MAC 325 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Fundamental Attribution Error, Cognitive Bias, Smartphone
26 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Week 15, Lecture 1
5/8/18: Dating, Affirmation, and Interpersonal Relationships
● Discussion
○ People are actually really good at assessing the way they think people are offline
based on their online profiles
● Fundamental attribution error
○ Cognitive bias
○ Suggests that when other people do bad or socially inappropriate things you tend
to assume its part of their nature; who they are
○ When we do these things, we assume it’s an exception
○ When you do something good, you are a fundamentally good person
○ When you do something bad, there are extenuating circumstances
■ Ex: When someone cuts you off its bad, when you do it its because you
are late
○ Smartphone use in public
● Public commitment theory
○ People want their public beliefs to match their private statements
○ If you portray yourself on social media as in a committed relationship then your
feelings will grow to match that commitment in real life
Week 15, Lecture 2
5/10/18: Conclusion: Culture in the Digital Age
● Where are we going?
○ Hard to predict
● Digital media will increasingly integrate itself into our everyday lives
○ Distinctions between real and virtual feel increasingly antiquated
○ Ability to “unplug” will become more difficult
● Institutions will continue to get better at using and abusing social media
○ Better at seeming authentic and demanding your attention
○ Manufacturing feelings of emotion and closeness
● Why study culture in the digital age?
○ “Equipment for living”
■ Better able to understand when and how others are trying to influence you
○ Practical
■ Even if you don’t use technology, others do
○ Cool spaces change
■ Your presence on a website will start to become the thing that makes a
digital space “uncool”
● Ex: when your mom got a facebook
● Communicating effectively in the digital age
○ This course has been about asking questions
Document Summary
People are actually really good at assessing the way they think people are offline based on their online profiles. Suggests that when other people do bad or socially inappropriate things you tend to assume its part of their nature; who they are. When we do these things, we assume it"s an exception. When you do something good, you are a fundamentally good person. When you do something bad, there are extenuating circumstances. Ex: when someone cuts you off its bad, when you do it its because you are late. People want their public beliefs to match their private statements. If you portray yourself on social media as in a committed relationship then your feelings will grow to match that commitment in real life. Digital media will increasingly integrate itself into our everyday lives. Distinctions between real and virtual feel increasingly antiquated. Ability to unplug will become more difficult. Institutions will continue to get better at using and abusing social media.
