Social psychology

Module 3 The Social Nature of the Human Being

PSYC 225 Social Psychology

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Objectives At the end of this module, the student will be able to:

Explain the nature of the human being.

Discuss the social nature of the human being considering biological approaches, external circumstances, and historical construction.

Describe the concept of self and how it relates to other people.

Compare social structures and their psychological impact as part of the socialization process of the human being.

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Human Nature and Psychology (Bustamante Rosas, 2019).

 Psychology is one of the most diverse and enriching professions, because the knowledge it includes allows us to understand many everyday experiences from multiple perspectives and at different levels of depth. Psychology becomes a tool through which we can observe, reflect, and analyze the mental and emotional processes that occur in the human psyche.

 The psychologist is an enthusiastic explorer of human nature, that is, the set of essential characteristics that are common to all people, such as emotions, fantasies, passions, instincts, and the ability to think. Psychology is like a lens that allows the study of all these phenomena based on numerous interpretations and points of view.

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Human Nature and Psychology (López Sáez et al, 2009).

We start from the premise, that humans are an animal species that comes from a common stock with all others and has evolved from earlier forms due to a process of natural selection, as argued by Damien (1859). The most provocative implication of Darwin's (1871) argument is that the human species is not the pinnacle of evolution, the most evolved of all. All species evolve, developing their own capacities and characteristics thanks to a complicated process of natural selection, the result of which is the survival of the versions best adapted to the conditions in which one lives.

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Human Nature and Psychology (López Sáez et al, 2009).

We start from the premise that humans are an animal species that comes from a common stock with all others and has evolved from earlier forms due to a process of natural selection, as argued by Damien (1859).

The most provocative implication of Darwin's (1871) argument is that the human species is not the pinnacle of evolution, the most evolved of all. All species evolve, developing their own capacities and characteristics thanks to a complicated process of natural selection, the result of which is the survival of the versions best adapted to the conditions in which one lives.

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Human Nature and Psychology (López Sáez et al, 2009).

 Two hypotheses have been proposed to explain the evolution of the brain.

o 1) The need to cope with the demands of the physical environment and

o 2) The need to manage increasingly complex social relationships and to coordinate with others.

 The first hypothesis is based on ecological intelligence, which argues that it was the need to solve technical problems, such as searching for quality food - difficult to find and often perishable - anticipating the behavior of the species it wanted to hunt and defend and exploring large territories. This allowed the brain to obtain complex mental maps and to develop techniques for obtaining food and utensil factories (Call, 2005).

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Human Nature and Psychology (López Sáez et al, 2009).

 The second hypothesis is based on social intelligence, which holds that the main function of intelligence in our ancestors was the solution of social problems, namely, keeping the group together.

 The reason is that even within the group, individuals could acquire the necessary techniques for their subsistence by social learning, that is, by observation and imitation of others.

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Human Nature and Psychology (López Sáez et al, 2009).

 This hypothesis was developed by the British Nicholas Humphrey who explained: "In a complex society such as those that exist in primates, there are benefits to individuals both for preserving the overall structure of the group and for exploiting and manipulating the other members.

 Therefore, social primates have to be calculating animals by the very nature of the system they create and maintain; they have to be able to calculate the consequences of their own actions, the probable behavior of others, the balance of advantages and losses, all this in a context where the evidence on which these calculations are based is ephemeral, ambiguous and susceptible to change, among other reasons because of the individual's own behavior. All this requires higher level intellectual skills” (Humphrey, 1976, p. 309).

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Process of Socialization of the Human Being and Psychology (López Sáez et al, 2009).

 In order to adapt to life in a group, human beings needed to develop a motivation that would drive them to be part of a group and to stay in it even when their individual interests were momentarily harmed.

 The American social psychologist Susan Fiske (2002,2004) proposes five universal social motives. Motives that drive people to live with others and to function appropriately in relationships, and that would be the product of the evolution of our species.

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Human Socialization Process and Psychology (López Sáez et al, 2009).

Understanding Personal Empowerment Trust

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Human Socialization Process and Psychology (López Sáez et al, 2009).

