#PMIG2024
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erinwestgate.bsky.social
Coffee break before the Ostrom Award!! 🥁 Eliot Smith reminding us of the unspoken norms of Person Memory: down-to-earth, no name tags, informal/flat hierarchy, longer talks with long Q&A, held somewhere rural, one unscheduled day to talk science in nature…

#PMIG2024
October 23, 2024 at 10:24 PM
erinwestgate.bsky.social
One of the traditions of Person Memory is that there is no formal programming the first day…after the traditional nature “hike”, a few of us headed up to Rinconada Canyon to check out the petroglyphs - people carved these 400 to 700 years ago!!! Just so cool. #PMIG2024
Rinconada canyon is surrounded by volcanic rubble…as sand shifted beneath an old lava flow, the rock crumbled and cracked into the boulders that now edge the canyon walls A few of the petroglyphs carved by indigenous people living in the area hundreds and hundreds of years ago Petroglyph National Monument! A wonderful wonderful chonky horned lizard boi
October 22, 2024 at 11:39 PM
erinwestgate.bsky.social
At someone’s suggestion, put together a starter pack of folks for the Person Memory conference #PMIG2024

go.bsky.app/Q2yp3au
October 23, 2024 at 12:12 AM
erinwestgate.bsky.social
We don’t notice when minorities are missing (eg, don’t notice there aren’t any women surgeons). And we notice and inflate our estimates when a few are around (eg, there are TONS of male nurses! except there aren’t).

And, we don’t notice that we don’t notice.

@rasharasha.bsky.social #PMIG2024
Look at the faces then look away. What percentage of faces were Black? What percentage were White? (There is a mix) People overestimate the number of Black faces they see, and underestimate the number of White faces they see.
October 24, 2024 at 6:00 PM
erinwestgate.bsky.social
Hazel Markus and Jack Dovidio are the 2024 winners of the Ostrom Award for lifetime achievements in the field of social cognition #PMIG2024
Hazel Markus Jack Dovidio
October 23, 2024 at 10:49 PM
erinwestgate.bsky.social
Afternoon sessions at Person Memory starting!! How we remember people, navigating motivational conflicts, and the 2024 Ostrom Award 🔥

#PMIG2024
Afternoon conference program and attention aid (aka Diet Coke aka caffeine)
October 23, 2024 at 8:39 PM
erinwestgate.bsky.social
“So like our model wouldn’t apply to the bottom of the sea or Antarctica” - love these constraints on generalizability 😂

@erichehman.bsky.social #PMIG2024
October 23, 2024 at 4:21 PM
erinwestgate.bsky.social
#PMIG2024
October 22, 2024 at 2:39 PM
erinwestgate.bsky.social
Why don’t we remember info that conflicts with our expectations?

Memory depends on our tendency to learn new things vs maintain current knowledge…but many pressures push us away from updating, and thus away from remembering inconsistent, new, & surprising info. @nivreggev.bsky.social #PMIG2024
Stable contexts help us learn new info. Time, outcome dependency, and state and grant epistemic tendencies push us away from knowledge updating and towards knowledge maintenance. We are more likely to remember knowledge inconsistent with our priors when we are inclined towards knowledge updating (vs maintenance).
October 23, 2024 at 9:19 PM
erinwestgate.bsky.social
As societies grow larger, we become strangers to each other - which means we have to INFER who is “good” (generalized morality), what others are like (stereotypes), and where we stand in relation to them in society (prejudice). Work by Josh Conrad Jackson #PMIG2024
In small societies, we know everything about everyone (both good and bad). In larger societies, we know a little about some people. We use what we do know to infer what we don’t - resulting in generalized morality, stereotypes, and prejudice.
October 23, 2024 at 3:24 PM
erinwestgate.bsky.social
Why are atheists, childfree adults, and Joe Rogan fans stigmatized? Dan Molden argues that we infer stable values from these characteristics, and that people care deeply about those values for judging who someone really is and whether they want to interact with you. #PMIG2024
October 24, 2024 at 4:16 PM
erinwestgate.bsky.social
First formal sessions of Person Memory kicking off! This morning: generalized morality, exploration-driven stereotyping, understanding environments, cognitive dissonance, and POWER AND CORRUPTION WOOOOOO #PMIG2024
Critical conferencing supplies: coffee and a paper program
October 23, 2024 at 3:06 PM
erinwestgate.bsky.social
Would you rather have Cox or Comcast? What, neither?!

When you choose between two unattractive choices, how the choice is framed matters. When you focus on what you WANT, you come to prefer what you chose (for a little while). But not when you focus on what to REJECT.

