134-423: Basking in reflected glory ( BIRGing ) is a self-serving cognition whereby an individual associates themselves with known successful others such that the winner's success becomes the individual's own accomplishment. The affiliation of another's success is enough to stimulate self-glory. The individual does not need to be personally involved in the successful action. To BIRG, they must simply associate themselves with
268-686: A change in attitudes or behavior. Research on attitudes has examined the distinction between traditional, self-reported attitudes and implicit, unconscious attitudes . Experiments using the Implicit Association Test (IAT) , for instance, have found that people often demonstrate implicit bias against other races, even when their explicit responses profess impartiality. Likewise, one study found that in interracial interactions, explicit attitudes correlate with verbal behavior, while implicit attitudes correlate with nonverbal behavior. Attitudes are also involved in several other areas of
402-533: A clinical setting but no lasting effects has been shown. Social psychology Social psychology is the scientific study of how thoughts , feelings , and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. Social psychologists typically explain human behavior as a result of the relationship between mental states and social situations, studying the social conditions under which thoughts, feelings, and behaviors occur, and how these variables influence social interactions . In
536-419: A common identity. They have a number of emergent qualities that distinguish them from coincidental, temporary gatherings, which are termed social aggregates: The shared social identity of individuals within a group influences intergroup behavior , which denotes the way in which groups behave towards and perceive each other. These perceptions and behaviors in turn define the social identity of individuals within
670-461: A cultural context. It was also in this period where situationism , the theory that human behavior changes based on situational factors, emerged and challenged the relevance of self and personality in psychology. By the 1980s and 1990s, social psychology had developed a number of solutions to these issues with regard to theory and methodology . At present, ethical standards regulate research, and pluralistic and multicultural perspectives to
804-465: A following in America , scientists such as Wilhelm Wundt , Herman Ebbinghaus , Mary Whiton Calkins , and William James would offer their contributions to the study of human cognition. Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920) emphasized the notion of what he called introspection : examining the inner feelings of an individual. With introspection, the subject had to be careful with describing their feelings in
938-413: A loss of self-awareness , resulting in comparisons against meaningful standards. When spectators become deindividuated, their self-awareness decreases and they cease to compare their behavior against these social norms. The group's norms become their only focus, and therefore the social norms. Consequentially, situational forces are more influential. Without the comparison process of self-awareness, behavior
1072-463: A number of variables that may have affected his ability to learn and recall the non-words he created. One of the reasons, he concluded, was the amount of time between the presentation of the list of stimuli and the recitation or recall of the same. Ebbinghaus was the first to record and plot a " learning curve " and a " forgetting curve ". His work heavily influenced the study of serial position and its effect on memory Mary Whiton Calkins (1863–1930)
1206-410: A person may generally value the environment but may not recycle a plastic bottle because of specific factors on a given day. One of the most influential 20th century attitude theories was Cognitive dissonance theory . According to this theory, attitudes must be logically consistent with each other. Noticing incongruence among one’s attitudes leads to an uncomfortable state of tension, which may motivate
1340-401: A philosophical approach to the study of cognition and the mind, with his Meditations he wanted people to meditate along with him to come to the same conclusions as he did but in their own free cognition. In psychology , the term "cognition" is usually used within an information processing view of an individual's psychological functions , and such is the same in cognitive engineering . In
1474-497: A population. This type of research is usually descriptive or correlational because there is no experimental control over variables. Some psychologists have raised concerns for social psychological research relying too heavily on studies conducted on university undergraduates in academic settings, or participants from crowdsourcing labor markets such as Amazon Mechanical Turk . In a 1986 study by David O. Sears , over 70% of experiments used North American undergraduates as subjects,
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#17327985903381608-474: A positive than a negative source. This was shown most prominently when their public reputation was at risk. When the subjects failed a task, they had a greater tendency to affiliate themselves with a winner, and less of a tendency to associate themselves with a loser. The third experiment replicated the finding that students used the pronoun "we" more when describing a victory compared to a non-victory by their school's football team. The researchers found that BIRGing
1742-440: A restaurant, doing laundry) are known as scripts . Self-concept is the whole sum of beliefs that people have about themselves. The self-concept is made up of cognitive aspects called self-schemas —beliefs that people have about themselves and that guide the processing of self-referential information. For example, an athlete at a university would have multiple selves that would process different information pertinent to each self:
1876-461: A sense of accomplishment. It can show pride of self, and pride for the other person's success, which in turn boosts one's own self-esteem. BIRGing can be negative when done over-extensively where the individual engaging in BIRGing becomes delusional or forgets the reality that they did not actually accomplish the successful event. A related concept is cutting off reflected failure ( CORFing ). This
2010-447: A simulated exercise involving students playing at being prison guards and inmates, attempted to show how far people would go in role playing. In just a few days, the guards became brutal and cruel, and the prisoners became miserable and compliant. This was initially argued to be an important demonstration of the power of the immediate social situation and its capacity to overwhelm normal personality traits. Subsequent research has contested
2144-497: A state of consummate love. According to social exchange theory , relationships are based on rational choice and cost-benefit analysis. A person may leave a relationship if their partner's "costs" begin to outweigh their benefits, especially if there are good alternatives available. This theory is similar to the minimax principle proposed by mathematicians and economists. With time, long-term relationships tend to become communal rather than simply based on exchange. Social psychology
2278-439: A subset of the population that is unrepresentative of the population as a whole. Regardless of which method has been chosen, social psychologists statistically review the significance of their results before accepting them in evaluating an underlying hypothesis. Statistics and probability testing define what constitutes a significant finding, which can be as low as 5% or less, and is unlikely due to chance. Replication testing