 Adaptation to the social environment implied, in addition to the necessary motivation to stay within a group, the development of a series of capacities and cognitive mechanisms that would allow human beings to coordinate among themselves in order to survive. For example, the ability to communicate what one thinks, feels or is doing, to interpret the information coming from others, to form an impression of the other (if he or she is trustworthy or not, if he or she is skillful or useless ... ) and imagine how he or she sees us, to make inferences about his or her intentions, to seek an explanation for his or her behavior, to evaluate the social stimuli of the environment and determine whether they are beneficial or detrimental to us.

 All these psychological capacities and processes will have been favored by natural selection for their role in facilitating social relationships and coordination among group members..

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Human Socialization Process and Psychology (López Sáez et al, 2009).

The ability to create and take part in a culture is a product of our evolution and has become so important to us humans that we have come to depend on it for survival. All animals need to adapt to the environment in order to survive. Therefore, all species, at least the social ones, could develop a culture as a strategy to cope with the demands of the environment.

It can be said, that the total society is the agent of socialization and that each person with whom one comes into contact is in a certain sense an agent of socialization. Between the larger society and the individual person there are numerous small groups, which are the main agents of socialization of the person. The natural beginning of the process for each newborn child is his immediate family group, but this is soon extended by various other groups.

In the history of mankind, the family has been the most important socialization agency in the life of the individual.

Some authors argue that the social changes produced by the processes of industrialization and modernization have led to a relative loss of its relevance in the face of the irruption of other socializing agencies such as the educational system, groups of friends, and the mass media. However, its importance continues to be paramount. The family is the first agent in time, for a more or less prolonged period of time it has practically the monopoly of socialization; in addition, especially during childhood, it often directly or indirectly selects or filters the other agencies, choosing the school the children go to, trying to select the friends with whom they hang out, supposedly controlling their access to television, etc. In this sense, the family is a very important link between the individual and society.

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Every family socializes the child according to its particular way of life, which is influenced by the social, economic ,and historical reality of the society in which it is inserted. Some authors have pointed out the existence of differences in socialization practices, depending on the social class to which the family belongs.

Preschool influences affect the child from different points. The small circles of relationships in which he participates with his parents, relatives, friends, babysitters and others, have their importance in showing him how to be a good child.

The neighborhood, the school and in some cases the parish are important agents of socialization for children.

In the process of socialization one of the main factors is education; and more especially the social formation that is given within the secondary education.

Other means of socialization have diverse and varied effects in the different phases of a person's life. As social learning is a continuous process at all age levels, the person is constantly restrained in some of his impulses and stimulated in others. Failures and satisfactions, efforts and re-adaptations, all with experiences that help to learn.

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The Concept of Self and its Relationship with Other People

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Self (Figueroba & Barcelona, 2018)

 In psychology, concepts such as "I", "Ego" or "Self" are often used to designate the self-referential dimension of human experience.

The perception of continuity and coherence, and the development of a sense of identity, depends on our conceiving a part of ourselves as the subject that is the protagonist of our life.

Since William James (1842-1910) distinguished between the "I" as observer and the "Me" as object of experience at the end of the 19th century, a large number of theories have emerged that attempt to define what the "I“ is.

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Self (Figueroba & Barcelona, 2018)

The Ego in Psychoanalysis oIn the theory of Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) the Ego is understood as the conscious part of the mind, which must satisfy the instinctive and unconscious impulses of the Ego, taking into account, the demands of the external world and of one's own consciousness - the Superego, constituted by internalized social norms.

oThe ego or identity would be, therefore, an intermediate instance between an individual's biology and the external world.

According to Freud, its functions include perception, information management, reasoning, and control of defense mechanisms.

His disciple Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) defined the ego as the core of consciousness; every psychic phenomenon or vital experience that is detected by the ego becomes conscious. Thus, the sense of self is understood as a complex structure with a double component: somatic and psychic.

Moreover, for Jung the Self, the center of identity, is immersed in the Self, which constitutes the core of the personality in general; the Self includes the unconscious, as well as the conscious part of experience.

However, we are unable to experience the Self fully because we are anchored to the Self and to consciousness.

