Chapter 4: Social Cognition Flashcards
Social Cognition
a term that refers to all the processes of perception, interpretation, belief, and memory with which we evaluate and understand ourselves and other people
First Impressions
formed very rapidly and they have enormous staying power; they influence our judgements of others for a long time; everybody we meet fits some category of people about whom we already hold stereotyped first impressions (such as pretty or plain)
Primary Effects
occur when the first information we obtain about others carries special weight, influencing our interpretations of the later information we encounter (such as social class having an affect on how well people thaught someone would do on an exam)
Confirmation Bias
we are more liekly to pursue information that will support our beliefs than to enquire about data that could prove them wrong
Overconfidence of our First Impressions
we rarely confront convincing evidence that our first impressions are wrong; there for we tend to be overconfident: we put too much faith in our judgements and think that we are right about others more often than we really are
Positive Illusions
we often judge our lovers with positive illusions that portray them in the best possible light, emphasizing their positive qualities and minimizing their faults
Attributional Processes
attributions are our explanations of events; they identify the causes of events, emphasizing the impact of some influences and minimizing the role of others
We can emphasize influence that are…
internal to a person (such as personality, ability, or effort) or extern (describing the situation that the person faced; stable and lasting or unstable and temporary; controllable (so that we can manage them) or uncontrollable (so there is nothing we can do about them)
Actor Slash Observer Effect
people generate different explanation for their own actions than they do for the similar actions they observe in others; basically if you did something bad you would make yourself sound better (normally) but if someone else did the same thing you would make it sound bad
Self-Serving Biases
lead people to see themselves as responsible for the good things that happen to them, but relatively blameless when things go wrong; people routinely believe that relationship problems are mostly the other partners fault
Relationship-Enhancing Attributions
help maintain relationship satisfaction by giving partners credit for their kindnesses and explaining their misbehavior
Distress Maintaining Attributions
unhappy partners use this to explain one anothers behavior in ways that perpetuate their distress; undersirable behaviors seem to be intended with desirable behavior seeming more accidental and temporary
Memories
our memories cannot store past facts exactly as they occured
Reconstructive Memory
describe the way our memories are continually revised and rewritten as new events occur
Romanticism
view that love should be the most important basis for choosing a mate; there is only one “true love” for me; true love will find a way to overcome any obstacle; love is possible at first sight
Other Relationship beliefs are dysfunctional and disadvantageous…
disagreements are destructive, “mindreading” is essential, partners cannot change, sex should be perfect every time, men and women are different, great relationships just happen
Destiny Beliefs
assume that two people are either well suited for each other and destined to live happily ever after or they are not
Growth Beliefs
assume that good relationships develop gradually as a result of hard work
Self-Fulfilling Prophecies
are false predictions that come true because they lead people to behave in ways that make the erroneous expectations come true
Expectations
when people expected to be liked by a stranger, they were; and when they expected to be disliked they were; even when the stranger knew nothing about them, and the bogus expectations existed only in their minds
Self- Concepts
encompass all the beliefs and feelings we have about ourselves
Self- Enhancement
motive leads us to seek feedback that makes us look good
Self- Verification
motive leads us to seek feedback that supports and verifies our existing concepts
Marriage Shift
most of us will be most content with spouses who admire and respect us, but people with negative self concepts will not; they feel better understood by, and closer to, partners who verify their low opinions of themselves
Impression Management
involves trying to influence the impressions of us that others form; almost anything we do in public may be strategically regulated to influence what others think of us; how we behave and how we represent ourselves on online platforms
What are the strategies of impression management?
ingratiation, self promotion, intimidation, supplication
Ingratiation
doing favors, paying compliments, and being charming to get others to like us
Self Promotion
recounting accomplishments or displaying skills to elicit respect from others
Intimidation
appearing threatning or dangerous to elicit fear and compliance from others
Supplication
appearing inept or infirm to elicit help and nuturance from others
High Self Monitors
pay close attention to social norms and adeptly adjust thier behavior to fit
Low Self Monitors
are less flexibile, and they make more similar impressions from one audience to the next
How accurate are our perceptions of our partners?
we misunderstand our partners more than we realize
Motivation
long periods of close contact gradually result in less not more, accurate judgements if motivation to understand each other wane; accurate judgements depend in part on the interest and motivation with which two people try to understand each other
Partner Legibility
moreover, some people are easier to read than others; extraversion is easy to detect but neuroticism is not
Perceiver Ability
some judges are more discerning than others; people who are high in emotional intelligence read others feelings sensitivetly and they enjoy more satisfying and more intimate interactions with others as a result; there are big disadvantages to misreading your partner, but training and practive can help
Threatning Perceptions
there may be things that we do not want to know; the closer their relationship, the less accurate people were in judging their partners intersts in other attarctive people unless they had a preoccuppied attachement style
Perceiver Influence
if we realize that our partners are not the people we wish they were, we may try to change them; because of perceiver influence, judgements that are initially inaccurate may become more correct as we induce our partners to become the people we want them to be