2412-439: A success, even though they in no way affected or caused the success. Through three different experiments, Cialdini was able to demonstrate the BIRGing phenomenon. The first experiment demonstrated BIRGing by showing that students have a greater tendency to wear apparel with the university's colors and name after the football team had won a game. In the second experiment, subjects used the pronoun "we" to associate themselves more with
2546-424: A successful source and to conceal their association with an unsuccessful one was empirically supported. These empirical studies show how even in controlled situations, people unconsciously seek acceptance by associating themselves with successful individuals. Whether this is accomplished by wearing brand names or parents covering their car with stickers about how talented their child is, BIRGing has been found in both
2680-533: Is cutting off reflected failure ( CORFing ). This is the idea that people tend to disassociate themselves from lower-status individuals because they do not want their reputations affected by associating with the people who are considered failures. In 2002, Boen et al. demonstrate this effect in a political context. They examined houses with at least a poster or lawn sign supporting a political candidate days before elections in Belgium. The houses that showed support for
2814-405: Is deindividuation , a psychological state characterized by partial or complete loss of self-awareness, diffused responsibility, and decreased concern about our own behavior. Often results in the abandonment of norms, restraints and inhibitions due to the involvement in a group. The individual loses their sense of self as they participate in the group's activities and choices. Deindividuation involves
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#17327985903382948-515: Is obedience ; this is a change in behavior that is the result of a direct order or command from another person. Obedience as a form of compliance was dramatically highlighted by the Milgram study , wherein people were ready to administer shocks to a person in distress on a researcher's command. An unusual kind of social influence is the self-fulfilling prophecy . This is a prediction that, by being made, causes itself to become true. For example, in
3082-607: Is a false memory of having predicted events, or an exaggeration of actual predictions, after becoming aware of the outcome. The confirmation bias is a type of bias leading to the tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions. Schemas are generalized mental representations that organize knowledge and guide information processing. They organize social information and experiences. Schemas often operate automatically and unconsciously. This leads to biases in perception and memory. Schemas may induce expectations that lead us to see something that
3216-450: Is a compliance method in which the persuader requests a small favor and then follows up with a larger favor (e.g., asking for the time and then asking for ten dollars). A related trick is the bait and switch , which is a disingenuous sales strategy that involves enticing potential customers with advertisements of low-priced items which turn out to be unavailable in order to sell a more expensive item. The third major form of social influence
3350-487: Is a tendency to work harder and faster in the presence of others. Another important concept in this area is deindividuation , a reduced state of self-awareness that can be caused by feelings of anonymity. Deindividuation is associated with uninhibited and sometimes dangerous behavior. It is common in crowds and mobs, but it can also be caused by a disguise, a uniform, alcohol, dark environments, or online anonymity. A major area of study of people's relations to each other
3484-399: Is also important in ensuring that the results are valid and not due to chance. False positive conclusions, often resulting from the pressure to publish or the author's own confirmation bias , are a hazard in the field. The Asch conformity experiments used a line-length estimation task to demonstrate the power of people's impulses to conform with other members in a small group. The task
3618-544: Is an empirical science that attempts to answer questions about human behavior by testing hypotheses. Careful attention to research design, sampling, and statistical analysis is important in social psychology. Whenever possible, social psychologists rely on controlled experimentation , which requires the manipulation of one or more independent variables in order to examine the effect on a dependent variable . Experiments are useful in social psychology because they are high in internal validity , meaning that they are free from
3752-545: Is an attempt to enhance one's public image. The tendency to proclaim a connection with a positive source was strongest when one's public image was threatened. Thus, people bask in reflected glory to boost their self-esteem by associating themselves with a positive source. A feeling of involvement is also necessary for BIRGing to occur. It is frequently seen as a cognitive process that affects behavior. In Bernhardt et al.'s study published in 1998, researchers examined physiological processes related to BIRGing, specifically, changes in
3886-607: Is an extension of the theory, positing that tendency exists to make dispositional attributions for other people's behavior and situational attributions for one's own. The self-serving bias is the tendency to attribute dispositional causes for successes, and situational causes for failure, particularly when self-esteem is threatened. This leads to assuming one's successes are from innate traits, and one's failures are due to situations. Heuristics are cognitive shortcuts which are used to make decisions in lieu of conscious reasoning. The availability heuristic occurs when people estimate
4020-676: Is an important aspect of metacognition. Aerobic and anaerobic exercise have been studied concerning cognitive improvement. There appear to be short-term increases in attention span, verbal and visual memory in some studies. However, the effects are transient and diminish over time, after cessation of the physical activity. People with Parkinson's disease has also seen improved cognition while cycling, while pairing it with other cognitive tasks. Studies evaluating phytoestrogen , blueberry supplementation and antioxidants showed minor increases in cognitive function after supplementation but no significant effects compared to placebo . Another study on
4154-517: Is an overarching term that denotes the persuasive effects people have on each other. It is seen as a fundamental concept in social psychology. The study of it overlaps considerably with research on attitudes and persuasion. The three main areas of social influence include conformity , compliance , and obedience . Social influence is also closely related to the study of group dynamics, as most effects of influence are strongest when they take place in social groups. The first major area of social influence
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4288-419: Is closely related to the aforementioned study and conclusion of the memory experiments conducted by Hermann Ebbinghaus. William James (1842–1910) is another pivotal figure in the history of cognitive science. James was quite discontent with Wundt's emphasis on introspection and Ebbinghaus' use of nonsense stimuli. He instead chose to focus on the human learning experience in everyday life and its importance to
4422-543: Is conformity. Conformity is defined as the tendency to act or think like other members of a group. The identity of members within a group (i.e., status), similarity, expertise, as well as cohesion, prior commitment, and accountability to the group help to determine the level of conformity of an individual. Conformity is often driven by two types of social influences: informational social influence, which involves conforming to gain accurate information, and normative social influence, which involves conforming to be accepted or liked by
