Chapter 3: Social Cognition Flashcards
What is Social Cognition
how ppl think about themselves & the social world
What is a Automatic Thinking
nonconscious thinking, involuntary, & effortless
What is a Controlled Thinking
conscious thinking, intentional, voluntary, & effortful
What are Schemas?
mental structures ppl use to organize their social world which influence the info ppl notice, think about, & remember
What are the functions of schemas?
- help us conserve mental energy when encountering new ppl & new situations
- help us organize & make sense of our world, & full in gaps in our knowledge
- have continuity about our new experiences to our past
What is Accessibility?
the extent to which schemas are at the forefront of ppl’s minds & likely used when making decisions about the social world
What is Priming?
the process by which recent experiences increase the accessibility of a schema, trait, or concept
What is Embodied Cognition?
smth physical in the envmt that triggers (primes) schemas
What is Self-fulfilling Prophecy?
when ppl have an expectation about what a person is like, it influences how they act toward that person –> person to behave consistently w/ their original expectations
Who studied the effects of Self-fulfilling Prophecy?
Robert Rosenthal & Lenore Jacobson
What is Confirmation Bias?
tendency to view events & ppl in ways that fit how we want/expect them to be
What are (Judgmental) Heuristics?
mental shortcuts ppl use to make judgements quickly & efficiently
What is an Availability Heuristic?
a mental shortcut whereby ppl base a judgment on the ease w/ which they can bring information to mind
What is a Representativeness Heuristic?
a mental shortcut whereby ppl classify smth according to how similar it is to a typical case
What is Base Rate information?
information about the frequency of member of different categories in the population
What is the Law of Small Numbers?
confiding in ‘neighbors’ to help decide things w/o considering actual data
What is Counterfactual Thinking?
mentally changing some aspect of the past as a way of imagining what might have been
What is Counterfactual Thinking an example of?
Controlled thinking
What is the an Analytic Thinking Style?
a type of thinking in which people focus on the properties of objects without considering their surrounding context (Western style of thinking)
What is the Holistic Thinking Style?
a type of thinking in which ppl focus on the overall context (East Asian cultures)
