Social Cognition, Social Perception, and Social Influences - Essay Example

Explain how social cognition, social perception, and social influences can affect one's behavior, decision making, and emotions. Social cognitioncan be defined as “the conviction that constructs relative to cognitive representation and process are fundamental to understanding all human responses, regardless of whether those responses are social or nonsocial in nature” (p. 16). Social cognition is not really so much a theory as it is an approach to thinking about knowledge. Social cognition is concerned with the way in which the processes of understanding the world are created. It is concerned with physiological as well as the mind in how it sees the world. The social part of social cognition is concerned with the real world issues and how perception is involved with the way in which the world is constructed in the mind. Social perception is the act of creating a presence in which there is a perception of the nature of someone or something. The ‘birthers’ are victims of this concept where details of the President’s life have been twisted into a socially accepted idea about his origin of birth. President George Bush, the 41st President, said in his Presidential race against President Bill Clinton that “I never attended Oxford University” trying to show that he was not an elitist and trying to imply then running opponent Clinton was a snob. Of course, President Bush was a graduate of Yale University, an equally prestigious Ivy League school. President Bush had grown up in a wealthy family of privilege, but President Clinton had grown up in a struggling, broken home. He was the example of the American Dream, but President Bush was trying to shift the perception of his life as privileged to relating to the ‘common people’. This might have been accomplished if he had successfully shifted the perceptions of the people (Moskowitz, 2005). Moskowitz (2005) writes that “The failure to see how we subjectively arrive at the conclusions we draw about others can be referred to as naive realism” (p. 22). Social perception is how experience has led society to certain conclusions about their world. Some of them are based on sloganism, such as ‘apple pie and mother’ representing the values of the United States or ideas about the elusive ‘American Dream’. The overall nature of what is believed within the social context is large based upon naive belief systems that have come from superficial perceptions about objects and people. Understanding the difference between what we think we know and what is real is the basis of naive realism. One of the most poignant films about this topic is The Matrix (1999) in which the protagonist finds out that the world he perceives is nothing more than an illusion and that the reality of the real was something far more sinister. In finding this knowledge, his seminal moment came as he was watching children bend spoons and the child looks to him and says “ Spoon boy: Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead... only try to realize the truth. Neo: What truth? Spoon boy: There is no spoon. Neo: There is no spoon? Spoon boy: Then you'll see, that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself”(IMDB, 2013). This essential truth was developed as a way of showing that what is perceived is created by the self, not by the external forces that only create the perception to be received. In other words, President Bush attempted to create a perception of his commonality with the lower classes, but it was on them whether or not they accepted those created perceptions. Social influence is the way in which a greater social context is constructed in order to create perceptions The example of the ‘birther’ movement can be used once again to show how an influence about a fact or lack of fact can be seen as a way in which to influence the belief systems of a larger group. Truth was not the foundation, but the belief that in order to defame someone a framework of beliefs was needed to make a claim about them. In this case, President Obama was the target of this framework as ‘birthers’ worked to create the impression that he was not born in the United States, thus placing a shadow of doubt over his legitimacy as a President. Perception is the foundation of how belief systems are built, not the truth. If everyone in the world could see ‘the spoon’ and its lack of reality, then the truth would have value. In the world in which human kind exists, however, it is through perception that the world is constructed. One can only wonder how much of this idea has emerged since the growth of the media which currently has the highest influence on how knowledge is ‘known’. However, looking at mythologies shows that this is how human minds have always worked. This can be seen through Plato’s Analogy of the Cave in which the scenario is considered about cave dwellers who are chained and their head immobilized so that the only things they ever see are the shadows that are cast on the wall in front of them. They construct belief systems around these projections, never considering the truth because they have no real access to it. The real question of the analogy is whether or not they would want to see what was real or if they would rather remain in their delusion of reality (Heidegger & Sadler, 2007). The Matrix asks the same question of the viewer. The protagonist is given a choice of either the blue pill which would help him to forget and go back into his life or the red pill to have the walls of illusion taken down and to learn the truth. Most would take the red pill, but most would also regret the harshness of reality once they knew. This can be translated into how people think about their lives. Constructed realities through perceptions of what is meaningful and what is real are how most people live their lives. The truth of the world can be very overwhelming and it is really unclear as to who might have this understanding. People seek it through spirituality and science. However, what is truth? 