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Self (Figueroba & Barcelona, 2018)

The Social Roles of the Self oIn the social sciences of the first half of the twentieth century, symbolic interactionism, a theoretical current that argued that people interpret the world and its elements based on the meanings that are given to them socially, enjoyed notable popularity.

oThe self is constructed based on face-to-face interaction and social structure.

If we talk about the self and identity, within symbolic interactionism we should highlight the dramaturgical model of Erving Goffman (1922-1982).

This author was of the belief that people, as if we were actors, try to appear consistent to others by adopting roles. For Goffman, the self is nothing more than the set of roles we play.

Later, the social psychologist Mark Snyder (1947- ) developed his theory of self- observation or self-monitoring.

This model affirms that people high in self-observation adapt their roles, and therefore their identity, to the situation in which they find themselves; on the other hand, those who self-monitor little show more the "I" with which they identify.

¿Qué es «el yo» en psicología? (2017, 20 mayo). https://psicologiaymente.com/psicologia/el-yo-en-psicologia

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Self-Esteem (Castilla y León, n.d.)

Self-esteem is the set of perceptions, images, thoughts, judgments, and affections about ourselves. It is what I think and feel about myself. It is one's satisfaction with oneself. CHARACTERISTICS:

COMPONENTS Cognitive: One's description of oneself in the different dimensions of one's life. It includes the opinion one has of one's own personality and behavior, as well as ideas, beliefs, etc. about oneself. "What I think" (Castilla y León, n.d.).

COMPONENTS Affective: It is the result of the valuation we make of the perception of ourselves. It supposes a value judgment about our personal qualities, the affective response to the perception of oneself. "What I feel" (Castilla y León, n.d.).

COMPONENTS Behavioral: This is the final process of the previous assessment, which is embodied in the decision and intention to act. Logically, our actions will be determined by the opinion we have of ourselves. "What I do" (Castilla y León, n.d.).

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Self-esteem is one of the most important psychological variables for health.

emotional and well-being are the keys to our positive relationship with our

environment. But, unfortunately, not everyone possesses high self-esteem. (Garcia-

Allen, 2019)

Studies ensure that this important aspect of personality is not something static, but can vary throughout a person's life, and according to psychologist Silvia Congost, author of the book "Autoestima Automática".

Its development depends on approximately 30% of genetic factors, and the rest, that is 70%, depends on the environment and the experiences that we have had to live. (Garcia- Allen, 2019)

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Own Concept (Rochín, 2012)

 The concept that each of us has of ourselves consists of who and what we think we are.

 Generally, we all have a more or less clear idea of who we are; of our physical and psychological characteristics; of our virtues and deficiencies; of our personality in general.

Some of these ideas are positive, some are negative, but they always influence, whether consciously or unconsciously, our way of being and presenting ourselves to the world. The self-concept is made up of all the beliefs and attitudes that a person has about him/herself.

It includes a broad set of mental representations, including images and judgments, not just concepts, that the individual has about himself and that encompass his various bodily, psychological, social, and moral aspects.

This determines what the person is, what he thinks, what he does, and what he can become.

Certainly, the concept we have of ourselves affects our behavior because it is part of the central core of our personality.

Well, in childhood is when we begin to form our character and therefore, we accumulate ideas about ourselves through the information we receive from the environment and the people we interact with, mainly parents, teachers, classmates, etc.

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Every significant word or stimulus in our life has left its mark on our self-image; this is how, through the experiences we have lived through, our personality and the idea of who we are has been formed.

At the level of consciousness, all this sounds quite logical, but we must keep in mind that there are always unconscious factors that also determine our behavior and that have been acquired in the same way as those of which we are aware, but that many times bring us insecurity instead of confidence.

That is why some people have a high and efficient self-esteem and others do not. If the environment did not provide us with the satisfaction of our needs or the adequate stimulation of our self-esteem (promoting values, attitudes, and behaviors; encouraging skills and interests; supporting deficiencies in order to overcome or correct them; motivating us to develop our self-esteem; encouraging us to develop our self-confidence and self-esteem, and correcting them; motivating personal development and celebrating achievements), the result will almost always be a poor and ineffective self-concept.

