Chapter 13: Social Psychology Flashcards
What is Social Cognition?
the process of analyzing and interpreting things in the world
What are Attributions?
the process by which a person infers other people’s motives or intentions (Why are they doing ___ )
What are the 4 Functions of Attributions? (HHII)
- help predict & control environment
- help determine self/others thoughts, feelings, & behaviours
- influence expectations for future
- impact our own performance
What is Dispositional vs Situational Attributions? Who developed them?
Friz Heider
- Dispositional
- are causes for behaviour that originate internally (mood, ability) - Situational
- are causes for behaviour that originate in events or situations externally (luck, weather)
What are the 3 factors proposed by Harold Kelley we take into account when making attributions? (CCD)
- Consensus
- degree to which other people, if in the same situation, would behave similarly to the person being observed - Consistency
- whether the person being observed behaves the same way when faced with the same set of circumstances - Distinctiveness
- the observed person acts differently in different types of situations
What causes Internal vs external attributions?
- Internal
- Low Consensus
- High consistency
- Low distinctiveness - External
- High everything
What 2 things do people with Self-Serving Bias do?
- feel their positive behaviours are due to their internal traits
- blame their failures and shortcomings on external, situational factors
What is the Fundamental Attribution Error?
Dual tendency for people to overestimate dispositional factors and to underestimate situational factors when searching for the cause of someone else’s behaviour
What are attitudes?
Positive or negative evaluations of people, objects, and ideas (conscious & unconscious)
What are the 3 dimensions of attitudes? (CEB)
- Cognitive dimension: thoughts/beliefs
- Emotional dimension: Like/dislike/evaluations
- Behavioural dimension: How beliefs and evaluations are demonstrated
What is Cognitive Dissonance?
a state of mental discomfort that arises from a discrepancy between two or more of a person’s beliefs, or between beliefs and behaviour
example> You are told your friend is loyal but another friend tells you they are a thief.
How can attitude change? 2 ways (CP)
- Central Route: Emphasizes conscious, thoughtful consideration of an argument. Attitude change via this route depends on effective, authoritative and logical communication.
- Peripheral Route: Emphasizes more emotional, superficial evaluations of an argument. It’s indirect but powerfully effective especially when there are no logical arguments that can force using the central route.
What is Prosocial behaviour?***
Behaviour that benefits someone else or society that offers no obvious benefit to the person performing it and may involve personal risk or sacrifice
What are the 4 motives for Prosocial behaviour?*** (AECP)
- Altruism (benefit others)
- Egoism (benefit self)
- Collectivism (benefit group)
- Principlism (uphold moral principles)
What is the Bystander effect?
As the number of people present at an emergency increases, people often watch, but do not help.
