Chapter 1: Introduction Flashcards
Social Psychology
Studies the influences of our situations, with special attention to how we view and affect one another
Study of how people think about, influence, and relate to one another
Behaviour is a function of the person and environment
Behaviour: actions, responses, short term and long term
Person: personality, mood and emotions, attitudes and beliefs (implicit or explicit), past experiences, physical characteristics
Environment: physical environment, social cues, culture, other subtle cues
Social Thinking
We construct our social reality (story about Cinderella from different perspective)
Humans want to explain behaviour and attribute it to a cause (want to make it seem orderly, predictable, controllable)
Our beliefs about ourselves change how we act and see the world
Our social intuitions are powerful, sometimes perilous (trust memory more than we should, misperceive others, bad at predicting our own feelings in the future)
Social Influences
Social influences shape behaviour
Humans are social and desire to connect, belong, and be well thought of
Culture changes your situation and expectations
Dispositions shape behaviour
Different people in the same situations may act differently due to personal attitudes
Social Relations
Social behaviour is also biological behaviour
Social neuroscience
We behave in ways that helped our ancestors survive
Social support strengthens immune system
Social ostracism elevates blood pressure
Relating to others is a basic need
Naturalistic Fallacy
Gulf between what is and what ought to be
If most people do something, doesn’t mean its right
Representativeness Heuristic
Focus on similarities between two things, and ignores logical information
Phenomena that resemble each other seem likely to be functionally related
(William is a quiet, timid, introverted, and organized person, do you think he’s a truck driver or librarian, most say librarian despite more truck drivers in world)
Availability Heuristic
Excessive impact of vivid, confirming information
Rare events are more memorable, overestimate how common it is
Blowing on dice before rolling, and win (associate winning with blowing on the dice)
Seeing What We Expect
A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another
Priming before looking at double picture
Individuals tend to remember less about opposing evidence to their beliefs
Self Serving Bias
Most people see themselves as better than the average person
We have more info about ourselves than others
We give ourselves the benefit of the doubt, but not others
We want or need to believe we are better
Mundane Realism
Lab behaviour need not be literally the same as everyday life
Experimental Realism
Absorb and involve participants
Can require deception
Demand Characteristics
Cues that demand a certain behaviour
