SOCIAL COGNITION I Social cognition A Definition Social cognition refers to the unique processes that enable human beings to interpret social information and behave appropriately in a social environment (Tal Shany-Ur, K.P Rankin, 2014) Which involves: ● ● ● Observing other people and how we come to know about people around us The mental processes that are involved in perceiving, remembering, thinking about, and attending to the other people in our social world The reasons why we pay attention to certain information about the social world B Why it is the core of social cognitive theory According to Albert Bandura, “Social cognitive theory explains psychosocial functioning in terms of triadic reciprocal causation In this model of reciprocal determinism, behavior; cognitive, biological, and other personal factors; and environmental events all operate as interacting determinants that influence each other bidirectionally” Simplified, social cognitive theory is the way we learn how to behave by observing the behaviour of others With that we can see social cognition provide the foundation for social cognitive theory to properly function It is the process of analyzing information whether it is bad or good, or how it comes to relation with us so we can come up with the most appropriate behaviors C How is it differ from, superior to Operant Learning Operant Learning: people learn new behaviors when they are presented with stimuli (something in their environment), make a response to those stimuli, and have those responses reinforced either positively (rewarded) or negatively (punished) Social cognition: people learn new behaviors when they observe the operation of that stimulus response reinforcement chain in a variety of settings (mass-mediated and otherwise) => With both theory being compare to each other, we can clearly see that social cognition exceed in almost everything Example: According to operant learning theory, each of us, when presented with that stimulus (fire), would render a chance response (put our hand in it), and be burned To ensure that we would not be scorched in the future, we would add avoidance of fire to our behavioral repertoire According to Social Cognition , we observe the operation of that stimulus response reinforcement chain in a variety of settings, and we in turn add avoidance to the store of behaviors that we can use when confronted in everyday life by the stimulus In essence, then, we have substituted a representation—a picture in our head—of an experience for an actual experience II Mass media in relation with social cognition A How it affect the way people act in current time and why it is widely impactful Social cognition is pervasively employed in studies examining attitude or behavior changes triggered by the mass media As Bandura suggested, people can learn how to perform behaviors through media modeling Social cognitive theory or social cognition suggests heavily repeated images presented in mass media can be potentially processed and encoded by the viewers (Bandura, 2011) As we consider the literature on the intersection between media and social cognitive theory, it is evident that the theory has been used to explain both unintended (and usually negative) as well as intended (and usually positive) effects of media depictions Based Examinations of Unintended Media Effects Throughout much of the history of media effects research, great attention has been placed on the possible negative consequences media content might have on audiences’ attitudes and behaviors For example, Harrison and Cantor (1997) theorized that the positive relationship between exposure to women’s magazines and women’s drive for thinness is a function of the tendency for women’s magazines to link thinness to positive consequences, thus engendering extrinsic motivation for dietary behavior Social cognitive theory is likely useful in helping to explain the unintended and negative effects of media consumption on audience behaviors Based Examinations of Intended Media Effects Given the powerful social influence of media models, scholars have not only drawn from social cognitive theory to explain unintentional effects of the media, but they have also found it useful in their efforts to design messages to maximize the potential positive impact of media content through entertainmenteducation programming and health campaigns to promote prosocial change Research has shown that enhancing self-efficacy beliefs is more likely to result in the improvement of health habits than the use of fear-based communication Scholars suggest that media can help audience members to develop self-efficacy by providing them with behavior models, instruction, encouragement, and the reduction of negative affect (Bandura, 1982; Flora & Maibach, 1989) For example, a television show in India was produced to raise women’s status and promote smaller families by embedding these ideas in the show The show championed gender equality by including characters that positively modeled women’s equality In addition, there were other characters that modeled subservient women’s roles and some that transitioned between subservience and equality These viewers learned that women should have equal rights and should have the freedom to choose how they live their lives Another example is about the smoking cessation movement in the 1970s The media portrait smoking as uncool, selfish and highly disapproved of by the majority With all those things being labeled to them, smokers starting to give up on smoking, unwanted to come across as a terrible person B The way it operates There are major components which include observational learning, inhibitory and disinhibitory effects that contribute to how social cognition works According to Bandura (2001), greater perceived similarity is associated with greater identification, which has been shown to increase the likelihood of observational learning (e.g., Andsager, Bemker, Choi, & Torwel, 2006; Ito, Kalyanaraman, Brown, & Miller, 2008) Observational learning: This asserts that people can witness and observe a behavior conducted by others, and then reproduce those actions This is often exhibited through "modeling" of behaviors ("The Social Cognitive Theory" - Boston University School of Public Health, Wayne W LaMorte, MD, PhD, MPH) Observational learning is governed by the processes of attention, retention, production, and motivation ● ● ● ● Attention: Observers selectively give attention to specific social behavior depending on accessibility, relevance, complexity, functional value of the behavior or some observer's personal attributes such as cognitive capability, value preference, preconceptions Retention: Observe a behavior and subsequent consequences, then convert that observation to a symbol that can be accessed for future reenactments of the behavior