4556-415: Is due to a request or suggestion from another person. Two common compliance strategies are 'foot-in-the-door,' which involves getting a person to agree to a small request to increase the likelihood of agreeing to a larger one, and 'door-in-the-face,' which involves making a large request that is likely to be refused to make a subsequent smaller request more likely to be accepted. The foot-in-the-door technique
4690-518: Is gathered through observation and conscientious experimentation. Two millennia later, the groundwork for modern concepts of cognition was laid during the Enlightenment by thinkers such as John Locke and Dugald Stewart who sought to develop a model of the mind in which ideas were acquired, remembered and manipulated. During the early nineteenth century cognitive models were developed both in philosophy —particularly by authors writing about
4824-452: Is interpersonal attraction, which refers to all factors that lead people to like each other, establish relationships, and in some cases fall in love. Several general principles of attraction have been discovered by social psychologists. One of the most important factors in interpersonal attraction is how similar two particular people are. The more similar two people are in general attitudes, backgrounds, environments, worldviews, and other traits,
4958-415: Is learned first still has to go through a retrieval process. This experiment focuses on human memory processes. The word superiority effect experiment presents a subject with a word, or a letter by itself, for a brief period of time, i.e. 40 ms, and they are then asked to recall the letter that was in a particular location in the word. In theory, the subject should be better able to correctly recall
5092-403: Is more likely to be inconsistent with attitude. BIRGing is a common aspect of everyday life. Anecdotal evidence explains how people make connections with highly positive or successful people. States and cities list the names of famous entertainers, political candidates, beauty contest winners, etc. who were born there. In encounters with a successful individual or famous celebrity, one may recount
5226-601: Is no set criterion. The classical definition of BIRGing describes it as a subjective feeling possessed by one individual who seeks to gain acceptance or respect by associating themselves with the successes of others. However, in recent years changes in culture and industry have challenged this classic definition. With these changes, people are not only associating with other people, but also with companies, brands, and organizations. Limitations that apply to both BIRGing and CORFing are perceptions and expectations about performance and how they have an impact. Many scholars have found that
5360-407: Is not there. One experiment found that people are more likely to misperceive a weapon in the hands of a black man than a white man. This type of schema is a stereotype , a generalized set of beliefs about a particular group of people (when incorrect, an ultimate attribution error ). Stereotypes are often related to negative or preferential attitudes and behavior. Schemas for behaviors (e.g., going to
5494-427: Is relevant to BIRGing as it analyzes the behavior and success of others. If one partakes in observing this behavior, they can learn which actions and people are successful or popular and can then engage in BIRGing by associating themselves with these actions or people. Darwin's evolutionary approach can also be used to analyze BIRGing due to the idea behind survival of the fittest . In contemporary psychology, survival of
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5628-650: Is the "mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses". It encompasses all aspects of intellectual functions and processes such as: perception , attention , thought , imagination , intelligence , the formation of knowledge , memory and working memory , judgment and evaluation , reasoning and computation , problem-solving and decision-making , comprehension and production of language . Cognitive processes use existing knowledge to discover new knowledge. Cognitive processes are analyzed from different perspectives within different contexts, notably in
5762-513: Is the idea that people tend to disassociate themselves from lower-status individuals because they do not want their reputations affected by associating with the people who are considered failures. One of the most influential studies of this phenomenon was done by Robert Cialdini in 1976, known as The Three (Football) Field Study. He discovered that the students sought to have the success of their football team linked to them by wearing school-identified apparel. These students associated themselves with
5896-426: Is the time it takes for a participant to identify whether a green circle is present or not, should not change as the number of distractors increases. Conjunctive searches where the target is absent should have a longer reaction time than the conjunctive searches where the target is present. The theory is that in feature searches, it is easy to spot the target, or if it is absent, because of the difference in color between
6030-426: Is thought to enhance self-esteem and to be a component of self-management. BIRGing has connections to social identity theory , which explains how self-esteem and self-evaluation can be enhanced by the identification with another person's success through basking in reflected glory that is not earned. Social identity is the individual's self-concept derived from perceived membership of social groups. High self-esteem
6164-496: Is typically a perception of oneself as attractive, competent, likeable, and a morally good person. The perception of having these attributes makes the person feel as if they are more attractive to the outside social world and thus more desirable to others. BIRGing is a widespread and important impression management technique to counter any threats to self-esteem and to maintain positive relations with others. Some positive effects of BIRGing include increasing individual self-esteem and
6298-484: The Shared intentionality approach, the mother shares the essential sensory stimulus of the actual cognitive problem with the child. By sharing this stimulus, the mother provides a template for developing the young organism's nervous system. Recent findings in research on child cognitive development and advances in inter-brain neuroscience experiments have made the above proposition plausible. Based on them,
6432-548: The elaboration likelihood model ) maintain that persuasion is mediated by two separate routes: central and peripheral. The central route of persuasion is influenced by facts and results in longer-lasting change, but requires motivation to process. The peripheral route is influenced by superficial factors (e.g. smiling, clothing) and results in shorter-lasting change, but does not require as much motivation to process. Social cognition studies how people perceive, recognize, and remember information about others. Much research rests on
6566-509: The philosophy of mind —and within medicine , especially by physicians seeking to understand how to cure madness. In Britain , these models were studied in the academy by scholars such as James Sully at University College London , and they were even used by politicians when considering the national Elementary Education Act 1870 ( 33 & 34 Vict. c. 75). As psychology emerged as a burgeoning field of study in Europe , whilst also gaining
6700-455: The probability of an outcome based on how easy that outcome is to imagine. As such, vivid or highly memorable possibilities will be perceived as more likely than those that are harder to picture or difficult to understand. The representativeness heuristic is a shortcut people use to categorize something based on how similar it is to a prototype they know of. Several other biases have been found by social cognition researchers. The hindsight bias