On the other hand, if the environment was satisfactory in the, we will present an efficient and appropriate self-esteem to manage ourselves in the world and relate in a stable and functional way.

As we can see, we have in our mind a letter of introduction to the world and it is our concept of self, which was not inherited, but learned.

A curious fact is that most of the time our self-concept is distorted.

We can observe it, when what we think is not congruent with what we say, and what we say is not congruent with what we do.

Many times, our ideas about ourselves are not similar to what others think of us, this means that these ideas have been formed based on neurotic and dysfunctional fantasies, since they do not reflect the reality of our behavior.

In any case, the solution to this problem has to do with the willingness to review our thoughts and behaviors and reflect if they are truly congruent; we need to face reality, when the image we supposedly present to the world has little to do with what the world perceives of us.

Sometimes we think we are intelligent, but the world perceives us as arrogant and disdainful, which would give us an image of immaturity before others.

Sometimes we think we are loving and kind, but the world perceives a person in

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need of acceptance and unintelligent.

Other times we may claim to be correct and responsible, but our actions reflect ambiguity, but the world would perceive this to avoid responsibility, which would not be congruent with our self-concept.

This is why it is necessary to review whether our ideas about ourselves are really clear and functional in relation to reality, to what we do, and to what the environment perceives of us.

It is common, that we have an ideal image of how we would like to be, and that people see us in such a way, but sometimes reality dictates otherwise.

The important thing is to work on the acceptance of our personality in a correct way, not in its totality when we present behaviors that harm others or ourselves; but making the necessary changes in our thoughts to be able to make them in our behavior and live in a congruent way and therefore much happier.

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Social Perception (Pérez Porto y Gardey, 2008).

 Social perception is the study of social influences on perception.

 It must be considered that the same qualities can produce different impressions, since they interact with each other dynamically.

 Perception refers to the elaboration and interpretation of the stimuli captured by each of the sense organs of a living being.

 It is a cognitive process that each individual performs differently, using a series of preconceptions that serve to discriminate more quickly what our organism is exposed to.

So, for example, when we touch with our hand something that is very hot, we quickly withdraw our hand because we understand that it hurts us.

Impressions have a certain structure, where there are central qualities and peripheral qualities. Each part forms a whole; the omission or addition of a quality alters the overall perception.

In the case of perception of people, there are several factors that influence perception: expectations about the subject with whom one is going to interact, motivations (which make the perceiving person see in the other individual what one wants to see), goals (which influence information processing), familiarity and experience.

There are different effects that alter social perception.

According to the value of the stimulus, there can be perceptual accentuation (when the value of a stimulus is large, it is perceived as larger than it is) or the halo effect (if a person is seen positively in one of his or her traits, he or she will tend to be seen positively in other traits).

According to the emotional significance of the stimulus, perceptual defense (to

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threatening stimuli) or perceptual insight (to stimuli that may satisfy a need or provide some benefit) may be provoked.

Stereotyping (the assignment of attributes based on group identity), prejudice (the individual's way of making judgments about people or things that are far from the common social perception) and projection (the effect of one's emotions when evaluating people or situations) are also perception-altering effects.

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Stereotype (Ramírez Lago, 2019)

Stereotypes are organized beliefs or ideas about the characteristics associated with different social groups: physical appearance, interests, occupations, ethnicities, etc. They are simplified images of how groups are seen and what they do. The categories are made up of interpretations, ideas, and opinions about the elements.

From Psychology, these cognitions and interpretations about social groups are stereotypes. We all have stereotypes because our mind organizes concepts into categories, and they are not always negative; they must be understood as two sides of the same coin.

In short, stereotypes are widespread generalizations about members of a social group that cause a tendency to emphasize similarities within the group, especially when the categorization has value or importance for the person making it and differences with other groups.

If we know a black and foreign woman, we are classifying her in the groups of woman, foreigner and black race, due to classifying her within these categories, stereotypes arise towards them from the three groups and in case they are negative, a series of beliefs and ideas about them are created that surely do not correspond to reality.

The formation of stereotypes is usually of social origin through observational learning. This is the reason why stereotypes are often learned naturally and spontaneously in our social behavior.

