chapter 3

Question 1

What is automatic thinking, and how are schemas an

example of that kind of thought?

Answer 1

making assumptions without intention,

schemas are an example because we make them with out intention

Question 2

What are the

advantages and disadvantages of schemas?

Answer 2

advantage: it helps predict possibilities based off of previous knowledge
disadvantage: can cause unintentional biased thinking

Question 3

Social Cognition

Answer 3

• How people think about themselves and the social
world
• How people select, interpret, remember, and use
social information to make judgments and
decisions

Question 4

Two Kinds of Social Cognition

Answer 4

1. Automatic thinking

2. Controlled thinking

Question 5

Automatic thinking

Answer 5

– Quick
– No conscious deliberation of thoughts, perceptions,
assumptions

Question 6

Controlled thinking

Answer 6

– Effortful and deliberate
– Thinking about self and environment
– Carefully selecting the right course of action

Question 7

How do we do Automatic Thinking

Answer 7

– Relate new situations to past experiences
– Use schemas
 Mental structures that organize our knowledge of the social
world
 Influences the information people notice, think about, and
remember

Question 8

The term schema encompasses our knowledge

and impression of:

Answer 8

– Other people
– Ourselves
– Social roles
– Specific events

Question 9

Schemas and Stereotypes

Answer 9

When applied to members of a social group such
as a fraternity, gender, or race, schemas are
commonly referred to as stereotypes

Question 10

Function of Schemas

Answer 10

used to
– Organize what we know
– Interpret new situations

Question 11

Korsakov’s syndrome

Answer 11

– Neurological disorder
 Can’t form memories
– Each situation is new

Question 12

Accessibility

Answer 12

The extent to which schemas and concepts are at the
forefront of people’s minds and are therefore likely to
be used when we are making judgments about the
social world

Question 13

Priming

Answer 13

The process by which recent experiences increase the

accessibility of a schema, trait, or concept

Question 14

about Accessibility

Answer 14

– Chronically accessible due to past experience.
– Accessible because it is related to a current goal
– Temporarily accessible because of our recent
experience

Question 15

Automatic goal pursuit

Answer 15

Prime goals in subtle way to see if it influences behavior

Question 16

Automatic Decision Making

Answer 16

– Distracting oneself prior to making a decision

Question 17

Ensuring distraction improves decision making

Answer 17

– Have a conscious goal to make a good choice

– Decision requires integration of complex information

Question 18

Physical sensations

Answer 18

can prime metaphors
– Example:
 Scent of cleanliness increases the degree to which people
trust strangers and help others (Helzer & Pizarro, 2011; Meier,
Schnall, Schwarz, & Bargh, 2012)
 Cleanliness associated with morality; dirtiness with immorality

Question 19

Metaphors can

Answer 19

influence decisions
 Hot coffee: Primes “warm & friendly” metaphor
– Stranger rated as friendly
 Iced coffee: Primes “unfriendly people are cold”
– Rate stranger as unfriendly

Question 20

Mental shortcuts

Answer 20

– Efficient
 Don’t usually have time to fully search all options
– Usually lead to good decisions quickly

Question 21

Schemas are

Answer 21

a shortcut people use
– But we don’t have a ready-made schema for every
judgment or decision
– Sometimes there are too many schemas available

Question 22

Judgmental Heuristics

Answer 22

Mental shortcuts people use to make judgments

quickly and efficiently

Question 23

Availability Heuristic

Answer 23

• A mental rule of thumb whereby people base a judgment
on the ease with which they can bring something to mind
• The trouble: sometimes what is easiest to remember is not
typical of the overall picture, leading to faulty conclusions
• Physicians have been found to use the availability heuristic
when making diagnoses. Their diagnoses are influenced
by how easily they can bring different diseases to mind.

Question 24

Availability Heuristic

– Example

Answer 24

When physicians are diagnosing diseases, it might seem
straightforward for them to observe people’s symptoms and
figure out what disease, if any, they have.
– Sometimes, symptoms might be a sign of several different
disorders.
– Do doctors use the availability heuristic, whereby they are more
likely to consider diagnoses that come to mind easily?
– Several studies of medical diagnoses suggest that the answer is
yes.

Question 25

Representativeness heuristic

Answer 25

A mental shortcut whereby people classify something
according to how similar it is to a typical case
 Base rate information

Question 26

Base rate information

Answer 26

Information about the frequency of members of

different categories in the population

Question 27

We tend to perceive personality tests as uncannily

accurate, known as the “Barnum effect” Why does this happen?

Answer 27

– Representative heuristic—statements are so vague
that everyone can find a past behavior similar to the
feedback
– We do not go beyond representative examples that
come to mind

Question 28

Cultural Determinants of Schemas

Answer 28

• Culturally Universal
– All people have schemas
• Culture Differences
– Content of schemas

Question 29

Analytic thinking style

Answer 29

– focus on objects without considering surrounding
context
– associated with Western cultures

Question 30

Holistic thinking style

Answer 30

– focus on the overall context, relation between objects

– associated with Eastern cultures

Question 31

environment in which people live

Answer 31

“primes” one style

over the other

Question 32

Controlled Thinking

Answer 32

– Thinking that is conscious, intentional, voluntary, and

effortful

Question 33

Association between conscious thought and

behavior

Answer 33

creates perception of free will But, forces outside of awareness may influence
behavior and conscious thoughts
 May overestimate or underestimate amount of control

Question 34

Counterfactual Reasoning

Answer 34

– Mentally changing some aspect of the past in
imagining what might have been
 “If only I had answered that one question differently, I would
have passed the test.”
– Can have a big influence on our emotional reactions to
events
– The easier it is to mentally undo an outcome, the
stronger the emotional reaction to it

Question 35

Silver medal winners (2nd place) often express
greater dissatisfaction than bronze medal winners
(3rd place)

Answer 35

– Silver
 May imagine ways they could have placed first and won gold
– Bronze
 May imagine ways they would not have won any medal

Question 36

Emotional Consequences of

Counterfactual Reasoning

Answer 36

Positive consequences
– Motivation to improve in future
• Negative consequences
– If it leads to rumination—repetitive focus on negative
things

Question 37

how to Improve Human Thinking

Answer 37

• Make people more humble
– Ask people to consider the point of view opposite to
their own
 People realize there are other ways to construe the world
– Make fewer judgment errors
• Teach basic statistical principles
– Facilitates application of principles to everyday life

Question 38

How does the Barnum Effect explain why

horoscopes can feel eerily accurate sometimes?

Answer 38

because horoscopes are so vague that almost anyone can relate to them