2 - Social Cognition and Social Thinking Flashcards
Social Cognition?
Cognitive processes and structures that influence and are influenced by social behaviour
Gestalt Psychology?
perspective in which the whole influences constituent parts rather than vice versa
Cognitive Consistency?
A model of social cognition in which people try to reduce inconsistency among their cognitions, because they find inconsistency unpleasant
Naive Psychologist?
Model of social cognition that characterises people as using rational, scientific-like, cause– effect analyses to understand their world
Attribution?
The process of assigning a cause to our own behaviour, and that of others
Cognitive Miser?
A model of social cognition that characterises people as using the least complex and demanding cognitions that generally produce adaptive behaviours
Motivated Tactician?
A model of social cognition that characterises people as having multiple cognitive strategies available, which they choose from based on personal goals, motives and needs
Social Neuroscience?
the exploration of brain activity associated with social cognition and social psychological processes and phenomena (most recent development)
Configuration Model?
Asch’s gestalt-based model of impression formation, in which central traits play a disproportionate role in configuring the final impression
Central Traits?
Traits that have a disproportionate influence on the configuration of final impressions, in Asch’s configural model of impression formation
Peripheral Traits?
Traits that have an insignificant influence on the configuration of final impressions, in Asch’s configural model of impression formation
Primacy?
An order of presentation effect in which earlier presented information has a disproportionate influence on social cognition
Recency?
An order of presentation effect in which later-presented information has a disproportionate influence on social cognition
Personal Constructs?
Idiosyncratic and personal ways of characterising other people (Kelly)
Schema?
Cognitive structure that represents knowledge about a concept or type of stimulus, including its attributes and the relations among those attributes
Script?
Schema about an event
Roles?
Patterns of behaviour that distinguish between different activities within the group, and that interrelate to one another for the greater good of the group
Fuzzy Sets?
Categories are considered to be fuzzy sets of features organised around a prototype
Prototype?
Cognitive representation of the typical/ideal defining features of a category
Family Resemblance?
Defining property of category membership
Exemplars?
Specific instances of a member of a category
Associative Network?
Model of memory in which nodes or ideas are connected by associative links along which cognitive activation can spread
Social Identity Theory?
Theory of group membership and intergroup relations based on self-categorisation, social comparison and the construction of a shared self-definition in terms of ingroup-defining properties
Self-Categorisation Theory?
Turner and associates’ theory of how the process of categorising oneself as a group member produces social identity and group and intergroup behaviours
Accessibility?
Ease of recall of categories or schemas that we already have in mind
Bookkeeping? (Rothbart)
Gradual schema change through the accumulation of bits of schema-inconsistent information
Conversion? (Rothbart)
Sudden schema change as a consequence of gradual accumulation of schema- inconsistent information
Subtyping? (Rothbart)
Schema change arising from schema-inconsistent information, causing the formation of subcategories
Salience?
Property of a stimulus that makes it stand out in relation to other stimuli and attract attention
Vividness?
An intrinsic property of a stimulus on its own that makes it stand out and attract attention
Priming?
Activation of accessible categories or schemas in memory that influence how we process new information
Behavioural Decision Theory?
set of normative models (ideal processes) for making accurate social inferences
Normative Models?
Ideal processes for making accurate social inferences
Heuristics?
Cognitive shortcuts that provide adequately accurate inferences for most of us most of the time
Representative Heuristic?
a cognitive shortcut in which instances are assigned to categories or types based on overall similarity or resemblance to the category
Availability Heuristic?
cognitive shortcut in which the frequency or likelihood of an event is based in how quickly instances or association come to mind
Anchoring and Adjustment?
heuristic in which inferences are tied to initial standards or schemas
