suit while they throw rocks at me, afterward I think “God I went through a lot to get into this frat! It must be SO GOOD”

http://youtu.be/qdFLPn30dvQ

Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive Dissonance in kids 2 groups of kids are asked to draw pictures

◦ One group you reward with a sticker◦ The other group you don’t

The children who are rewarded later think the activity has less value and are less likely to do it when there’s no reward happening

The idea: the kids who don’t get rewards think “I just spent time doing it. It must have some innate value.”

The rewarded kids think “I did it for the sticker. I don’t care about drawing, I care about the sticker.”

Cognitive Dissonance

3 main findings about The Self◦ 1) The Spotlight Effect:

You believe everyone notices you when they don’t

◦ 2) Lake Wobegon Effect: You are better than average in every possible way;

you’re terrific!

◦ 3) Insufficient Justification Effect: What you do makes sense, and if it doesn’t or it’s

something you do that makes you look foolish or cheap or manipulative, you’ll distort it in your head so that it does make sense

Summing Up The Self

How we think about ourselves relative to how we think about other people

Attribution: A claim about the cause of someone’s behavior

Example: ◦ You insult me or you’re kind to me◦ I could say you’re a rude person or you’re a kind

person◦ I could say “You must be under a lot of stress

today” or “This must be a great day for you” These are all ways I attribute your behavior

Self & Other

Person Bias◦ We tend to attribute people’s actions to their

personality characteristics Fundamental Attribution Error

◦ People tend to give too much weight to the person and not enough weight to the situation

◦ Example: Studies have shown that people tend to overestimate the intelligence of teachers

◦ Why? Because I stand up here and talk about the one think I know about, so I look super smart

◦ But if you stood up here and talked about the one thing you know about, you’d look smart too

Self & Other

Fundamental Attribution Error◦ Example: An actor plays a role on tv for a long

time. The audience likes the actor and the character and may start to believe the actor IS that character IRL

Self & Other

2 morals in social psych◦ 1) Enhancement of the self◦ 2) Oversimplification of the other

When things go well for us, we take the credit for ourselves

When things go wrong for us, we blame the situation We don’t do this for others Someone does something stupid: they’re a stupid

person

How we think about others is different from how we think about ourselves

Self & Other

Why we like other people◦ Proximity

We tend to like people who we’re close to physically The Mere Exposure Effect: The more you see

something, the more you like it. It becomes comfortable and safe

◦ Similarity We like people who are like us

◦ Attractiveness People like people who are good looking

Others