chapter 6 social cognition

Question 1

person perception

Answer 1

the different mental processes we use to form impressions of other people

Question 2

attribution

Answer 2

an evaluation made about the causes of behaviour and the process of making this evaluation.

Question 3

cognitive processes of attribution

Answer 3

1. observation of an outward act of behaviour.
2. conscious dertermination or acknowledgement of the behaviour.
3. attribute causes to this observed behaviour.

Question 4

internal attribution (personal)

Answer 4

when we judge behaviour as being caused by something personal within an individual.

Question 5

external attribution (situational)

Answer 5

when we determine the cause of a behaviour as resulting from situational factors occuring outside the individual.

Question 6

fundamental attribution error

Answer 6

the tendency for observers, when analyzing another’s behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition

Question 7

attributional style

Answer 7

tendencies and repeated patterns in the way someone makes attributions.

Question 8

attitude

Answer 8

an evaluation of something such as a person, object, event or idea.

Question 9

the criteria for attitude formation

Answer 9

1. an evaluation of something
2. settled and stable.
3. learnt through experience.

Question 10

tri-component model of attitudes

Answer 10

a model which illustrates the relationship between the affective, behavioural and cognitive components of our attitudes. Also known as the A-B-C or tripartite model.

Question 11

affective component

Answer 11

our emotions and intuitive feelings towards something reflected in our attitude.

Question 12

behavioural component

Answer 12

our outward and observable actions that reflect our point of view about something.

Question 13

cognitive component

Answer 13

our thoughts and beliefs towards something.

Question 14

stereotype

Answer 14

a widely held belief and generalisation about a group such as people, animals or objects.

Question 15

Cognitive dissonance

Answer 15

the psychological tension that occur when our thoughts, feelings, and or behaviours do not align with one another.

Question 16

cognitive biases

Answer 16

unconscious, systematic tendencies to interpret information in a way that is neither rational nor based on objective reality.

Question 17

types of cognitive biases

Answer 17

Confirmation bias, halo effect, false-consensus bias, self-serving bias, actor-observer bias

Question 18

confirmation bias

Answer 18

a tendency to search for and accept information that supports our prior beliefs or behaviours and ignore contracdictory information.

Question 19

actor-observer bias

Answer 19

the tendency to attribute one’s own behavior to external factors and situational causes while attributing other people’s actions to internal factors

Question 20

self-serving bias

Answer 20

the tendency to attribute positive success to our internal character and actions and attribute our failures to external factors or situational causes.

Question 21

false-consensus bias

Answer 21

the tendency to overestimate the degree to which other people share the same ideas and attitudes as we do.

Question 22

halo effect

Answer 22

the tendency for the impression we form about one quality of a person to influence our overall beliefs about the person in other respects.