Humans have an innate desire for meaningful, stable connections with others. It is a longing to fit in.

Belonging (as social motive)

Humans are innately inclined to want to predict other behavior accurately. We desire to make sense of the social world around us to the extent of eliminating uncertainty. Predicting situations accurately improves preparation, stability, and outcome. Failing to do so is unnerving, increases stress and can lead to unintended consequences.

Predicting others' behavior (as social motive)

The need for control, even if unhappy with it, is a strong social motive for humans. Humans desire the autonomy to pursue what they want and the competence to make things happen. Bruce McEwen found that the lowest members in social hierarchies (with the least amount of control over their situation) were the most likely to suffer stress-related illnesses and die early. Humans often act and perceive that they have control to compensate for when we don't.

Control (as social motive)

Humans want to feel worthy, have positive reputations, and have a high social status within their community. We want to matter to other people. How we see ourselves is directly related to how much we feel we are valued by others.

self-enhancement (as social motive)

We must trust others to survive. We want to trust that people will support us with resources, make us feel happy and ensure our safety.

Trust (as social motive)

An employee, new to a company, spends the first few weeks carefully observing team meetings and social interactions. They focus on learning who the informal leaders are, what topics are considered sensitive, and the general communication style of the group before offering their own opinions. Which of the following fundamental social motives is most directly demonstrated by this employee's initial behavior?

Based on the provided scenario, identify the primary social motive that is being unfulfilled for the individual, leading to their negative feelings. Justify your answer by connecting specific details from the case to the definition of the motive.

Workplace Motivation Scenario

In addition to physical needs for survival, humans also have social motives that shape our thinking, relationships, and emotions. When our motives are fulfilled we will tend to feel good, and when they are not, we will tend to feel stressed or unhappy. Some major social motives are:
- belonging
- predicting others' behavior accurately
- control
- self-enhancement (a need to matter)
- trust

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- Self-categorization theory
- Social Motives
- Social Identity Theory
- Honneth's theory of social recognition
- Social proof 
- Autism as "mind-blindness"
- Social presence theory 
- Terror management theory
- Rule of 150
- Attribution theory
- Emotion
- Social Influence
- Situationism
- Social roles and Social Role Theory
- Social norms
- Prejudice and Discrimination
- Attitudes and Persuasion
- Aggression
- Prosocial behavior

Theories and Focuses of Social psychology

Social cognition refers to the ways in which individuals think about themselves and others. As a key intrapersonal topic in social psychology, it focuses on the mental processes involved in perceiving, interpreting, and remembering information about the social world.

Social Cognition

Aronson, Elliot, and Joshua Aronson. The Social Animal. Worth Publishers, Macmillan Learning, 2018.

The Social Animal

Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020, April 22). Psychology (2nd ed.). OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/1-introduction

OpenStax Psychology (2nd ed.) Textbook

It is an ordinary and normal experience to reduce experience from "I" and "me" to "us" and "we". The self then becomes defined in terms of other persons, instead of a singular, experiencing self. Sometimes the self identifies almost (if not) entirely with a class against another and is subjectively experienced through a social collective.

Self-categorization theory (Turner, Hoggs, Oakes, Reicher, and Wetherell 1987)

- 1) Love: recognition through relationships of strong emotional attachment from a small number of people (lovers, family, friends)

- 2) Rights: recognition from the respect that political, social and civil rights (abilities) provide through their enabling of an individual

- 3) Solidarity: recognition from the social defined worth of an individuals characteristics 

Axel Honneth's Theory of Recognition (a threefold conceptualization of intersubjective recognition)

- “the ability of learners to project their personal characteristics into the community of inquiry, thereby presenting themselves as ‘real people’” (Garrison, Cleveland-Innes, & Vaughan, 2001). 
Social Presence is evident through three indicators: affect, open communication and group cohesion. 
- "the degree of salience of the other person in the interaction and the consequent salience of the interpersonal relationships.” (Williams, Short, Christie, 1976)
- “the degree to which a person is perceived as a ‘real person’ in
mediated communication" (Gunawardena, 1995)
- "definitions of social presence tend to lie on a continuum where a focus on interpersonal emotional connection between communicators is on one end and a focus on if someone is perceived as being ‘present’, ‘there’ or ‘real’ at the other end" (Lowenthal, 2011)