In this case, it is necessary to point out that we must be able to put reflection before the heuristic of generalization, especially in the case where we unconsciously have negative stereotypes towards a group of people.

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Broadening the focus and abstracting ourselves from the cultural baggage imposed on us by certain pre-established ideas can be the key to looking at reality in a natural and non- stereotypical way.

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Prejudice (Ramírez Lago, 2019)

Prejudices are positive or negative feelings and emotions about a social group and its members. Affective evaluations depend on beliefs about the group. It is the affective component associated with categories and valuation. They are directly related to stereotypes, that is, if a stereotype is negative, negative prejudice can be generated, and if the stereotype is positive, positive prejudice can be generated.  Judging a priori

In short, stereotypes are widespread generalizations about members of a social group that cause a tendency to emphasize similarities within the group, especially when the categorization has value or importance for the person making it and differences with other groups.

If we know a black and foreign woman, we are classifying her in the groups of woman, foreigner and black race, due to classifying her within these categories, stereotypes arise towards them from the three groups and in case they are negative, a series of beliefs and ideas about them are created that surely do not correspond to reality.

The formation of stereotypes is usually of social origin through observational learning. This is the reason why stereotypes are often learned naturally and spontaneously in our social behavior.

In this case, it is necessary to point out that we must be able to put reflection before the heuristic of generalization, especially in the case where we unconsciously have negative stereotypes towards a group of people.

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Broadening the focus and abstracting ourselves from the cultural baggage imposed on us by certain pre-established ideas can be the key to looking at reality in a natural and non- stereotypical way.

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Prejudice (Ramírez Lago, 2019)

Prejudices are positive or negative feelings and emotions about a social group and its members. Affective evaluations depend on beliefs about the group. It is the affective component associated with categories and valuation. They are directly related to stereotypes, that is, if a stereotype is negative, negative prejudice can be generated, and if the stereotype is positive, positive prejudice can be generated.  Judging a priori

The basic difference lies, in the fact, that prejudice is a kind of emotional evaluation, whereas stereotyping is a prior belief of a cognitive nature.

Generally speaking, prior ideas and beliefs result in evaluations that are already "biased" either positively or negatively.

Those who identify with Atlético Madrid rate more positively those who are members of the team, while Real Madrid members will be rated negatively from the outset.

Prejudices and stereotypes are usually present at the same time without originating in distinct phases.

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Discrimination, in Groups and Out of Groups (Ramírez Lago, 2019)

 It is defined as the differentiated and observable behavior towards a social group or its members.

 In the example of the black woman, we saw in the stereotypes, the people surrounding this woman, may develop prejudices and this may lead to discrimination; that means, there will be a negative differentiated behavior, or it may be positive for some others towards her person.

Discrimination consists of treating a person, group, or institution in a different and harmful way.

This can be for different reasons: race, sex, gender, ideas, place of origin, physical appearance, etc.

Discrimination is not something new, since mankind has always discriminated against other individuals because of their resources, origins or intelligence, and even of their different ideas regarding religion or politics.

Discrimination occurs frequently in all societies.

Although public opinion criticizes some forms of discrimination, such as racism or sexism, it hardly flinches in the face of discriminatory events that may occur daily, such as those suffered, for example, the obese people.

Discrimination can be an individual or collective phenomenon and can have different causes.

Some of them are:

The economic or social situation can be the cause of discriminatory behaviors,

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either because of a bad economic situation or because of an environment that favors this type of behavior.

Some of them are:

The economic or social situation: Ideology is one of the main causes for discriminatory behavior towards certain human groups to take place.

Fear can cause entire peoples to mobilize in a discriminatory way against some people.

The submissive and imitative personality can cause some people to lack sufficient critical capacity and to simply follow the lead of others.

Group influence also causes many people to see discriminatory behavior as normal.

Necessity or interest can lead to discriminatory behavior towards individuals or groups considered to be inferior.

Discrimination causes the person who is the victim to suffer a series of consequences. On a psychological level, the person may experience anxiety, guilt, depression, and feelings of loneliness.

