Chapter 4 - Social Cognition Flashcards
Social cognition
the processes of perception, interpretation, belief and memory with which we evaluate and understand ourselves + other people.
What does social cognition affect, to do with relationships?
How we think about our relationships
How long does research suggest that our initial encounters with someone influence how we feel about them?
10 weeks of continual contact
How long does research suggest that our initial encounters with someone influence how we feel about them?
10 weeks of continual contact
How long does it take us to judge a stranger’s attractiveness, trustworthiness or status?
0.33 milliseconds
How long does it take to judge how extraverted, conscientious, intelligent a person is?
5 seconds
What are snap judgements based on?
based on info we have about people we’ve met who resemble them/their categories (ex. male/female, old/young, etc.).
Primacy effect
Tendency for the first info we receive about others to carry special weight.
Confirmation bias
When we want to test our first impression of someone, we’re more likely to pursue information that we think will confirm that belief than to prove it wrong.
What is the problem with confirmation bias?
elicits one-sided info that fits our preconceptions, meaning we rarely confront evidence that shows our first impressions are wrong.
overconfidence
Thinking we’re more accurate than we really are and making more mistakes than we realize.
Does confirmation bias increase or decrease as we get to know someone?
Confirmation bias increases overtime.
Who is the best to judge how long a relationship will last?
roommates > parents > the individual
fWHR - Facial width-to-height ratio
narrower faces are more trustworthy, wider faces have higher sex drives.
Positive illusions
construction of generous perceptions of our partners that emphasize their virtues + minimize their faults.
Do we ignore faults to construct positive illusions?
No, we just minimize them.
Disillusionment
fooling ourselves into believing in qualities our partner does not even possess.
What is a positive outcome of disillusionment?
more likely to commit to maintaining a relationship as you view them positively.
How can we influence our partners to become more how we see them/want to see them?
Positive reinforcement
How do we modify our standards as we get to know our partners?
we modify our ideal standards to better fit the partners we have.
Attributional process
identifies cause of an event, emphasizing and minimizing the effect certain influences.
What are the internal influences of attributional processes
personality, ability, effort.
What are the external influences of attributional processes
the situation or the circumstances they faced.
What are the stable influences of attributional processes?
lasting, such as our abilities.
What are the unstable influences of attributional processes?
transient, such as moods.
How does the positivity or negativity of an event affect our attributional processes?
We are more likely to notice internal influences if a positive thing occurred, and more likely to notice external influences if a negative thing occurred.
What are the patterns of attribution (2)
-Relationship enhancing
-Distess maintaining
Actor-observer effects
We generate diff info for our own behaviour vs. that same behaviour in our partner.
Actor-observer effects
We generate diff info for our own behaviour vs. that same behaviour in our partner.
How does actor-observer effect change how we attribute causes in our relationship?
We notice our own internal influences, but notice our partner’s external influences.
Self-serving bias
Readily take credit for our own success, avoid the blame for our own failures.
How does self-serving bias affect how we attribute causes in our relationship?
We feel that we deserve the credit for the relationship going well, or that our partner deserves blame for relationship not going well.
How do our intentions inform actor/observer bias?
We are aware of our own good intentions, despite whether or not we act on them.
How do our partner’s intentions inform actor/observer bias?
We only see their actions, not their good intentions.
Provocative pattern (in actor/observer bias)
We feel good about our intentions to do something good even if we don’t do something good.
Fundamental attribution error
an individual’s tendency to attribute another’s actions to their character or personality, while attributing their behavior to external situational factors outside of their control.
Relationship-enhancing attributions (for positive and negative actions)
positive actions by our partner that are judged to be intentional, habitual, indicative of a fine character.
Our partner’s transgressions are accidental, unusual, circumstantial.
Distress-maintaining attributions (for positive and negative actions)
Positive behaviour is unintended/accidental.
negative actions by our partner are judged to be routine and deliberate.
how does Secure attachment affect attribution patterns?
employ relationship-enhancing attributions.
How does insecure attachment affect attribution patterns?
employ distress-maintaining attributions.
Are memories reliable?