6834-418: The psychological construct of Shared intentionality , highlighting its contribution to cognitive development from birth. This primary interaction provides unaware collaboration in mother-child dyads for environmental learning. Later, Igor Val Danilov developed this notion, expanding it to the intrauterine period and clarifying the neurophysiological processes underlying Shared intentionality . According to
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#17327985903386968-712: The shared intentionality hypothesis introduced the notion of pre-perceptual communication in the mother-fetus communication model due to nonlocal neuronal coupling. This nonlocal coupling model refers to communication between two organisms through the copying of the adequate ecological dynamics by biological systems indwelling one environmental context, where a naive actor (Fetus) replicates information from an experienced actor (Mother) due to intrinsic processes of these dynamic systems ( embodied information ) but without interacting through sensory signals. The Mother's heartbeats (a low-frequency oscillator) modulate relevant local neuronal networks in specific subsystems of both her and
7102-526: The super ego 's relationship to the ego . The super ego refers to the ideal self-image; it constitutes a view of one's self as perfect. The ego refers to the real self, meaning our consciousness and perceptions of our current selves. Thus, if an individual seeks to gain more respect or popularity, the super ego may lead to BIRGing, as that individual will associate themselves with popular and respected entities in order to increase that individual's notion of ego. Another equally important contributing influence
7236-468: The 15th century, where it meant " thinking and awareness". The term comes from the Latin noun cognitio ('examination', 'learning', or 'knowledge'), derived from the verb cognosco , a compound of con ('with') and gnōscō ('know'). The latter half, gnōscō , itself is a cognate of a Greek verb, gi(g)nósko ( γι(γ)νώσκω , 'I know,' or 'perceive'). Despite
7370-539: The 1960s, there was growing interest in topics such as cognitive dissonance , bystander intervention , and aggression . These developments were part of a trend of increasingly sophisticated laboratory experiments using college students as participants and analysis of variance designs. In the 1970s, a number of conceptual challenges to social psychology emerged over issues such as ethical concerns about laboratory experimentation, whether attitudes could accurately predict behavior, and to what extent science could be done in
7504-406: The 19th century, social psychology began to emerge from the larger field of psychology . At the time, many psychologists were concerned with developing concrete explanations for the different aspects of human nature . They attempted to discover concrete cause-and-effect relationships that explained social interactions. In order to do so, they applied the scientific method to human behavior. One of
7638-559: The Olympics, it gives those an opportunity to tune in for the sake of their countries. While nationalism is still prevalent, it is more noticeable through their supporters after that country wins or earns a medal. While the concept of BIRGing has been connected to sports fandom for decades, the phenomena in fantasy sports has only been studied in recent years. A 2014 study discovered that fantasy football players had similar social-psychological reactions to fans of traditional teams. Due to
7772-601: The ability for everyone to follow their favorite athletes, actors, etc. on Facebook or Twitter allows for a closer connection to and knowledge of these celebrities, therefore leading to more BIRGing. Thus, the spread of technology has not only increased the realms under which BIRGing may fall, but also increased the ease with which individuals may partake in BIRGing. Psychological approaches to BIRGing would include Ludwig Lewisohn 's behavioral approach, Charles Darwin 's evolutionary approach, and to some extent even Sigmund Freud 's psychodynamic approach. The behavioral approach
7906-455: The acquisition and development of cognitive capabilities. Human cognition is conscious and unconscious , concrete or abstract , as well as intuitive (like knowledge of a language) and conceptual (like a model of a language). It encompasses processes such as memory , association , concept formation , pattern recognition , language , attention , perception , action , problem solving , and mental imagery . Traditionally, emotion
8040-432: The assertion that people think about other people differently than they do non-social, or non-human, targets. This assertion is supported by the social-cognitive deficits exhibited by people with Williams syndrome and autism . A major research topic in social cognition is attribution . Attributions are explanations of behavior, either one's own behavior or the behavior of others. One element of attribution ascribes
8174-420: The beginning of cognition is memory storage about the relevant ecological dynamics by the naive nervous system (i.e., memorizing the ecological condition of relevant sensory stimulus) at the molecular level – an engram . Evidence derived using optical imaging , molecular-genetic and optogenetic techniques in conjunction with appropriate behavioural analyses continues to offer support for the idea that changing
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#17327985903388308-451: The beginning of the sequence, called the primacy effect , and information at the end of the sequence, called the recency effect . Consequently, information given in the middle of the sequence is typically forgotten, or not recalled as easily. This study predicts that the recency effect is stronger than the primacy effect, because the information that is most recently learned is still in working memory when asked to be recalled. Information that
8442-445: The behavior will be repeated or changed under similar circumstances). Individuals also attribute causes of behavior to controllable and uncontrollable factors (i.e., how much control one has over the situation at hand). Numerous biases in the attribution process have been discovered. For instance, the fundamental attribution error is the bias towards making dispositional attributions for other people's behavior. The actor-observer bias
8576-436: The cause of behavior to internal and external factors. An internal, or dispositional, attribution reasons that a behavior is caused by inner traits such as personality, disposition, character, and ability. An external, or situational, attribution reasons that a behavior is caused by situational elements such as the weather. A second element of attribution ascribes the cause of behavior to stable and unstable factors (i.e., whether
8710-439: The confirmation and disconfirmation of the expected victory or loss has a significant effect on BIRGing and CORFing. For example, if one predicts that one's favorite team is going to lose, one is less likely to be afraid to associate with that team because they predicted the loss. This supports that a person is more likely to participate in BIRGing or CORFing if their public image is threatened. In addition, most studies only test for
8844-410: The construction of human thought or mental processes. Jean Piaget was one of the most important and influential people in the field of developmental psychology . He believed that humans are unique in comparison to animals because we have the capacity to do "abstract symbolic reasoning". His work can be compared to Lev Vygotsky , Sigmund Freud , and Erik Erikson who were also great contributors in
8978-407: The construction of human thought or mental processes. Research shows the intentional engagement of fetuses with the environment, demonstrating cognitive achievements. However, organisms with simple reflexes cannot cognize the environment alone because the environment is the cacophony of stimuli (electromagnetic waves, chemical interactions, and pressure fluctuations). Their sensation is too limited by