But those discriminated may also suffer other problems, such as difficulties in finding employment, dropping out of school, and even death

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Non-Verbal Behavior (Diario, 2014)

 Non-verbal behavior is the scientific term for non-verbal language that tends to be the result of the expression of human emotions manifested in the face, through gestures, postures, body movements and its orientation towards one place or another.

 By its nature, it is the most authentic and relevant communication.

 Rafael Lopez, expert in nonverbal behavior, defines behavior as any action of a person in front of everything that surrounds him, it can be before another living being or physical space, which is divided into two large groups that are verbal and nonverbal.

The first author who spoke on this subject was Charles Darwin in his work "The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals", in which he explains how they express their emotions through their faces.

According to Lopez, if the expression of an individual's face is in tune with his words, there is a high probability that he is telling the truth, but if it is not coherent, the facial gesture has greater importance because it emits the signal that he may be lying about a fact or manifesting a message contrary to his thoughts or emotions.

Contempt is included in this group but differs from the others which are associated with a comparison of superiority that appears from the age of two.

The concept of nonverbal communication is enormously broad.

According to, A. M. Cestero (1999) it would include all non-linguistic signs and sign systems that communicate or are used to communicate. (Centro Virtual Cervantes, 2015)

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From the very beginning, nonverbal communication studies were characterized by their interdisciplinarity.

The observations about emotional expressions in people and animals carried out by Darwin in 1872 were very important for the development of these studies.

However, from a scientific perspective, research seems to date back to the late fifties of the 20th century, thanks to anthropologists such as R. Birdwhistell and E. T. Hall, and the publications of ethologists, psychologists and psychiatrists of the time. During the following decades, the discipline was consolidated thanks to specialists from other sciences such as linguistics, sociology, psychology, or conversation analysis.

There are different classifications of the elements that make up the nonverbal system. most widely used is perhaps the one presented by M. L. Knapp (1980): 1. Kinesthetic behavior. 2. Physical characteristics. 3. Tactile behavior. 4. Paralanguage. 5. Proxemics. 6. Artifacts and 7. Environmental factors.

Nonverbal signs can communicate actively (a certain posture such as crossing the arms) or passively (a perfume) and can be used consciously or unconsciously.

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Prophecy of Self-Fulfillment (Rubín Martín, 2018)

A self-fulfilling prophecy is a false belief that, directly or indirectly, leads to its own fulfillment.

This process involves three psychological events: having a false belief about someone, treating the person according your false belief, and the person responding to the treatment he or she receives by confirming the false belief.

The sociologist Robert K. Merton who coined the expression "self-fulfilling prophecy" and formalized its structure and consequences.

In his book, Social Theory and Social Structure, Merton defines a self-fulfilling prophecy as:

"A self-fulfilling prophecy is a false definition of a situation or person that evokes a new behavior, which causes the false conception to become true. This deceptive validity perpetuates the error. The holder of the false belief will perceive the course of events as proof that he was right all along."

Example: when a wife believes that her marriage will fail, her fears cause that failure to be confirmed.

Therefore, a positive or negative prophecy (a strong belief or a delusion), stated as truth even though it is false, could sufficiently influence a person so that his or her reactions comply with that belief.

Relationship between false beliefs and self-fulfilling prophecies.

A false belief is a belief that does not match a person's self-concept (what the person thinks of himself or herself).

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It can be positive or negative. For example, you may have a belief that a person is capable of doing or not doing something.

From the false belief, the person is treated in a way that coincides with it and the person may begin to respond to that treatment by confirming that belief.

In turn, the person may begin to doubt himself or believe in himself, depending on the treatment he receives.

A self-fulfilling prophecy is a powerful psychological effect when your expectations of another person's abilities influence how that person sees himself or herself.

Self-fulfilling prophecies began to be studied in the school setting. Robert Rosenthal (1973) examined how teachers influenced school performance.

He found that female teachers were likely to treat their students according to their

beliefs: "creating a warm and friendly environment for students, giving them opportunities to develop their skills, and providing performance-based feedback."

In the experiment conducted by Rosenthal, elementary teachers were told that three students had scored higher than the others on aptitude tests. They were also told not to treat them differently.

