1.2 Affect, Behavior, and Cognition

Psychological scientists refer to cognition as the mental activity of processing information and using that information in judgment. Social cognitionCognition in which people perceive, think about, interpret, categorize, and judge their own social behaviors and those of others. is “cognition in which people perceive, think about, interpret, categorize, and judge their own social behaviors and those of others.”

Over time, people develop social knowledge that contains information about the self, other people, social relationships, and social groups. Two types of knowledge are particularly important in social psychology: schemas and attitudes. A schemaA knowledge representation that includes information about a person or group. is a knowledge representation that includes information about a given topic, including people and groups. The content of our schema may or may not be an accurate representation of reality. Examples of schemas include our knowledge–correct or incorrect–that Fatima is a friendly person or that Italians are romantic. Is Fatima actually a friendly person? Are Italians actually romantic? Maybe. Maybe not. An attitudeKnowledge that includes primarily a liking or disliking of a person, thing, or group. is a knowledge representation that includes primarily our liking or disliking of a person, thing, or group (“I really like Julie,” “I dislike my new apartment”). Once we have formed them, both schemas and attitudes allow us to judge quickly and without much thought, whether someone or something we encounter is good or bad, helpful or hurtful, is to be sought out or avoided. Thus schemas and attitudes have an important influence on our social information processing and social behavior. 

Social cognition involves the active interpretation of events. As a result, different people may draw different conclusions about the same events. When Odette smiles at Robert, he might think that she is romantically attracted to him, whereas she might think that she’s just being friendly. When Mike tells a joke about Polish people, he might think it is funny, but Wanda might think he is being prejudiced. The twelve members of a jury who are deliberating about the outcome of a trial have all heard the same evidence, but each juror’s own schemas and attitudes may lead each to interpret the evidence differently. The fact that different people interpret the same events differently makes life interesting, but it can sometimes lead to disagreement and conflict. Social psychologists study how people use their schemas and attitudes to interpret and understand their worlds and, particularly, how they make judgments about the causes of other peoples’ behavior.

AffectThe experience of feeling or emotion. refers to the experience of feeling or emotion. (The pronunciation of affect as a noun is different from the pronunciation of affect as a verb. Hear affect pronounced as a noun.) As part of our everyday experience, we may find ourselves feeling happy or sad, jealous or grateful, proud or embarrassed. Although affect can be harmful if it is unregulated or unchecked, our affective experiences normally help us to function efficiently and in a way that increases our chances of survival. Affect signals us that things are going okay because we feel good or that things are not going so well because we do not feel good. Affect can also lead us to engage in behaviors that are appropriate to our perceptions of a given situation. When we are happy, we may seek out and socialize with others; when we are angry, we may attack; and when we are fearful, we may run away.

One subcategory of affect is emotion. An emotionA mental state that is situation-specific, valenced, and conscious. is a mental state that is situation-specific, valenced, and conscious. Emotions are situation-specific. For example, when our friend surprises us at work with a cup of coffee (a specific situation), we experience happiness (emotion). Emotions are valenced. By valenced, we mean that they are caused by an event that we categorize as good for us or bad for us. Our friend bringing us a cup of coffee would be an example of a good-for-us event. Lastly, having an emotion is a conscious experience. For example, we can say to our coworkers, “I am so happy! My friend brought me a cup of coffee!” Emotions serve an adaptive role in helping us guide our social behaviors. Any time we want to make someone happy, for example, we know that surprising them with something they like will probably achieve that goal. 

A second subcategory of affect is mood. MoodThe positive or negative feelings that are in the background of our everyday experiences. refers to the positive or negative feelings that are in the background of our everyday experiences. Mood is not connected to a specific situation or event. In fact, we may not know why we are in a particular mood. Interestingly, our moods are contagious. When we are in a good mood, others around us are likely to experience a boost in their mood. Similarly, our bad mood will bring others down. 

Because humans interact with and influence each other every day, we have developed the ability to make these interactions proceed efficiently and effectively. We cooperate with other people to gain outcomes that we could not obtain on our own, and we exchange goods, services, and other benefits with other people. These behaviors are essential for survival in any society.

The sharing of goods, services, emotions, and other social outcomes is known as social exchangeThe sharing of goods, services, emotions, and other social outcomes among people.. Social rewards (the positive outcomes that we give and receive when we interact with others) include such benefits as attention, praise, affection, love, and financial support. Social costs (the negative outcomes that we give and receive when we interact with others), on the other hand, include the frustrations that accrue when disagreements with others develop, the guilt that results if we perceive that we have acted inappropriately, and the effort involved in developing and maintaining harmonious interpersonal relationships.

Imagine that we are trying to decide whether we want to join a volunteer organization. Joining the organization has costs, such as spending time attending volunteer events and meetings, effort in getting to know the other volunteers, and perhaps spending money to support the organization’s activities. On the other hand, there are the potential benefits of group membership, including having a group of friends with similar interests and a social network to help find activities to participate in, as well as the benefit of knowing that we are supporting a good cause. To determine whether or not to join, we have to weigh both the social and the material costs and benefits before coming to a conclusion.

We generally prefer to maximize our own outcomes by attempting to gain as many social rewards as possible and by attempting to minimize our social costs. Such behavior is consistent with the goal of protecting and enhancing the self. But although we do behave according to the goals of self-concern, these goals are tempered by other-concern: the goals of respecting, accepting, and cooperating with others. As a result, social exchange is generally fair and equitable, at least in the long run. Imagine, for example, that Ali asks you to do a favor for him, and you do it. If Ali were only concerned about his own self-enhancement, he might simply accept the favor without any thought of paying you back. Yet, both you and Ali would realize that you would most certainly expect Ali to be willing to do the same type of favor for you, should you ask him at some later time.  

One of the outcomes of living together in small groups over thousands of years is that humans have learned to cooperate by giving benefits to those who are in need, with the expectation of a return of benefits at a future time. This mutual, and generally equitable, exchange of benefits is known as reciprocal altruismThe mutual, and generally equitable, exchange of benefits between people.. An individual who is temporarily sick or injured will benefit from the help that they might get from others during this time. And according to the principle of reciprocal altruism, other group members will be willing to give that help to the needy individual because they expect that similar help will be given to them should they need it. However in order for reciprocal altruism to work, people have to keep track of how benefits are exchanged to be sure that everyone plays by the rules. If one person starts to take benefits without paying them back, this violates the principle of reciprocity and should not be allowed to continue for very long. In fact, research has shown that people are particularly good at detecting social cheaters—those who do not live up to their obligations in reciprocal altruism—and that these individuals are judged extremely negatively.