9112-535: The defeat, but also by avoiding their family or close others after a defeat. Male NFL fans in this study demonstrated CORFing through four factors that paralleled the male BIRGing factors; display avoidance, media avoidance, communication suppression, and online team distancing. BIRGing is a widely used theoretical construct in the field of social psychology. However, it is difficult to define and operationalize BIRGing (discussed in "Major Theoretical Approaches"). Because examples of BIRGing are so different and unique, there
9246-498: The differences between how males and females react to their NFL team's outcomes. After extensive research, he concluded that the ideas of BIRGing and CORFing are two separate constructs that each had their own separate dimensions. " The overall BIRGing construct included two subscales; basking communication and communication disinhibition. The overall CORFing construct included four subscales; display avoidance, media avoidance, online team distancing, and communication suppression." From
9380-632: The disapproval or discrimination against individuals based on perceived differences, became increasingly prevalent as societies sought to redefine norms and group boundaries after the war. During the years immediately following World War II , there were frequent collaborations between psychologists and sociologists . The two disciplines, however, have become increasingly specialized and isolated from each other in recent years, with sociologists generally focusing on high-level, large-scale examinations of society, and psychologists generally focusing on more small-scale studies of individual human behaviors. During
9514-521: The discipline, such as conformity , interpersonal attraction , social perception, and prejudice . Persuasion is an active method of influencing that attempts to guide people toward the adoption of an attitude, idea, or behavior by rational or emotive means. Persuasion relies on appeals rather than strong pressure or coercion . The process of persuasion has been found to be influenced by numerous variables that generally fall into one of five major categories: Dual-process theories of persuasion (such as
9648-716: The disciplines of cognitive science . Metacognition is an awareness of one's thought processes and an understanding of the patterns behind them. The term comes from the root word meta , meaning "beyond", or "on top of". Metacognition can take many forms, such as reflecting on one's ways of thinking, and knowing when and how oneself and others use particular strategies for problem-solving . There are generally two components of metacognition: (1) cognitive conceptions and (2) cognitive regulation system. Research has shown that both components of metacognition play key roles in metaconceptual knowledge and learning. Metamemory , defined as knowing about memory and mnemonic strategies,
9782-498: The distractor task, they are asked to recall the trigram from before the distractor task. In theory, the longer the distractor task, the harder it will be for participants to correctly recall the trigram. This experiment focuses on human short-term memory . During the memory span experiment , each subject is presented with a sequence of stimuli of the same kind; words depicting objects, numbers, letters that sound similar, and letters that sound dissimilar. After being presented with
9916-402: The effects of herbal and dietary supplements on cognition in menopause show that soy and Ginkgo biloba supplementation could improve women's cognition. Exposing individuals with cognitive impairment (i.e. dementia ) to daily activities designed to stimulate thinking and memory in a social setting, seems to improve cognition. Although study materials are small, and larger studies need to confirm
10050-509: The field as the experimental study of social behavior. An early, influential research program in social psychology was established by Kurt Lewin and his students. During World War II , social psychologists were mostly concerned with studies of persuasion and propaganda for the U.S. military (see also psychological warfare ). Following the war, researchers became interested in a variety of social problems, including issues of gender and racial prejudice . Social stigma , which refers to
10184-488: The field of developmental psychology. Piaget is known for studying the cognitive development in children, having studied his own three children and their intellectual development, from which he would come to a theory of cognitive development that describes the developmental stages of childhood. Studies on cognitive development have also been conducted in children beginning from the embryonal period to understand when cognition appears and what environmental attributes stimulate
10318-439: The fields of linguistics , musicology , anesthesia , neuroscience , psychiatry , psychology , education , philosophy , anthropology , biology , systemics , logic , and computer science . These and other approaches to the analysis of cognition (such as embodied cognition ) are synthesized in the developing field of cognitive science , a progressively autonomous academic discipline . The word cognition dates back to
10452-438: The financial field, if it is widely believed that a crash is imminent, investors may lose confidence, sell most of their stock, and thus cause a crash. Similarly, people may expect hostility in others and induce this hostility by their own behavior. Psychologists have spent decades studying the power of social influence, and the way in which it manipulates people's opinions and behavior. Specifically, social influence refers to
10586-400: The first published studies in the field was Norman Triplett 's 1898 experiment on the phenomenon of social facilitation . These psychological experiments later went on to form the foundation of much of 20th century social psychological findings. According to Wolfgang Stroebe , modern social psychology began in 1924 with the publication of a classic textbook by Floyd Allport , which defined
10720-508: The fittest applies to achieving the greatest successes possible in order to ensure the passage of one's genes into future generations. From this biological perspective, it is favorable to be popular and respected, as more mating opportunities will present themselves. This can be seen in BIRGing as individuals associate themselves with popular, attractive, or respected actions and people in order to be perceived as having more successes. Freud's psychodynamic theory can be applied to BIRGing in terms of
10854-475: The function and capacity of human memory. Ebbinghaus developed his own experiment in which he constructed over 2,000 syllables made out of nonexistent words (for instance, 'EAS'). He then examined his own personal ability to learn these non-words. He purposely chose non-words as opposed to real words to control for the influence of pre-existing experience on what the words might symbolize, thus enabling easier recollection of them. Ebbinghaus observed and hypothesized
10988-481: The group. Individual variations among group members play a key role in the dynamic of how willing people will be to conform. Conformity is usually viewed as a negative tendency in American culture, but a certain amount of conformity is adaptive in some situations, as is nonconformity in other situations. The second major area of social influence research is compliance , which refers to any change in behavior that
11122-462: The idea of BIRGing in events like the FIFA World Cup and Olympic Games . Members of each country unite in support of the athletes who wear their flag during competitions. This is the prime opportunity for citizens of each country to represent their heritage through those competing. Throughout the year, a person may be less inclined to watch "unusual sports", but as the entire world invests in