Social Presence 

To cope with the awareness of mortality that continually exists in human cognition, and more so when threatened, one sustains faith in worldviews and self-esteem to manage the fear and anxiety. Humans' fundamental systems are designed for survival with a flight or fight arousal activation and cognitive awareness that potential danger is omnipresent, unpredictable, and unescapable.  Terror management theory (TMT) posits that ancient civilizations gravitated toward symbolism and meaning, order, documentation, and cultural growth to manage this constant terror. Early in childhood, one is taught the specific social behaviors that illicit good feelings and security, and other unwanted behaviors make the world seem scary and uncertain. Psychological security becomes based on the immortality of familial, cultural, and religious groups. Moreover, the fear of mortality drives in-group/out-group biases and self-serving behavior.

Terror Management Theory

Humans have evolved to have up to 150 stable, meaningful relationships at a time (the growth of the neocortex is likely responsible). 150 is also the approximately optimal size for a human community. Humans can remember important information of up to 150 group members (such as which are likely cheaters and which are most likely to return a favor). Early tribes often splintered into different sects shortly after suprassing 150 members.

Rule of 150

It describes how our most important associations with religious, political, national, and occupational groups provide us with a sense of belonging, worth and shapes our thinking of people in/outside of these groups. Developed by Henri Tajfel, a polish jew who ended up in a Nazi prisoner of war camp during WWII. 

Social Identity Theory

Social motives

An emotion is a subjective state of being, often described as a feeling. It is typically an intense, affective state that occurs consciously and intentionally in response to a specific experience. Emotions arise from the interplay of four key components: a subjective experience, an outward expression, a cognitive appraisal of the situation, and physiological responses.

Emotion

People have two emotional systems: 
- Disposition system : governs excitement and enthusiasm
- Surveillance system : governs anxiety, stress and fear

Affective Intelligence Theory

standing by previous conclusions even if new evidence shows we should not

Belief Perseverance 

Attribution is the process of inferring the causes of events or behaviors. In social psychology, this often involves determining whether a behavior is due to internal factors, such as personality and character (a dispositional attribution), or external factors, such as the environment and social context (a situational attribution).

Attribution

Refer to shared socially determined consensual expectation regarding appropriate and acceptable behavior in a given context. Social norms carry an evaluative quality, leading to negative judgment for those who violate them without a valid explanation.

Social Norms

In social psychology, prejudice refers to the attitudes and feelings held toward an individual based solely on their membership in a particular social group. While these attitudes are often negative and problematic, they can also be positive, such as having favorable feelings for people who belong to a group one identifies with.

Prejudice in Social Psychology

An attitude is a person's evaluation of an object, an idea, or another person. These evaluations can be either positive or negative (favorable or unfavorable) and are comprised of affective, behavioral, and cognitive components.

Attitude

Situationism is the perspective, commonly held by social psychologists, that an individual's behavior is dictated by their immediate environment and surrounding circumstances. This view emphasizes external, situational factors over internal traits.

Situationism

Which theory in social psychology explains how individuals categorize themselves and others into groups, influencing their behavior and attitudes?

Which theory in social psychology focuses on the idea that people are motivated to maintain a positive self-concept and social identity?

Which theory in social psychology suggests that people conform to the behavior of others in order to be accepted or liked by them?

Which theory in social psychology explains how individuals' behaviors are influenced by their roles within a group or society?

The presence of other people, whether real or perceived, significantly impacts an individual's actions, thoughts, and feelings. A core principle in social psychology is that individuals often adapt their behavior to conform to the social situation they are in. This adjustment is particularly evident when a person is in a new or uncertain environment, where they look to others for cues on how to act.

