Ch6

Question 1

social cognition

Answer 1

how we percieve/think about and use the information collected to make judgements about us and others in social situations.
this includes:
how we form impressions
how we explain others behavious
how we form attitudes about people (stereotyping -> prejudice/discrimination)

Question 2

person perception

Answer 2

refers to the mental processes we use to think about and evaluate others.
includes:
physical cues
salience detection
social categorisation

Question 3

physical cues/halo effect

Answer 3

attractive people are seen as more interesting, intelligent, independent, socially skilled, less neurodivergent and more popular than “unattractive” people

Question 4

halo effect

Answer 4

we develop the cognitive bias of the halo effect, which means a persons physical appearance effects our expectations and beliefs

Question 5

body language

Answer 5

non-verbal communication (facial expressions, eye contact,
posture, ETC)

(anything that is NOT verbally communicated)

Question 6

salience detection

Answer 6

means any obvious characteristics you notice about another person, these “obvious” characteristics can therefore lead us to make assumptions about the person

Question 7

social categorisation

Answer 7

categorising people into different groups based on common characteristics
advantage: helps us form quick impressions
disadvantage: can stop us seeing individuality

Question 8

self categorisation

Answer 8

determining your “ingroups” and “outgroups”
ingroup: any group you belong to or identify with (cultural, friends, family)
outgroup: any group you do NOT belong to or identify with

Question 9

attributions

Answer 9

how you explain your own an others behaviour, can be:
internal (personal) - an explanation due to the characteristics of the person involved (personality, ability, motivation, mood, effort, attitude, etc)
external (situational) - an explanation due to factors not in control of the person involved (another persons actions, environment, the task itself, luck/fate, etc)

there are three biases that affect our attributions

Question 10

the fundemental attribution error

Answer 10

one of the biases that affect our attributions

it is the tendency to overestimate the influence of personal factors and underestimate the impact of situational factors on other people’s behaviour

more INTERNAL than EXTERNAL

we may do this because of saliency bias, the person is more noticeable than the situation, therefore we blame it on them

Question 11

actor-observer bias

Answer 11

one of the biases that affects our attributions

it is the tendency to attribute our behaviours as more external, but others as more internal, (e.g. i failed because the test was hard, she failed because she didn’t study enough)

Question 12

self-serving bias

Answer 12

one of the biases that affects our attributions

it is the tendency to make our successes more personal, but out failures more external

Question 13

just world hypothesis

Answer 13

the tendency to believe the world is a just and fair place, therefore people get what they deserve

Question 14

attitude

Answer 14

the evaluation someone makes about something, whether positive, neutral, or negative, that is consistent, lasting, and involves reactions (likes/dislikes, for/against, preferences/aversions, etc)

Question 15

tri-component model of attitudes

Answer 15

affective - feeling
behavioural - action
cognitive - belief
this model suggests that all three components must be present before an attitude can be formed

sometimes all three components are consistent, sometimes they are not

Question 16

consistency/inconsistency (tri-component model of attitudes)

Answer 16

consistency:
you might avoid a spider (behavioural component) because you are scared of spiders (affective component) and believe spiders can harm you (cognitive component).

inconsistency:
a person may know that dental hygiene is important and agrees that six-monthly dental visits are vital (cognitive component), but refuses to go to the dentist (behavioural component) because the sound of a dental drill makes them feel anxious (affective component).

(LaPiere’s study on the ppt)

Question 17

stereotypes

Answer 17

a collection of beliefs we have about people who belong to a certain group, regardless of individual differences
this, of course, can cause many negative beliefs

Question 18

cognitive dissonance

Answer 18

the guilt that someone feels when there is an inconsistency in their attitude (affective, behavioural, cognitive)
e.g. you know cheating is wrong, but you do it anyway, even if you feel guilty afterwards

Question 19

3 ways to remove cognitive dissonance

Answer 19

1. change your cognition or reduce the importance of it e.g. I didn’t really want the job I applied for so I won’t feel bad about missing out
2. change the behaviour to suit the cognition e.g. take up jogging because I feel guilty about not exercising
3. Add new cognitions or elements to the situation to support our beliefs e.g. it was okay to cheat because I didn’t have time to study

Question 20

cognitive bias

Answer 20

a systematic error of judgement and faulty decision making, or, a mistaken way of thinking that typically leads to inaccurate/unreasonable conclusions

Question 21

heuristics

Answer 21

a strategy for solving a problem or making a decision that is based on experience with similar types of problems but cannot guarantee a correct outcome

e.g. a heuristic learnt through experience in playing classic Monopoly is to purchase as many properties as possible, particularly those that enable hotel rental payments. This heuristic will not ensure winning, but using it does increase one’s chance of doing so

heuristics are used:
1. When one is faced with too much information.
2. When the time to make a decision is limited.
3. When the decision to be made is unimportant.
4. When there is access to very little information to use in decision-making.
5. When an appropriate heuristics happens to come to mind in the same moment.

Question 22

prejudice

Answer 22

negative emotional attitude held towards members of a specific social group

typically majority (in group) holding prejudice against minority (out group)

this is an attitude

Question 23

explicit and implicit prejudice

Answer 23

explicit: the person is AWARE they have the prejudice

implicit: the person is NOT aware they have the prejudice

Question 24

discrimination

Answer 24

discrimination is the act of treating out-groups different due to your in-groups (or your own) prejudice
this can be negative OR positve!
(keep that in mind)

this is a behaviour

Question 25

direct and indirect discrimination

Answer 25

direct: person is treated unfairly because of a personal characteristic

indirect: when treating everyone the same way disadvantages someone because of a personal charactertistic

Question 26

three factors that contribute to prejudice

Answer 26

Influenced by learning processes such as repeated exposure
Influenced by subtle messages presented in the media about groups in our society
Influenced by stereotyping and dividing ourselves into “us” and “them”

this is only three, there are more

Question 27

three factors that reduce prejudice

Answer 27

Anti-discrimination laws
The media
Education

this is only three, there are more