11256-552: The identification with one favorite team, whereas individuals may have multiple favorite teams. Whether having multiple favorite teams increases the occurrences of BIRGing could be investigated further. A study published by Spinda in 2011 found significant differences between those identifying as male and female in BIRGing and CORFing. However, a study by Ware and Kowalski did not find significant differences among sports fans based on gender, though it found males were more likely to identify as die-hard fans. Cognition Cognition
11390-413: The individual began conforming or withdrew from the experiment. Also, participant conformity increased substantially as the number of "incorrect" individuals increased from one to three, and remained high as the incorrect majority grew. Participants with three other, incorrect participants made mistakes 31.8% of the time, while those with one or two incorrect participants made mistakes only 3.6% and 13.6% of
11524-414: The influence of confounding or extraneous variables, and so are more likely to accurately indicate a causal relationship. However, the small samples used in controlled experiments are typically low in external validity , or the degree to which the results can be generalized to the larger population. There is usually a trade-off between experimental control (internal validity) and being able to generalize to
11658-500: The initial conclusions of the study. For example, it has been pointed out that participant self-selection may have affected the participants' behavior, and that the participants' personalities influenced their reactions in a variety of ways, including how long they chose to remain in the study. The 2002 BBC prison study , designed to replicate the conditions in the Stanford study, produced conclusions that were drastically different from
11792-416: The initial findings. Albert Bandura 's Bobo doll experiment attempted to demonstrate how aggression is learned by imitation . In the experiment, 72 children, grouped based on similar levels of pre-tested aggressivity, either witnessed an aggressive or a non-aggressive actor interact with a "bobo doll." The children were then placed alone in the room with the doll and observed to see if they would imitate
11926-500: The interacting groups. The tendency to define oneself by membership in a group may lead to intergroup discrimination, which involves favorable perceptions and behaviors directed towards the in-group, but negative perceptions and behaviors directed towards the out-group. Groups often moderate and improve decision making , and are frequently relied upon for these benefits, such as in committees and juries. Groups also affect performance and productivity . Social facilitation, for example,
12060-577: The internet, the phone, or by spending time with family or close others, and by displaying team logos, emblems, or insignias to others (i.e., displaying team). Additionally, female NFL fans exhibited communication disinhibition by "talking trash" to other fans that have experienced defeat or are not performing as well as their favorite team. Meanwhile, male NFL fans isolated many of these celebratory behaviors into four smaller factors; displaying team, mediated enjoyment, communication disinhibition, and online team support. Conversely, CORFing among female NFL fans
12194-506: The letter when it was presented in a word than when it was presented in isolation. This experiment focuses on human speech and language. In the Brown–Peterson cohomology experiment , participants are briefly presented with a trigram and in one particular version of the experiment, they are then given a distractor task, asking them to identify whether a sequence of words is in fact words, or non-words (due to being misspelled, etc.). After
12328-404: The mind. The development of Cognitive psychology arose as psychology from different theories, and so began exploring these dynamics concerning mind and environment, starting a movement from these prior dualist paradigms that prioritized cognition as systematic computation or exclusively behavior. For years, sociologists and psychologists have conducted studies on cognitive development , i.e.
12462-559: The more likely they will be attracted to each other. Physical attractiveness is an important element of romantic relationships, particularly in the early stages characterized by high levels of passion . Later on, similarity and other compatibility factors become more important, and the type of love people experience shifts from passionate to companionate. In 1986, Robert Sternberg suggested that there are actually three components of love: intimacy, passion, and commitment. When two (or more) people experience all three, they are said to be in
12596-411: The most objective manner possible in order for Wundt to find the information scientific. Though Wundt's contributions are by no means minimal, modern psychologists find his methods to be too subjective and choose to rely on more objective procedures of experimentation to make conclusions about the human cognitive process. Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850–1909) conducted cognitive studies that mainly examined
12730-504: The naturalistic and experimental setting. Although Cialdini's studies introduced the concept of BIRGing to the public and its relevance to social psychology , an operational definition is quite difficult to form. With such a wide range of possible examples, there is no set criteria by which to clearly recognize BIRGing. Rather, by a classical definition, it is more described as a subjective feeling possessed by one individual who seeks to gain acceptance or respect by associating themselves with
12864-399: The nature of fantasy football being a more involved fan experience, these effects have even been found to be heightened. Because they feel more responsible for wins and losses: they are more likely to engage in discussion or football media if their fantasy team wins, and less likely to do so if their team loses. Pronouns play a significant role in BIRGing and CORFing and can help distinguish
12998-514: The nervous system of the fetus due to the effect of the interference of the low-frequency oscillator (Mother heartbeats) and already exhibited gamma activity in these neuronal networks (interference in physics is the combination of two or more electromagnetic waveforms to form a resultant wave). Therefore, the subliminal perception in a fetus emerges due to Shared intentionality with the mother that stimulates cognition in this organism even before birth. Another crucial question in understanding
13132-456: The noise to solve the cue problem–the relevant stimulus cannot overcome the noise magnitude if it passes through the senses (see the binding problem ). Fetuses need external help to stimulate their nervous system in choosing the relevant sensory stimulus for grasping the perception of objects. The Shared intentionality approach proposes a plausible explanation of perception development in this earlier stage. Initially, Michael Tomasello introduced
13266-783: The oldest paradigms is the leveling and sharpening of stories as they are repeated from memory studied by Bartlett . The semantic differential used factor analysis to determine the main meanings of words, finding that the ethical value of words is the first factor. More controlled experiments examine the categorical relationships of words in free recall . The hierarchical structure of words has been explicitly mapped in George Miller 's WordNet . More dynamic models of semantic networks have been created and tested with computational systems such as neural networks , latent semantic analysis (LSA), Bayesian analysis , and multidimensional factor analysis. The meanings of words are studied by all
