Psychology

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Psychology

• the scientific study of behavior and mental
  processes

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Science

• not a recipe or set of procedures
• an attitude
• why is a scientific attitude necessary?

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Pre-scientific world view

• natural phenomena mysterious
• storms, change in seasons, etc. attributed to
  supernatural beings
• the gods as capricious as humans in their
  emotions and motives
• necessary to perform all sorts of effortful
  practices to placate the gods

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Beginnings of a scientific worldview

• Understanding natural phenomena systematically

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why does a plant grow instead of dying?

• identify variables
• water
• sunlight

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• vary those factors systematically
• no sun, water
• no water, sun
• sun, water
• no sun, no water

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Scientific attitude

• systematic
• sceptical
• open-minded

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• a systematic approach reduces chaos and wasteful
  effort

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• a sceptical attitude prevents us from acting on
  blind faith
• ever been bled by a leech?
• fallen off the edge of the earth lately?

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• open-mindedness prevents us from making
  scepticism a new faith
• the fate of Freuds seduction hypothesis

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A sceptical approach to observation

• Why seeing isnt always believing

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The Nature of Observation ISocial Perception
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Social Perception

• How do we perceive others?
• What inferences do we make about them based on
  our observations?
• How do those inferences affect our work as
  psychologists?

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How do we perceive others?

• The FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTION ERROR

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HELLO, SUSAN!, How are you today?
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Mfph
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Why did she say that?
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Boy, what a grouch!
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SNOB
Snob
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DISPOSITIONAL ATTRIBUTION
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DISPOSITIONAL ATTRIBUTION

• We attribute others behavior to internal mental
  states/processes or to personality traits

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SITUATIONAL ATTRIBUTION
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How do we perceive ourselves?
The ACTOR-OBSERVER EFFECT
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SITUATIONAL ATTRIBUTION

• We attribute our own behavior to external
  situational factors

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DISPOSITION
Thoughts, Feelings, Personality traits
Others behavior
Ssusan d
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My behavior
Ssusan d
The trolley was late My dog ate it. The devil
made me do it.
Situational Factors
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Why did you get a D on the exam?
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a) you were too lazy to study b) youre stupid c)
you dont care about your grades
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Why did I get a D on the exam?
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a) the lighting was bad b) the exam was unfair c)
the teacher hates me
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(((For Psychologists)

• Why did the chicken cross the road?

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Because he wanted to get to the other side.
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Why are voters inconsistent in their attitudes?
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Im against abortion, but for the death penalty,
and against assisted suicide.
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Youre what?
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...unclear on the concept?
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or influenced by television news?
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TakeTake a minute to test yourself

• What is the FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTION ERROR?

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How does it differ from the ACTOR-OBSERVER EFFECT?
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the Fundamental Attribution Error

• How might it influence psychological research?

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The case of Kitty Genovese

• raped and murdered in front of 38 eyewitnesses
• no one called the police
• evidence of the apathy, callousness,
  indifference of city dwellers?

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Any other hypotheses?

• Take a minute to write down TWO

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DISPOSITION
Thoughts, Feelings, Personality traits
Others
behavior (Failure to help)
Ssusan d
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DISPOSITION
Indifference, Apathy, Callousness, Selfishness, Fe
ar
Others
behavior (Failure to help)
Ssusan d
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My behavior
Ssusan d
Situational Factors
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Dispositional Factors
Indifference, Apathy, Callousness,
Others
behavior (Failure to help)
Ssusan d
Situational Factors?
Presence of others
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How do we perceive others?

• The FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTION ERROR
• The ACTOR-OBSERVER EFFECT
• The SELF-SERVING BIAS

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The SELF-SERVING BIAS

• We explain our own successes and failures very
  differently from the way we see others successes
  and failures

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The Self-serving Bias

• Why did we spend fifty dollars on Powerball
  tickets?

You fell I tripped
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Youre an idiot.

• I was duped.

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SucSuccess and Failure

• Failure
• OTHERS disposition
• SELFsituation
• (Fundamental Attribution Error)
  
  

• Success
• OTHERS situation
• SELF disposition
• doesnt follow the Fundamental Attribution Error!

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• Failure
• YOU stupidity, laziness
• ME bad luck

• Success
• YOU clearly, luck
• ME brains, of course,
• oh, and hard work, conscientiousness, effort,
  attention, skill.

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Social Perception

• Fundamental Attribution Error
• Actor-Observer Effect
• Self-serving Bias
• Nonverbal Communication

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Nonverbal Communication

• Another source of inferences about people, based
  on what we observe.

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Who are these people?
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What is this man feeling?
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sad...
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(No Transcript)
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MAD
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(No Transcript)
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glad!
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(No Transcript)
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Go to your room, young man!
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(No Transcript)
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HES the one, officer!
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(No Transcript)
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Juliet!
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Nonverbal Communication

• Appearance age, gender, clothing styles
• we make inferences about power and status
• Posture sad
• Gesture go to your room, Juliet!
• Facial expression glad

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For Psychologists

• What are the consequences of social perception
  and social cognition for psychological research?

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A few examples

• Inconsistent voter attitudes are due to voters
  lack of cognitive development (FUNDAMENTAL
  ATTRIBUTION ERROR)

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• Other researchers fail to find their predicted
  results because?
• Theyre crummy researchers, of course

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• I fail to find my predicted results because?
• The sample size was too small
• The temperature in the room was too hot
• The measure I used (which someone else designed)
  is flawed...

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You try...

• What are the possible consequences for research
  of
• the illusory correlation
• confirmation bias
• availability heuristic?