Memories are mostly reliable, but we do edit and update them overtime as new events unfold.
Reconstructive memory
memories are continually revised as new information is obtained.
How do our current relationship feelings
current feelings about our partner influence how we feel about our shared past.
How does reconstructive memory negatively affect relationships?
Can promote damaging overconfidence/feeling that relationship is more predictable than it really is.
How does reconstructive memory positively affect relationships?
misremembering the past is a way to be optimistic about the future.
When do most people consider to be the happiest period in their relationship?
Most relationships think they are as happy as they have ever been in the current present, even if on the outside this does not appear to be the case.
Marital paradigms
broad assumptions (collected beliefs) about whether, when, and under what circumstance to marry + the beliefs we have about what it is like to be married.
Dysfunctional marital paradigms (6)
1 -Disagreements are destructive
2 -“Mindreading” is essential
3 -Partners cannot change
4 - Sex should be perfect every time
5 - Men and women are different, impossible to understand
6 - Great relationships just happen, without effort
Destiny Beliefs
assume you are destined to be together, or you are not, and your actions won’t affect this.
What is the bad assumption when you have a destiny belief
Wrongfully assume you won’t encounter doubt/difficulty in the “right” relationship.
What is the bad assumption when you have a destiny belief
Wrongfully assume you won’t encounter doubt/difficulty in the “right” relationship.
Growth beliefs
good relationships develop gradually as the partners endure challenges.
How do secure people perceive their partners
trust their partners more, believe that their partners are more supportive, have more positive expectations of what the future holds.
Self-fulfilling prophecies
false predictions that become true because they lead people to behave in ways that make them come true.
Results of Snyder Experiment (1977) on self-fulfilling prophecies
led men at a university to believe that they were chatting on the phone with attractive or unattractive women (fake photographs). Men who thought they were talking to attractive women had much more sociable interactions.
Steps of a self-fulfilling prophecy (6)
1 - Perceiver forms an expectancy about the target.
2 - Perceiver acts.
3 - Target interpret’s perceiver’s behaviour.
4 - Target responds, usually in a reciprocal fashion.
5 - Perceiver interprets the target’s response.
High rejection sensitivity
anxiously perceive stand-offish behaviour even when it isn’t intended that way by the other person.
Self concepts
all beliefs/feelings we have about ourselves.
Functions of self-concepts (2)
1 - Self-enhancement
2 - Self-verification
How do we create self-enhancement self-concepts
We seek feedback that enhances our self-concepts in positive ways
How do we create Self-verification
We seek feedback that sustains our existing self-concepts
What do people with poor self-concepts seek
prefer global praise but negative feedback about specific things.
marriage shift
nce people marry, people with negative self-concepts feel closer to spouses who don’t approve of them.
How do narcissists navigate relationships
in relationships, they aim not to get along but to get ahead.
Implicit attitudes
unintentional/automatic associations we make about our partners.
Implicit ambivalence
nonconscious mixed feelings
What is a better predictor of relationship outcome than conscious attitudes?
Implicit ambivalence
What is a better predictor of relationship outcome than conscious attitudes?
Implicit ambivalence
transference
old feelings from prior relationships are transferred to how we feel about new partners.
Impression management
trying to influence the impressions of us that others form.
Why does impression management matter (2)
1 - Nearly anything that we do in the presence of others may be strategically regulated to manage impressions.
2- Others’ impressions of us have a pervasive influence on social life.
Strategies of impression management (4)
1 - Ingratiation
2 - Self-promotion
3 - Intimidation
4 - Supplication
Ingratiation
Favourable actions like compliments, favours, agreeing, etc.
Self-promotion
Recounting our accomplishments or strategically displaying our skills.
Intimidation
Portraying yourself as ruthless/dangerous so others do your bidding.
Supplication
People represent themselves as incompetent to avoid responsibility/obligation.
Self monitoring
regularly adjust their behaviour to fit varying situations.
How do self-monitoring people experience relationships overtime?
enjoy higher intimacy when they first meet others, but they invest less time into each friend and have shorter/less committed relationships.
Activity specialists
partners who are great in certain situations but not in others.