Note: When a positive behavior is shown a positive reinforcement should follow, this parallel is similar for negative behavior Production: refers to the symbolic representation of the original behavior being translated into action through reproduction of the observed behavior in seemingly appropriate contexts During reproduction of the behavior, a person receives feedback from others and can adjust their representation for future references Motivation: reenacts a behavior depending on responses and consequences the observer receives when reenacting that behavior Inhibitory or disinhibitory effect: when a person observes behavior or actions that somehow conflict with, or contribute to, that person’s values, one of two major effects can be determined ● The first is inhibitory effects, meaning that one’s own lessons and experiences have taught them a certain value For example, a boy who watched his alcoholic father be abusive may decide to never drink ● The second effect is a disinhibitory effect A disinhibitory effect occurs when one becomes more lax in his or her belief systems as a result of observing others For example, a girl that grows up in a strict religious household that goes to church every Sunday, then goes away to college and sees that her roommates not, may be influenced to decrease her churchgoing ➔ Social cognition helps psychologists and others understand the media’s effect on people It also helps the media produce positive messages More than anything else, it helps us understand our own behavior Understanding social cognitive theory allows us to know which television shows we should not be viewing, and perhaps, why somebody behaves the way they after watching a certain show, commercial We may have not come to an efficient way to maximize the positive influences and minimize the negative influences mass media have on people But through understanding social cognition, we are provided with knowledge and with it, responsibilities to make our TV shows, TVCs, films, newspapers, as viewer friendly as possible III Most of the times things weren’t so simple A Vicarious reinforcement All of the way social cognition operates above sometimes doesn’t directly affect how the subject actually acts in certain situations It relies on how the subjects view that exact behavior and be affected by it which is called vicarious reinforcement Vicarious reinforcement only works when the subject has the idea of whether the reinforcement is good or bad (reinforcement contingencies) placing it on our behavioral hierarchy affects the likelihood of which action will be chosen when similar situations arise in the future (Connie Wong, 2020) For example, when we see a television character rewarded or punished for some action, it is as if we have been rewarded or punished Like Donald Duck constantly being punished for his selfish actions This vicarious reinforcement tells us where to place the observationally learned behavior in our behavioral hierarchy So next time when we are presented with a similar situation we’re likely to act unselfishly, learnt from the fictional character B Exceptions The fact is that vicarious reinforcement isn’t 100% guaranteed to work As we can observe in real life, there are times when people just things against the possible negative consequences For instance, in structural fires there are chances that someone is going to run back into the building to save relatives or valuable belongings fully aware the negative consequences outweigh the positive consequences In these scenarios, sufficient incentive is present in the actual environment (saving a child from the flames, for example) to move that behavior up the hierarchy to a point where we choose it from among many alternatives Bandura calls this social prompting of previously learned behaviors This effect is “distinguished from observational learning and disinhibition because no new behavior has been acquired, and disinhibitory processes are not involved because the elicited behavior is socially acceptable and not encumbered by restraints” In short, social prompting is demonstration of previously learned behavior when it is observed as socially acceptable or without restraint Both vicarious reinforcement and its exceptions can be observed in one classic experiment conducted by Bandura in 1965 Bandura showed nursery school children a television program in which a character, Rocky, was either rewarded for aggression (given candy and a soft drink and called a “strong champion”) or punished for those same behaviors (reprimanded, called a “bully,” and spanked with a rolled-up magazine) Those who saw aggression rewarded showed more aggressive activity in a “free play” period (disinhibition), and those who saw it punished displayed less (inhibition) This proves vicarious reinforcement is indeed correct But he went one step further to also prove that it isn’t perfect He then offered those in the inhibited group “sticker-pictures” for each of Rocky’s aggressive acts they could demonstrate The punished one considers the stickers as sufficient rewards for them to turn again what they observationally learned (social prompting) => We can come to the solution that mass media has the ability to guide people to doing good things as it should be but it can also be used to promote bad deeds Therefore, we have to be very carefully choosing what to communicate through mass media Luckily or unluckily, nothing is permanent Through social prompting we have the tools to reverse many terrible prejudices but also create many new ones if not careful IV References Bandura, A., Social foundations of thought and action : a social cognitive theory 1986, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall Bandura, A (2008) Social cognitive theory of mass communication In J Bryant & M B Oliver (Eds.), Media Effects: Advances in Theory and Research (pp 94-124) New York, NY: Routledge Connie Wong, Maureen Monaghan, in Diabetes Digital Health, 2020 Tal Shany-Ur, K.P Rankin, in Encyclopedia of the Neurological Sciences (Second Edition), 2014 https://www.verywellmind.com/social-cognition-2795912 https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/toolkits/health-promotion/2/theories-and-models/social-cognitive ... mass media As Bandura suggested, people can learn how to perform behaviors through media modeling Social cognitive theory or social cognition suggests heavily repeated images presented in mass media. .. for an actual experience II Mass media in relation with social cognition A How it affect the way people act in current time and why it is widely impactful Social cognition is pervasively employed... Media Effects Given the powerful social influence of media models, scholars have not only drawn from social cognitive theory to explain unintentional effects of the media, but they have also found