13400-423: The perception of our own behavior. Leon Festinger 's 1954 social comparison theory posits that people evaluate their own abilities and opinions by comparing themselves to others when they are uncertain of their own ability or opinions. Daryl Bem 's 1972 self-perception theory claims that when internal cues are difficult to interpret, people gain self-insight by observing their own behavior. Social influence
13534-406: The population (external validity). Because it is usually impossible to test everyone, research tends to be conducted on a sample of persons from the wider population . Social psychologists frequently use survey research when they are interested in results that are high in external validity. Surveys use various forms of random sampling to obtain a sample of respondents that is representative of
13668-409: The production of endocrine hormones . Fans watched their favorite sports teams (basketball and soccer) win or lose. The men's testosterone levels increased while watching their team win, but decreased while watching their team lose. Thus, this study shows that physiological processes may be involved with BIRGing, in addition to the known changes in self-esteem and cognition. The mirror image of BIRGing
13802-484: The results, the effect of social cognitive stimulation seems to be larger than the effects of some drug treatments. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has been shown to improve cognition in individuals without dementia 1 month after treatment session compared to before treatment. The effect was not significantly larger compared to placebo. Computerized cognitive training, utilizing a computer based training regime for different cognitive functions has been examined in
13936-417: The same behavior of the actor they had observed. As hypothesized, the children who had witnessed the aggressive actor, imitated the behavior and proceeded to act aggressively towards the doll. Both male and female children who witnessed the non-aggressive actor behaved less aggressively towards the doll. However, boys were more likely to exhibit aggression, especially after observing the behavior from an actor of
14070-412: The same for letters that sound dissimilar and short words. The memory span is projected to be shorter with letters that sound similar and with longer words. In one version of the visual search experiment , a participant is presented with a window that displays circles and squares scattered across it. The participant is to identify whether there is a green circle on the window. In the featured search,
14204-435: The same gender. In addition, boys were found to imitate more physical aggression, while girls displayed more verbal aggression. The goal of social psychology is to understand cognition and behavior as they naturally occur in a social context, but the very act of observing people can influence and alter their behavior. For this reason, many social psychology experiments utilize deception to conceal or distort certain aspects of
14338-429: The same lie. The first group ($ 1) later reported liking the task better than the second group ($ 20). Festinger's explanation was that for people in the first group, being paid only $ 1 was not sufficient incentive. This led them to experience dissonance, or discomfort and internal conflict. They could only overcome that dissonance by justifying their lies. They did this by changing their previously unfavorable attitudes about
14472-457: The same results as deception studies, and this has cast doubt on their validity. In addition to deception, experimenters have at times put people in potentially uncomfortable or embarrassing situations (e.g., the Milgram experiment and Stanford prison experiment ), and this has also been criticized for ethical reasons. Virtually all social psychology research in the modern day must pass an ethical review. At most colleges and universities, this
14606-626: The social sciences have emerged. Most modern researchers in the 21st century are interested in phenomena such as attribution , social cognition , and self-concept . During the COVID-19 pandemic, social psychologists examined the effects of social isolation, fear, and misinformation on collective behavior. Research also focused on how pandemic-related stress affected mental health and social cohesion. Social psychologists are, in addition, concerned with applied psychology , contributing towards applications of social psychology in health, education, law, and
14740-407: The stimuli, the subject is asked to recall the sequence of stimuli that they were given in the exact order in which it was given. In one particular version of the experiment, if the subject recalled a list correctly, the list length was increased by one for that type of material, and vice versa if it was recalled incorrectly. The theory is that people have a memory span of about seven items for numbers,
14874-427: The story several times in order to bask in the glory because one has a sense of pride after meeting such an individual. People associate with certain companies and schools in order to establish a connection to individuals or groups that represent these organizations. Humans are always trying to regulate their self-esteem, so they continually engage in BIRGing. Extra real-world examples: Nationalism relates heavily to
15008-448: The strength of connections between neurons is one of the major mechanisms by which engrams are stored in the brain. Two (or more) possible mechanisms of cognition can involve both quantum effects and synchronization of brain structures due to electromagnetic interference. The Serial-position effect is meant to test a theory of memory that states that when information is given in a serial manner, we tend to remember information at
15142-424: The student would be oneself, who would process information pertinent to a student (taking notes in class, completing a homework assignment, etc.); the athlete would be the self who processes information about things related to being an athlete. These selves are part of one's identity and the self-referential information is that which relies on the appropriate self to process and react to it. There are many theories on
15276-400: The study of social cognition , a branch of social psychology , the term is used to explain attitudes , attribution , and group dynamics . However, psychological research within the field of cognitive science has also suggested an embodied approach to understanding cognition. Contrary to the traditional computationalist approach, embodied cognition emphasizes the body's significant role in
15410-410: The study of cognition. James' most significant contribution to the study and theory of cognition was his textbook Principles of Psychology which preliminarily examines aspects of cognition such as perception, memory, reasoning, and attention. René Descartes (1596–1650) was a seventeenth-century philosopher who came up with the phrase "Cogito, ergo sum", which means "I think, therefore I am." He took
15544-500: The study. Deception may include false cover stories, false participants (known as confederates or stooges), false feedback given to the participants, and other techniques that help remove potential obstacles to participation. The practice of deception has been challenged by psychologists who maintain that deception under any circumstances is unethical and that other research strategies (e.g., role-playing ) should be used instead. Research has shown that role-playing studies do not produce
15678-405: The study: However, when male and female participants were separately analyzed, noteworthy differences were found in both the BIRGing and CORFing constructs. In regards to BIRGing, female NFL fans employed a large cluster of basking communication activities that stabilized into one large factor. These included seeking out mediated enjoyment (e.g., highlights, news stories), contacting others by using
