Research on social cognition is concerned with how we make attributions about other people's behavior and how we make sense of social situations. Generally, people make causal attributions about behavior that focus on either dispositions or situational factors. When people behave badly, the way we attribute their actions can influence how we feel about them and treat them. A dispositional attribution, which blames their actions on internal factors, leads to more anger and less empathy. A situational attribution, which focuses on external causes, leads to less anger and more empathy. Here are a few other concepts and phenomena that either relate to attribution or fall under the larger wing of social cognition:
Fundamental Attribution Error: tendency to believe a behavior is due to a dispositional rather than situational factor Actor-Observer Difference: tendency to explain our own behavior in situational, rather than dispositional terms
Deindividuation: when individuals are part of a crowd or are asks to take on well defined roles, they begin to lose their individuality and behave in accordance with the situation (can result in "mob mentality" or cruel "prison guard" behavior)
Bystander Effect: the more people that are present to witness a person in danger or distress, the less likely you are to help Reasons Why We Don't Help:
Pluralistic Ignorance: when each witness sees that no one else is reacting, they decide it must not be an emergency
Situational Factors: situational factors, rather than disposition, determine whether someone helps or not.
Below is a clip from The Amazing Spider-Man (2012). The beginning of the clip (0:10 - 1:30) relates to our discussion of social cognition, particularly to deindividuation and the bystander effect. Like most superheroes, Peter Parker wears a mask as Spider-man, losing his identity and gaining strength from his anonymity. His heroic behavior in the clip stands in direct contrast to other bystanders, who run away rather than help the others on the bridge.
Another set of concepts related to social cognition is stereotyping and prejudice. Prejudice can manifest explicitly (active discrimination) and implicitly (passive, subconscious discrimination). Although discrimination on the basis of gender or race is illegal, it still takes place implicitly (in hiring practices, criminal sentencing practices, and instances in which unarmed minorities are shot).