2. Explore how groups interact and how they influence the group and individual behavior. Groups develop through dynamics of entry and belonging. A person will join a group and then will learn the rules and behaviors that create belonging. Through developing a sense of intimacy within a group through common behaviors and rule adherence, members gain a sense of belonging that fulfills their needs. Miles, Paquin, and Kivlighan (2011) created a study in which they discovered the nature of intimacy within groups and the foundation on which it was built. Through defining rules and behaviors and repeating them from gathering to gathering, the behaviors and rules were reinforced so that they became norms. Through these norms and through the consistency that they were displayed, the behaviors were able to create a sense of belonging and intimacy between members of the group. There is also a process known as diffusion which can explain how groups change. A member of a group can use some stimulant in order to create change. Groups and cultures that as be seen as groups, change due to many different concepts that influence the way in which they see the world. Interpreting behaviors and meaning can lead to change when one member challenges those behaviors in a way that provokes fracture. Fracture occurs when a group begins to question what they knew through new information. Apolloni and Gargiulo (2011) studied groups in relationship to either gossip or innovation and the influence that it brings upon groups. When gossip subverts the foundation of a group or the feelings that the group has about a member or an aspect of their beliefs, some will believe and others will not. This can cause a fracture to occur where members may leave or divide. One of the best influences on groups is innovation. One problem that can, but rarely does occur is flatness. Flatness means that the culture is so homogenized that there is no diversity. Innovation is one of the ways in which a culture or group avoids flatness. Innovation within a group enhances the group and resets the course in a positive direction. A larger example would be industrialization which set the course of the human race, as a group, towards a different type of survival, although long term history will show if it actually was an innovation. The need for single members of a group to contribute through innovation is how a group grows and learns. This can be related back to perception. A group will have the perception of unity even though there are individuals within that group. The individual within a group will likely create an identity that includes a group, but it will likely not be the only factor for identity in that individual. The identity that is taken from the group is most often based on the group identity which involves the beliefs and values that it represent. Understanding the nature of group influence on the identity and the reciprocal influence that defines how the group is constructed allows for the understanding of how the dynamics of group membership influence the individual. Children must learn to identify with groups from a young age. According to Killen and Rutland (2007) “Acquiring morality, identifying with groups, and developing autonomy provide the foundation for social development in childhood and continue through adulthood. Groups begin to become defined during childhood and the phenomenon of exclusion begins to develop. Understanding the difference between when it is good to be excluded and when it is bad is one of the biggest issues, not only for children, but for parents as they help to guide their children. No one wants to see their children fail to be accepted, but there is the time and place for discriminating choices on who one will be and who one wants to be in relationship to their role in society. An example can be exclusion based on gender, which is not the same as discrimination based on gender. Groups for girls and groups for boys occur in order to help them define their gender roles. It becomes complicated when a child identifies with the opposite sex more than their own. Fitting in can be a problem whenever more common roles are denied by children, and while it is accepted, it may create stigma. Groups help to define the identity and to create roles for people. The group will have an influence on the individual as much as the individual will have an influence on a group. Groups become intimate through behaviors that are common and individuals who enter into a group will soon learn the rules and the behaviors that are expected. Consistency will act as a reinforcing element to those rules. The influence on the individual will be in direct relationship to the nature of the group and their expectations. Groups with strong beliefs and values will likely have a stronger influence on a member than those without a strong influence. This can even affect the performance of individuals in a group. The performance of members of a group can be affected by what DeCaro, Thomas, Albert, and Beilock (2011) call the climate condition of a group. The climate of a group will affect how the member will perform within that group. If the climate is highly intense the member will likely have their attention diverted and be unable to perform their task. The pressure of monitoring is also discussed in that when a member is watched performing a task they will find it more difficult to perform than if they are allowed to work independently. The affect of a group on the individual can be positive or negative depending on how the climate influences the individual’s opinion of the task they are performing. Groups have a high level of influence over individuals which is in relationship to the amount of adaptation to the group that has been achieved. Children are socialized through group membership as they search for their identities. The group identity is not independent of the individual as both will affect the other. Resources Apolloni, A., & Gargiulo, F. (2011). Diffusion processes through social group dynamics. Advances In Complex Systems, Vol. 14, No. 2, p. 151-167. Augostinos, M. et al (2006). Social cognition: An integrated introduction. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. DeCaro, M. S., Thomas, R. D., Albert, N. B., & Beilock, S. L. (2011). Choking under pressure: Multiple routes to skill failure. Journal Of Experimental Psychology: General, Vol., No. 3, p. 390-406. Heidegger, M., & Sadler, T. (2007). The essence of truth: On Plato's cave allegory and Theaetetus. New York: Continuum. Killen, M., & Rutland, A. (2011). Children and Social Exclusion: Morality, Prejudice, and Group Identity. Hoboken: Wiley. Miles, J. R., Paquin, J. D., & Kivlighan, D. r. (2011). Amount and consistency, two components of group norms: An actor partner interdependence analysis of intimate behaviors in groups. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, And Practice, Vol. 15, No. 4, p. 326-342/ Moskowitz, G. B. (2005). Social cognition: Understanding self and others. New York: Guilford Press. IMDB. (2013) The Matrix. Retrieved from www.imdb.com. Read More