Social Cognition and

Socioemotional Intelligence
Human Nature and Social Connection
• Humans are inherently social beings.
• Importance of understanding social thinking in cognition,
neuroscience, and management.
• Social thinking impacts perception, judgment, and influence in
interactions
Similar Distortions in Social Interactions
• Distortions described earlier apply to social interactions (Fiske &
Taylor, 2008).
• Automatic thinking, selective perception, and mental representations
influence social interactions.
• Social thinking includes attributions, biases, and social categorization.
• Emotional factors strongly influence social thinking.
• Socioemotional intelligence plays a significant role in understanding
and managing social interactions.
Types of Attribution
Attribution Theory and Behavior Causes
• Attribution involves making inferences or explaining causes.
• Attribution theory focuses on explaining the causes of behavior and
outcomes.
Internal vs. External Attributions:
• Attributions are judgments about the cause of behavior.
• Attributions can be attributed to a person's disposition (internal
factors) or the situation (external factors).
Fundamental Attribution Error
• Fundamental attribution error is a cognitive bias in making incorrect
causal attributions.
• It involves attributing behavior to internal disposition rather than
external circumstances.
• This error can lead to blaming individuals for behavior that might be
due to situational factors.
Examples of Fundamental Attribution Error:
• Example: Assuming rudeness when someone cuts in line due to
unclear signs.
• In healthcare, physicians may wrongly attribute patients' health
concerns to their behaviors.
Managerial Perspective and Attribution Error
• Managers may fall into the fundamental attribution error when
judging employee performance.
• Mistakenly attributing poor performance to personal traits instead of
considering external factors.
• Managers should understand how work settings influence
performance and engage in open communication with employees.
Types of Biases

Affinity Biases:
• Affinity biases involve preferences based on likeability, similarity, or group
membership.
• Affinity bias favors individuals we like or identify with.
• Similar-to-me bias favors those who are similar to ourselves, such as in
profession or major.
• In-group bias favors people belonging to the same social group as us.
• In-group bias leads to positive judgments when there's shared group
membership.
• These biases can lead to poor decisions, unequal treatment, and
underutilization of talents.
Types of biases
Halo Effect:
• The halo effect occurs when positive/negative traits in one area
influence judgments in another.
• Positive/negative traits on one dimension affect judgments on
unrelated dimensions.
• For instance, assuming an outgoing person is a good leader or a quiet
person is not effective in a team.
Types of biases
Bias Blind Spot:
• Bias blind spot is the belief that others are more influenced by biases
than oneself.
• Individuals often fail to recognize their own biases.
• People may dismiss differing views as biased while believing their own
views are objective.
• This bias can lead to overestimating one's objectivity and
perpetuating biases.
Impact on Management:
• Biases can distort thinking and lead to poor decisions in areas like
decision-making and performance appraisal.
• Managers may make biased judgments in hiring or performance
evaluations.
• Bias blind spot can lead individuals to believe they are unbiased while
still being influenced by biases.
Social Categorization and Biases
Social Categorization:
• Social categorization involves grouping individuals based on shared
attributes.
• Common categories include gender, race, age, religion, etc.
• Categorization simplifies our understanding of the social world but
can lead to stereotypes, prejudices, and discrimination.
Stereotypes, Prejudice, Discrimination:
• Stereotypes are generalized beliefs about a group's attributes.
• Prejudice refers to holding positive/negative attitudes toward a group.
• Discrimination involves treating a group differently, potentially leading
to unequal treatment.
• These biases can affect decisions, behaviors, and organizational
performance.
Explicit vs. Implicit Bias
• Explicit bias is conscious and overt, involving awareness of biases.
• Implicit bias is unconscious and subtle, affecting decisions without
awareness.
• Implicit biases may hinder diversity efforts, impact decisions, and
contribute to workplace issues.
• Training and addressing implicit bias can improve workplace
inclusivity and performance.
Empathy and Socio-Emotional Intelligence
• Socio-emotional intelligence combines social and emotional
intelligence.
• Socio-emotional intelligence involves understanding and responding
to others' emotions effectively.
• Emotional intelligence (EI) involves intelligent use of emotions,
benefiting organizational collaboration and problem-solving.
Importance of Empathy
• Empathy is a fundamental skill of socio-emotional intelligence.
• Empathy fosters connection, reciprocity, and positive relationships.
• Different forms of empathy include emotional empathy, cognitive
empathy, and empathic perspective-taking.
Empathy in Organizations
• Empathy contributes to positive workplace climates, employee
interactions, and manager-employee relationships.
• High-performing managers often possess high emotional intelligence
(EI).
• Efforts to teach and develop empathy are widespread in healthcare
and other organizations.