READING SUMMARY: WEEK 6 2
Reading Summary: Week 6
0This week's PowerPoint lecture (Gopaul, 2022) discussed concepts of social cognition.
More specifically, we examined the dual modes in social cognition. The most notable speaking
point in this week's lecture (Gopaul, 2022) was that people tend to overestimate the extent to
which their thoughts control their actions and their control over their own thoughts. Our textbook
readings this week (Fiske & Taylor, 2021) mostly mirrored the lecture (Gopaul, 2022). However,
more elaboration was made on the topics of dual modes in social cognition (Fiske & Taylor,
2021, p. 35), attention and encoding (p. 67), and representation in memory (p. 99). This week's
readings also included a chapter from The SAGE handbook of social cognition (Fiske & Macrae,
2012).
The focus of Fiske & Macrae (2012) was to discuss how goals help researchers
understand the causes, processes, and consequences of people's behavior in social settings (Fiske
& Macrae, 2012). Finally, an article from Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (Guadagno
et al., 2011) was reviewed. In the article by Guadagno et al. (2011), researchers performed two
experiments to better understand the use of vividness in persuasive communication. The findings
of Guadagno et al. (2011) indicated that presenting information vividly enhanced persuasion
when it constrained attention to high-quality arguments (p. 635). However, when vividness was
linked to irrelevant details, it could elicit an equally detrimental effect to persuasive efforts.
Themes Across this Week's Materials
Upon further examination of this week's materials three recurring themes have been
identified: automatic and controlled processes, motivations and mode switching, and attention.
This discussion will center around how each theme is present across the learning materials.
Automatic and Controlled Processes
READING SUMMARY: WEEK 6 3
Our PowerPoint Lecture (Gopaul, 2022) taught that most automatic processes occur
without effort, intent, or control, while controlled processes depend on conscious intent. Fiske &
Taylor (2021) presented a figure (p. 36) that showed eight levels of progression from full
automaticity to full control. Fiske & Macrae (2012) wrote about how studies have shown that
socially meaningful information like stereotypes could prime overt behavior, automatically
triggering behavior consistent with those stereotypes. The automatic and controlled components
of stereotypes and prejudice are cited in an earlier study as well (Devine, 1989). Guadagno et al.
(2011) found that irrelevant vividness resulted in the controlled process of a person consciously
being less persuaded by a speaker. This week's materials agree that automatic versus controlled
behaviors can mostly simply be defined as mindlessness versus mindfulness.
Motivations and Mode Switching
Our PowerPoint Lecture (Gopaul, 2022) taught that modes used mostly depend on the
motives of the individual and the situation they are in. We also discussed the most common
motives in the lecture. However, Fiske & Taylor (2021) discussed these in greater detail as:
belonging, understanding, controlling, enhancing self, and trusting ingroup (p. 54). Fiske &
Macrae (2012) wrote that historically there has been an argument between supporters of
motivation-driven versus cognition-driven accounts. However, there has more recently been
support for the view that these two processes work in tandem (Shepperd et al., 2008). The work
of Guadagno et al. (2011) asserted that a lackluster or uninspired argument provided little
motivation for subjects to process a persuasive argument deeply or thoughtfully.
This week's materials agree that motivations, whether conscious or otherwise, were at least
partially responsible for either the mode used or for mode switching.
Attention
READING SUMMARY: WEEK 6 4
Our PowerPoint Lecture (Gopaul, 2022) taught about how priming could trigger
unconscious automatic processes. For example, imagine a veteran who has been primed to
associate crowded areas with danger after their experiences in combat. They may develop the
automatic process of having heightened levels of attention in crowded areas such as restaurants
or shopping malls. Fiske & Taylor (2021) discussed how faces are focus of social attention (p.
69), with the ability to both capture and divert one’s attention. Fiske & Macrae (2012) discussed
how the mental representation of goals and goal-related information guide attention. For
example, if someone associates a gym with losing weight, and losing weight is their goal, their
attention will shift causing them to notice gyms more on their daily commute to work. Finally,
Guadagno et al. (2011) used attention as a dependent variable (DV) in their first experiment and
focus of attention as a DV in their second experiment. This week's materials agree that attention
is a vital and measurable aspect of social cognition.
Conclusion
The Module two learning objective was to continue our introduction into concepts of
social cognition (Gopaul, 2022). This was also the focus of the chapter two through four
textbook readings (Fiske & Taylor, 2021), though these were discussed in much greater detail in
the textbook readings. This week's readings also included a reading from Fiske & Macrae
(2012), and an article discussing two experiments carried out by Guadagno et al. (2011). Three
themes were present across this week's assigned material: automatic and controlled processes,
motivations and mode switching, and attention.
READING SUMMARY: WEEK 6 5
References
Devine, P. G. (1989). Stereotypes and prejudice: Their automatic and controlled components.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56(1), 5.
Fiske, S. T., & Macrae, C. N. (2012). The SAGE handbook of social cognition. SAGE
Publications Ltd, https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781446247631.
Fiske, S., & Taylor, S. E. (2021). Social cognition: From brains to culture (4th.). Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. ISBN: 9781529702088.
Guadagno, R. E., Rhoads, K. v. L., & Sagarin, B. J. (2011). Figural vividness and persuasion:
capturing the “elusive” vividness effect. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin,
37(5), 626–638. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167211399585
Gopaul, M. (2022). Concepts of social cognition. [Video]. Liberty University.
https://canvas.liberty.edu/courses/324773/pages/watch-concepts-of-social-cognition?
module_item_id=36746881.
Shepperd, J., Malone, W., & Sweeny, K. (2008). Exploring causes of the self‐serving bias.
Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2(2), 895-908.
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