15812-414: The subject is presented with several trial windows that have blue squares or circles and one green circle or no green circle in it at all. In the conjunctive search, the subject is presented with trial windows that have blue circles or green squares and a present or absent green circle whose presence the participant is asked to identify. What is expected is that in the feature searches, reaction time, that
15946-428: The success of other people or groups, as was originally thought by Cialdini and others, but also with companies, businesses, or activities that are perceived as popular or highly regarded. Facebook , Twitter , and other social networking sites have increased BIRGing with popular brands, as it allows everyone to post their affinity for or their associations with popular companies, media, businesses, etc. Furthermore,
16080-573: The success. Examples of BIRGing include anything from sharing a home state with a past or present famous person, to religious affiliations, to sports teams. For example, when a fan of a football team wears the team's jersey and boasts after a win, this fan is engaging in BIRGing. A parent with a bumper sticker reading "My child is an honor student" is basking in the reflected glory of their child. While many people have anecdotal accounts of BIRGing, social psychologists seek to find experimental investigations delving into BIRGing. Within social psychology, BIRGing
16214-428: The successes of others. However, over recent years, advances in technology (among other domains) have challenged the classic definition of BIRGing. For example, when Apple Computers became very successful, many individuals not only purchased Apple products, but many more sought jobs or other associations with the company. Contemporary BIRGing in today's world can be seen by individuals not only associating themselves with
16348-536: The target and the distractors. In conjunctive searches where the target is absent, reaction time increases because the subject has to look at each shape to determine whether it is the target or not because some of the distractors if not all of them, are the same color as the target stimuli. Conjunctive searches where the target is present take less time because if the target is found, the search between each shape stops. The semantic network of knowledge representation systems have been studied in various paradigms. One of
16482-426: The task. Being paid $ 20 provided a reason for doing the boring task, which resulted in no dissonance. The Milgram experiment was designed to study how far people would go in obeying an authority figure. The experiment showed that normal American citizens would follow orders even when they believed they were causing an innocent person to suffer or even apparently die. Philip Zimbardo 's Stanford prison study ,
16616-444: The time, respectively. In Leon Festinger 's cognitive dissonance experiment, participants were divided into two groups and were asked to perform a boring task. Both groups were later asked to dishonestly give their opinion of the task, but were rewarded according to two different pay scales. At the end of the study, some participants were paid $ 1 to say that they enjoyed the task, while the group of participants were paid $ 20 to tell
16750-498: The two behaviors instantly. When someone is basking in reflected glory, they often use the pronouns "We" or "Us", insinuating that they contributed and are a part of the success. Inversely, when someone is cutting off reflected failure, they switch to using "They" or "Them", separating themselves from the failure at large. These vernacular choices rely heavily on the success of the team/program and are rooted in our societal identities. Author John S.W Spinda conducted research studying
16884-455: The way in which individuals change their ideas and actions to meet the demands of a social group, received authority, social role, or a minority within a group wielding influence over the majority. Social psychologists study group-related phenomena such as the behavior of crowds . A group can be defined as two or more individuals who are connected to each other by social relationships . Groups tend to interact, influence each other, and share
17018-418: The winning candidate displayed their posters and lawn signs for a longer period after the elections than did those who supported the loser. CORFing behavior was studied in basketball fans after a defeat, where the fans refuse to take a team poster, removed their posters or paraphernalia, avoided other fans and stayed in a bad mood after a defeat. Thus, the tendency for individuals to display their association with
17152-497: The word cognitive itself dating back to the 15th century, attention to cognitive processes came about more than eighteen centuries earlier, beginning with Aristotle (384–322 BCE) and his interest in the inner workings of the mind and how they affect the human experience. Aristotle focused on cognitive areas pertaining to memory, perception, and mental imagery. He placed great importance on ensuring that his studies were based on empirical evidence, that is, scientific information that
17286-488: The workplace . In social psychology, an attitude is a learned, global evaluation that influences thought and action. Attitudes are basic expressions of approval and disapproval or likes and dislikes. For example, enjoying chocolate ice cream or endorsing the values of a particular political party are examples of attitudes. Because people are influenced by multiple factors in any given situation, general attitudes are not always good predictors of specific behavior. For example,
17420-547: Was a movement known as cognitivism in the 1950s, emerging after the Behaviorist movement viewed cognition as a form of behavior. Cognitivism approached cognition as a form of computation, viewing the mind as a machine and consciousness as an executive function. However; post cognitivism began to emerge in the 1990s as the development of cognitive science presented theories that highlighted the necessity of cognitive action as embodied, extended, and producing dynamic processes in
17554-419: Was an influential American pioneer in the realm of psychology. Her work also focused on human memory capacity. A common theory, called the recency effect , can be attributed to the studies that she conducted. The recency effect, also discussed in the subsequent experiment section, is the tendency for individuals to be able to accurately recollect the final items presented in a sequence of stimuli. Calkin's theory
17688-515: Was designed to be easy to assess but wrong answers were deliberately given by at least some, oftentimes most, of the other participants. In well over a third of the trials, participants conformed to the majority, even though the majority judgment was clearly wrong. Seventy-five percent of the participants conformed at least once during the experiment. Additional manipulations of the experiment showed that participant conformity decreased when at least one other individual failed to conform but increased when
17822-495: Was evident in three factors. First, communication avoidance included subduing "trash talk" to fans of more successful teams (i.e., communication suppression), refraining from posting messages online to support the team (i.e., online team distancing) and being less likely to call fellow fans on the phone. Second, display avoidance was exhibited by female NFL fans after a loss. Third, female NFL fans tended to isolate themselves from losing outcomes by avoiding not only mediated reminders of
17956-482: Was not thought of as a cognitive process, but now much research is being undertaken to examine the cognitive psychology of emotion; research is also focused on one's awareness of one's own strategies and methods of cognition, which is called metacognition . The concept of cognition has gone through several revisions through the development of disciplines within psychology. Psychologists initially understood cognition governing human action as information processing. This
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