At the end of the year, they were retested, and those three students scored higher than the others. What is interesting is that on the initial aptitude test the three students indicated had scored like the rest of the students.

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Social Cognition (Frith, 2008).

Social cognition refers to the various psychological processes that allow people to take advantage of the seat of being part of a social group. Of great importance to social cognition are the various social signals that enable us to learn about the world. Such signals include facial expressions, such as fear and disgust, which warn us of danger, and gaze direction, which indicate where interesting things can be found.

These signals are particularly important in infant development.

Social referencing, for example, refers to the phenomenon in which infants refer to their mothers' facial expressions to determine whether or not to approach a novel object.

We can learn a lot simply by watching others. Much of this signaling seems to happen automatically and unconsciously on the part of both the sender and the receiver. We can learn to fear a stimulus by observing the response of another, in the

absence of awareness of that stimulus.

Infants learn most from cues they recognize that are instructive.

It is this ability to recognize and learn from instructions rather than mere observation that allowed that advanced ability to benefit from cultural learning that appears to be unique to the human race.

The term "cognition" refers to the many different processes by which creatures understand and make sense of the world.

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The term does much the same work that was previously done for the term "information processing" and is heavily influenced by developments in computing beginning in the 1940s. computing from the 1940s onwards.

Perception, attention, memory, and action planning would be examples of cognitive processes.

All of these processes are important in social interactions and the study of information processing in a social setting is known as social cognition.

"The goal of social cognition is to provide mechanistic, process-oriented explanations of complex social phenomena" (Winkielman & Schooler, 2009).

When we interact with the environment, psychologists have traditionally started

from the traditionally from the input. Signals arising from the environment affect us.

Sensations are detected by our sensory organs such as the eyes.

Sensations (example: light of a certain wavelength) are converted into perceptions (example: the color of fruit) based on prior knowledge and current context.

Decisions are then made about what to do best in response to these perceptions (example: is the fruit ripe? Should I eat it?).

Actions are planned and eventually output is initiated in the form of motor movements

(example: grab the fruit).

Within this general stimulus-response framework, we can have a subset of processes related to social stimuli (example: reading facial expressions), social decisions (Should I trust this person?), and social responses (making facial expressions).

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Social Identity (Significados.com, 2019).

 Social identity is defined as the self-concept that each individual has of there "I" or "self" in terms of the social groups to which they belong, what they identify with and even the self-esteem they possess.

 Social identity is determined when people recognize their place in society.

 Social identification allows each individual to make a self-recognition of the place they occupy in each social group to which they belong or is integrated and why.

Thus, social identification helps individuals to recognize the values, beliefs, stereotypes, tastes, social group, purchasing power, prejudices, gender, among other aspects, that they share and even differentiate them from other people.

Starting from the social groups of which each person is a member, the person can determine what his or her social identity is and how he or she is similar to or different from others according to the traits shared with the rest of the members of the group, which, in turn, differentiate him or her from others.

For example, Pedro is a 16-year-old adolescent student who is part of his school's basketball team. In turn, Pedro likes music and is a member of a singing group in his community.

At home, he is the older brother of his parents' two children. When Pedro described his personality profile in the social networks he uses, he presented himself as a sportsman who loves basketball and is passionate about music. However, as can be perceived, Pedro is more than a sportsman and a musician, he is also a student, man, son, older brother, among others, but in social networks he identifies himself socially with the groups with which he feels more affinity: sportsmen and musicians.

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This is also an example that shows how people choose to belong to certain groups according to their social identity and even their personal identity.

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References

Nickerson, C. (2023, May 1). Looking-glass self: Theory, definition & examples. Simply Psychology.

https://www.simplypsychology.org/charles-cooleys-looking-glass-self.html

Witt, C. (2011, October). The person, the social individual, and the self. The Metaphysics of Gender, 107–126.

https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199740413.003.0005

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Congratulations you have reviewed the theoretical summary of this week´s topic!

Remember that to successfully build your learning it is important that:

Review as many times as you require the information contained in the modules folder (includes this presentation).

Read the reference material to clarify doubts

Develop all activities as stated in the instructions.

Submit the assignments on the date indicated through the educational platform.

Actively participate in collaborative sessions.

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