Jeff Stone #PMIG2024
SUMMARY OF STUDIES 1-4 How people make a difficult decision between similar alternatives impacted post-decision attitude change, i.e., the "spreading of the alternatives" Decision framed as acceptance (classic): Spreading of the alternatives • Participants mostly derogated the unchosen and bolstered the chosen alternative Decision framed as rejection: Less spreading of the alternatives • Primarily driven by derogating the unchosen option without bolstering the chosen • This does not appear to fit the psychological distance process as hypothesized
October 23, 2024 at 5:43 PM
erinwestgate.bsky.social
Snack game is on POINT #PMIG2024
Cinnamon buns and cookies and CHOCOLATE COVERED STRAWBERRIES?!?! at a conference?? get outta here!!
October 23, 2024 at 5:17 PM
erinwestgate.bsky.social
Imagine your colleague becoming department chair. Will they become a better or worse person?

Some people believe that “power corrupts.” Others believe that power just reveals who we were all along. If you believe power corrupts, you’re less likely to seek power.

@psychpam.bsky.social #PMIG2024
Two major lay theories of power and morality • Power Corrupts: when people's power increases, it decreases their morality - Offers a negative view of power - Attributes unethical behavior to an external/situational factor • Power Reveals: when people's power increases, it reveals their true moral character - Offers a (relatively) neutral view of power - Attributes unethical behavior to both an external/situational factor and to an internal/dispositional factor People mildly believe that “power corrupts” (M = .8ish) but strongly believe that “power reveals (M = 1.8ish) on -3 to 3 pt scale
October 23, 2024 at 6:23 PM
erinwestgate.bsky.social
The traditional Person Memory “hike” - this year with more bridges and less elevation gain! #PMIG2024
Isleta Lakes A new beetle fren A dead catfish fren A grasshopper fren who accidentally rode around in my hair for a while without my knowledge
October 22, 2024 at 6:29 PM
erinwestgate.bsky.social
When all groups are equal and decision-makers have no biases, segregation and stereotypes still emerge. Why?

Early positive impressions make us STOP exploring and “lock in” certain groups into certain roles (eg janitors, doctors) - which then create stereotypes. Xuechunzi Bai #PMIG2024
The most common immigrant groups are stereotyped along warmth and competence dimensions - some groups are seen as warm but not competent, while others are seen as competent but cold When all groups are equally capable, both human and computational models are bad at discovering this “ground truth”, because they lock into repeating choices that were rewarding in the past and stop testing whether other groups would do just as well in those same roles
October 23, 2024 at 3:47 PM
erinwestgate.bsky.social
Would you rather be RICH or ATTRACTIVE?

Would you rather be POOR or UGLY?

If you found it easier to answer the first question than the 2nd, you’re not alone. Choosing between two bad options is often more difficult & takes longer bc we go back & forth between options. @mayae.bsky.social #PMIG2024
Choosing between two bad options takes longer and feels harder but only when we are in good moods. Because most people are in good moods most of the time, picking between two good alternatives is easier most of the time.
October 23, 2024 at 9:42 PM
erinwestgate.bsky.social
“For those of you in the audience who have never had a real job, this is an organizational chart” for a workplace - Pam Smith, #PMIG2024

😭😭😭
October 23, 2024 at 5:55 PM
erinwestgate.bsky.social
How do we pick up on a place’s “vibes” ? People notice the activity level, desirability, light, and warmth of environments. Very cool new model of environment perceptions!

@erichehman.bsky.social #PMIG2024
People see environments along four different dimensions, which align well with what they’d do there: get taxis in busy places, go on dates in desirable ones, wear sunglasses where it is sunny, and dress warmly in cold places. Examples of high (NYC) vs low activity (rural street intersection) places, and desirable (nice suburb) vs undesirable (gas station) places. Based on participant ratings.
October 23, 2024 at 4:39 PM
erinwestgate.bsky.social
Sun sets in Albuquerque on the first night of Person Memory #PMIG2024
Looking west towards the Rio Grande, as the last light of the setting sun slips beneath the mountain ridges
October 22, 2024 at 1:25 AM
erinwestgate.bsky.social
When we don’t interact with people, we have no chance to update our beliefs or stereotypes about them. Giving people that missing info makes them see others more as individuals and less as stereotyped groups. Very cool work by Suraiya Allidina #PMIG2024
When people see only partial feedback based on who they interacted with, they tend to mentally categorize extreme people into stereotyped groups. When they get that missing info, they see those same people as individuals. This was esp true for people high in symbolic racism, and drove downstream preferences and beliefs about the group.
October 24, 2024 at 5:21 PM