PSYC 351 Lecture Notes - Shooting Of Amadou Diallo, Fundamental Attribution Error, Extraversion And Introversion
Chapter 3
Social Beliefs & Judgement
Perceiving and Processing Social Information
▪ Prejudgments can bias our perceptions, interpretations, and later recall
o Can determine how we interact with others, ourselves, or interpret others
o We often make accurate mental shortcuts about our social world
o Prejudgments can be conscious as we choose to construe our world the way we want
o Prejudgments can be unconscious, and we do not realize what is influencing us
Interpreting Events
▪ Asked extent coverage was biased, if at all?
o Most participants felt the media was fair
o Of those that did not think the media was fair:
o Most thought it was against their preferred candidate
− What fuels our biases and ideas?
▪ Stereotypes: schemas applied to social groups, such as a fraternity, gender, or race
o Amadou Diallo
▪ Amadou Diallo as an unarmed African American
▪ Shot 19 times by four police officers who fired a total of 41 shots
▪ Diallo was reaching into his back pocket when police opened fire.
▪ Would the officers have given Diallo more time to show whether he was
dangerous if he was white? Probably not
o Eos ade i shootig gae
▪ Video gae: task is to shoot taget if holding a weapon. Do’t shoot if holdig
something else.
▪ given .5 second to choose
▪ ½ targets white, ½ black; ½ holding weapons, ½ not
Which schemas are applied?
▪ Accessibility: Extent to which schemas and concepts are at the forefront of the mind and thus
likely to be used in making judgments
▪ Relevant, act on appropriate circumstance
o Chronic accessibility
o Temporary accessibility: Priming
• The Doald “tudies: depending on the list of words you were first asked to study, would
determine how you perceived Donald (whether positive or negative)
• Participants were told that they were doing two unrelated experiments
• First: identify colors while memorizing a list of words*
• “eod: ead a paagaph ad gie ipessios of a peso Doald
▪ Is he someone that is:
− stuck-up and reckless
− likeable and enjoys new challenges
• ½ participants had positive words in first study adetuous, self-confident, independent,
persistent
• ½ had egatie ods i fist study ekless, oeited, aloof, stuo
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• Accessible and applicable
• Excuse me, but what about actual behavior?
• Subjects unscrambled neutral, polite, or rude words
• Told to find the experimenter when finished
• Experimenter in hall, immersed in conversation for 10 minutes
o Would they interrupt?
o Those with the rude words would interrupt the conversation
Confirmatory Hypothesis Testing
• Do we seek information objectively, or are we inclined to confirm the suspicions we
already have? We tend to go along with the beliefs we already hold
• Hold on to past beliefs when first meeting someone
Interview Study
• Interview this person
o he is somewhat of an extrovert/introvert
o Participants made up different questions that lead to confirmation of original ideas
• Most powerful: both the participants and those blind to the study observed the primed
condition
o Easy to confirm that the person is introverted or extroverted etc.
• Do we always do this?
o Less likely if:
▪ We are uncertain of our impression
▪ Concerned with the accuracy of their impressions
• It is easy to form beliefs and hard to break them
o E.g.: political voting behavior
Belief Perseverance
• The tendency to maintain a belief even after it has been discredited
• Automatically deny and reject any evidence that goes against what we believe in
o The original explanation about the belief often survives
o One way to reverse: Think about how the opposite belief might be true
Fake Feedback Study
• Gave people fake feedback that they either succeeded or failed in a task
• Then told them that the feedback was fake
• Had them estimate the number of items they did get right
• Hypothetical future
Attribution: How we interpret or explain events
1. Heide’s Naïe Psychology
2. Kelly’s Attiutio Theoy
3. The Fundamental Attribution Error
4. Actor-Observer difference
• Heide’s 9 Naïe Psyhology
o People ty to figue out auses of othes’ ehaios
o People itepet othes’ ehaio & gie it eaig
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