Influence of Social Presence on Behavior

A primary driver of human behavior is the motivation to feel good about oneself and maintain a positive self-esteem. People generally view themselves as good and above average on desirable traits. When behavior, attitudes, or beliefs threaten this positive self-image, it can trigger psychological processes aimed at protecting self-esteem.

Motivation to Maintain Positive Self-Esteem

Persuasion and social influence constitute a major subfield within social psychology. Persuasion, in particular, is one of the most heavily researched topics in the discipline, providing a wealth of information on how individuals can be influenced by others.

Persuasion and Social Influence as a Field of Study

Aggression is defined as any behavior intended to cause harm or pain to another person. It is a core topic in social psychology, encompassing a range of actions with different underlying motivations.

Aggression

- Mentalism

- Orientation Towards Cognitive Processes

- Cross-fertilization of Cognitive and Social Psychology

- Application to the Real World
- Dual Modes of Processing

Basic Assumptions of Social Cognitive Theories

- Organizations
- Articles 
- Books
- Newspapers

References for Social Cognition

Hurting associated with humiliation, rejection, or insult. It can feel as bad or worse than physical pain.

Social pain

The self-concept refers to one's fundamental sense of identity. It is a mental representation of oneself that helps in interpreting ambiguous information, setting appropriate goals for oneself, and regulating one's thoughts and emotions.

Self-Concept

Refers to various processes where people perceive, organize, and integrate information to form unified impressions of others

Impression Formation Theories

Self-socialization is the process by which children actively shape their own development.

Self-Socialization 

- Selman's Stage Theory of Role Taking
- Dodge's Information-Processing Theory of Social Problem Solving
- Dweck's Theory of Self-Attribution and Achievement Motivation
-Hierarchical Interdependent Taxonomy of Social Cognition model

Types of Information Processing Theories in Social Cognition

Judgement is relative. How we think about a person or event depends on the context surrounding it. 

Social context

a phenomenon when social groups create and maintain false beliefs about the world, even when contradictory evidence is present (e.g., belief that scientists are looking for a personal advantage by suggesting anthropogenic climate change)

Sulik, J., Efferson, C., & McKay, R. (2021). Collectively Jumping to Conclusions: Social Information Amplifies the Tendency to Gather Insufficient Data. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001044

Collective Delusions

A phenomenon when individuals' psychological processes "scale up" to group-level phenomena, often in unpredictable ways

Sulik, J., Efferson, C., & McKay, R. (2021). Collectively Jumping to Conclusions: Social Information Amplifies the Tendency to Gather Insufficient Data. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001044

Aggregation Dynamics

The process of cognitively assigning others into social groups.

Social Categorization

When people are confronted with unsympathetic material, either they do not perceive it or they make it fit for their existing opinion; and (c) selective retention, when people simply forget attitude-incongruent information 

Selective Perception 

Interest in social cognition as it relates to schizophrenia is a more recent development, and research in this area has grown dramatically over the past 10-­15 years.

Social Cognition in Schizophrenia

- Emotional Processing
- Social Perception
- Attributional bias/style
- Mentalizing

Features of Social Cognition

- Over the past decade, there has been considerable progress in the development of psychosocial treatments for social cognition in schizophrenia. 
- Given the complex, multifaceted nature of social interactions and the wide range of social functioning difficulties seen in schizophrenia, the field has shifted toward “comprehensive treatments” that address multiple, rather than single, social cognitive domains.


Training Approaches in Social Cognition

- Medium to large associations between social cognitive domains and community 
functioning were reported, with mentalizing showing the strongest relationship 
in a meta-analysis. 
- This meta-analysis reported that social cognition explained roughly 16% of the variance in community functioning, while nonsocial cognition accounted for about 6%.
- The association between social cognition and functioning has been found to hold up over time. For example, significant associations between baseline social cognition and community functioning can be seen one year and even five years later.

Social Cognition and Functional Outcome

The ability to attribute mental states to ourselves as well as others. This capacity is not logically derived, but rather, exists as an innate neurocognitive mechanism. As a foundational element of social behavior, it provides the capacity to interpret the behavior of others. Believed to develop in toddlers as young as 15 months old and is studied in apes and primates. 

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