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Psyc 231 - Midterm 1 > Chapter 3 > Flashcards

Chapter 3 Flashcards

1
Q

Define causal attribution.

A

The process of signing a cause to an event or behaviour

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2
Q

What does parsimony mean?

A

Simplicity

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3
Q

What is the correspondent inference theory?

A

It is a theory arguing that people attempt to to infer whether a person’s actions are caused by internal dispositions and they do so by looking at factors related to the action

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4
Q

Define correspondent inference.

A

The attribution of a personality trait that corresponds to an observed behaviour

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5
Q

What is the covariation model?

A

Model of causal role attribution which argues that people typically attribute the cause of behaviour to a factor that covaries most clearly with the behavior

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6
Q

What is the covariation principle?

A

The attribution of events to conditions that tend to be present when the event happens, and absent when it does not happen

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7
Q

What is a consensus?

A

Information about the extent to which other people react the same way to a particular stimulus

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8
Q

What does discounting mean?

A

If there is seemingly no relationship between a specific cause and a specific behaviour, the cause is discounted in favour of another

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9
Q

What is a causal mechanism?

A

A mechanism or explanation for one variable causing another

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10
Q

Define correspondance bias.

A

People’s tendency to over attribute causes to a a person and infer that if a person behaves in a particular way it must be because of some underlying trait

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11
Q

What is a thought experience?

A

The process of thinking about a principle and its consequences

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12
Q

What is an actor observer bias?

A

The tendencies for actors to attribute their own behaviours to the situation and for observers to explain behaviours in terms of personality traits

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13
Q

Define motivated tactician.

A

Social cognition approach that characterizes people as having various cognitive strategies to choose on the basis of personal motives, need and goals

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14
Q

Define heuristics.

A

Cognitive shortcuts

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15
Q

Define cognitive miser.

A

People will take the least cognitively demanding approach to attributions and social judgements

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16
Q

What is a self-serving bias?

A

The tendency for people to see themselves more positive than others

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17
Q

Define self-serving attribution bias.

A

Motivated by self-enhancement motives, this is the tendency for people to attribute events to causes that serve the self

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18
Q

Define self-serving bias.

A

Tendency for people to attribute biases that favour the self in order to enhance or protect the self

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19
Q

Define unrealistic optimism.

A

The tendency for people to see themselves as more likely than others to experience good things, and less likely than others to experience bad things

20
Q

What is an illusion of control?

A

Belief that we have more control over the social world than we actually do

21
Q

What is the false consensus effect?

A

The tendency for people to see their own behaviours, attitudes, and opinions as more typical than they are

22
Q

Explain the false uniqueness effect.

A

The tendency for people to see themselves as more likely to perform positive behaviours than others

23
Q

Define the ultimate attribution error.

A

The tendency to attribute positive in-group and negative out-group behaviours dispositionally, and positive out-group and negative in-group behaviours situationally

24
Q

Define person perception.

A

Study of how people make judgements about others, and the info used to make these judgements

25
Q

What is the configurable model of person perception?

A

Asch’s model of person perception, which argues that central traits play a greater role in determining the final impression

26
Q

What are central traits?

A

Traits that have greater influence on how people configure their impressions of others

27
Q

What are peripheral traits?

A

Traits that have lesser influence on how people configure their impressions of others

28
Q

What is cognitive algebra?

A

Person perception proposing that people assign positive and negative valence to various person attributes and combine them to form a general evaluation of a person

29
Q

Define summation.

A

Model of cognitive algebra assuming that the overall impression that is formed is the total valence of all the pieces of information

30
Q

Define averaging.

A

Model of cognitive algebra assuming that the overall impression is the average of all the traits on display

31
Q

Explain weighted averaging.

A

Model of cognitive averaging algebra assuming that people assign weights of importance to different traits in different contexts and form an overall impression of a person based on a weighted average

32
Q

What is a negativity bias?

A

Common finding hat negative traits are weighted more heavily than positive traits

33
Q

What is cognitive overload?

A

Condition in which a task demands a person’s attention and thinking capacity, leaving little left for another task

34
Q

Define the primacy effect.

A

Bias in person perception such that people remember the traits they observe first

35
Q

What is the recency effect?

A

Bias in person perception such that people remember traits they observe most recently

36
Q

Define associative network.

A

Memory model whereby ideas or nodes are connected by associative links

37
Q

What is a representativeness heuristic?

A

A cognitive shortcut where people are placed in categories based on their similarity resemblance to the category

38
Q

Define base rates.

A

Factual information about people and categories

39
Q

What is a conjunction fallacy?

A

Tendency to pay insufficient regard to base rates due to the representativeness heuristics

40
Q

What is an availability heuristic?

A

Cognitive shortcut where the likelihood of an event is based on how quickly knowledge or ideas come to mind

41
Q

Explain anchoring and adjustment heuristic.

A

Cognitive shortcut where inferences are influenced by initial knowledge or information

42
Q

Define counterfactual theory.

A

Imagining alternatives to reality

43
Q

What is a conformation bias?

A

The tendency to notice or search for the information that confirms one’s beliefs and not notice information that disconfirms one’s beliefs

44
Q

Define stigma by association.

A

Tendency for people to devalue someone because of their association with a stigmatized individual

45
Q

Define projection.

A

Process by people attribute their own characteristics to others

Psyc 231 - Midterm 1 (4 decks)

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