Chapter 6 - Social cognition Flashcards
Social cognition
how we interpret, analyse, remember and use ifo to make judgements about others and different situations
Person perception
the mental processes used to form impresions of others
Attributions
an evaluation made about the causes of behaviour and the proces of this evaluation
Intimate Relationship
relationship w/ friend, family, significant other
interpersonal relationship
no personal attachment, meeting someone new
formal relationship
professional relationship (workplace, etc.)
first impression
Initial thoughts on someone
non-verbal communication
communicating without spoken/written word
attractive
appealing/pleasing to the senses
body language
conious and unconcious bodily movements that convey feelings and attitudes
personal attribution
explanation of behaviour due to the characteristics of the person involved (internal factors)
situational attribution
explanation of behaviour due to factors expernal to the person involved
Affective componant (Tri-componant)
emotions and feelings towards something
Behavioural componant (tri-componant)
actions and behaviours that reflect out POV
Cognitive componant (tri-componant)
thoughts and beliefs about something
emotional reactions
choosing when/how to express feelings
actions
observable behaviour, usually related to a goal or achievment
belief
acceptence of the truth, reality or validity of something
stigma
negative label associated with dissaproval or rejection by others what aren’t labelled in that way
Fundamental attribution error
attributing (strictly) others behaviour to only their internal/personal factor
Actor-observer bias
blaming own actions on external factors, while blaming other’s actions on internal factors (goes both ways)
self-serving bias
attributing our own success to our own character and attributiing our failure to external factors or situational causes
cognitive dissonance
psychological tension that occurs when thoughts, feeling and/or behaviours don’t align
cognitive bias
concious, systematic tendencies to interpret information in a way that is neither rational nor based on objective reality
false-consensus bias
overestimating the degree to which others share the same ideas and attitudes as we do
confirmation bias
tendency to search for info that confirms/supports prior beliefs or behaviours and ignores contradictory information
saliency bias
any characteristic that is distinctive, prominent, conspicuous, or noticable and therefore attracts its attention
social catagorisation
process of classifying people into different groups on the basis of common characteristics
Heuristics
information processing strategies or ‘mental shortcuts’
Characteristics of ‘everyday decisions’ (in regards to heuristics)
Rapid, instinctive, error prone, automatic
Characteristics of ‘complex decisions’ (in regards to heuristics)
Slow, Deliberate, Effortful, Reliable
what are the types of heuristics?
Anchoring (adjustment), Availability, Representative, Affect, Base-rate fallacy.
What is base-rate fallacy?
Type of bias in which decisions and perception are influenced by memories or experiences rather than statistical fact
What are anchoring (adjustment) heuristics?
Involves forming judgements based on the first piece of info received about an idea/concept
What is a negative influence of the anchoring (adjustment) heuristics?
This type of heuristic can lead to misinterpretation
What is a positive influence of the anchoring (adjustment) heuristic?
It can help save time or reduce cognitive load
What are availability heuristics?
These enable us to make judgements or decisions based on easily accessible info
What is a negative influence of the availability heuristics?
The information that is relied on may not be the best for the moment
What is the representative heuristic?
This involves making a categorical judgement about an object or idea based on their similarity to other items in that category
What is a positive influence of the representative heuristic?
Can be helpful as it allows us to be adaptive in different situations
what is the affect heuristic?
uses emotions to make a judgement or decision
What is a positive influence of affect heuristics?
Allows us to assess risks which can positively impact our decision making
what is cognitive dissonance?
Psychological tension that occurs when feeling, beliefs and actions don’t align
What is cognitive bias?
systematic error of judgement and faulty decision-making
stereotyping
grouping people into a category based on common characteristics
what are negative consequences of stereotyping?
Can lead to prejudice, which results in discrimination and stigma
prejudice
a negative attitude/pre-conception held against people from a certain group
majority group
AKA ingroup
group considered to have more power in a particular place
Minority group
group considered to have less power compared to the majority
What are Blumer’s four characteristics of the majority group?
- Tend to believe they are superior to the minority
- Tend to believe the minority group is different from them
- Tend to believe the are more important and powerful than the minority group
- Show insecurity, fearing the minority group may become more important and powerful
What is discrimination
Negative behaviour directed towards a group and its members that arises from prejudice
Behaviour
Actions in response to environmental or internal stimuli
Direct discrimination
When someone is treated unfairly because of a personal characteristic
Indirect discrimination
Practice/rule applied to everyone that unfairly disadvantages one group
What is an example of indirect discrimination?
A trainstation only having stairs to a platform and no lift, meaning a wheelchair user or elderly person would be discriminated
Self-stigma
Negative attitudes and internalised shame that people may have on themselves or their own condition
Social stigma
Discrimination based on perceived characteristics that distinguishes people from others in society
Stereotypes
a generalisation about the personal characteristics of members of a social group
What is an issue with stereotypes?
the are an oversimplified belief that ignore individuality
According to Anthony R. Praktanis, we use heuristics when one of five of the following conditions are met:
- When we are faced with TMI
- When there is limited decision making time
- when the decision to be made is unimportant
- Little info is provided for the decision making
- when an appropriate heuristic comes to mind at the same moment
Types of prejudice
Old-fashioned prejudice, modern prejudice, explicit prejudice, and implicit prejudice
What is old-fashioned prejudice?
openly rejecting members of a minority and their views towards them are obvious and recognisable
What is modern prejudice?
is a type of prejudice that is more subtle, hidden and expressed in ways more likely to be accepted
What is explicit prejudice?
consciously held and usually deliberately thought about
What is mental wellbeing?
current state of mind, including thinking processes and the regulation of emotions
Self-efficacy
Belief in their ability to reach and achieve their goals
Self-esteem
confidence in ones own abilities/worth
Intergenerational trauma
untreated trauma that is passed onto following generations
How can Prej/dis/stigma impact group mental wellbeing?
- inability to deal with stress
- mistrust in relationships
- mental health problems
- substance abuse
- lower self-esteem
- can lead to self-stigma
What is a group?
two or more people who interact, influence, an share common purpoes with each other
What are characteristics of a group?
- > /= 2ppl
- must interact for more than a few moments
- influence each other
- share common purpose or goal
What are some ipmacts that prej/dis/stigma can have on GROUP mental wellbeing?
- can cause mistrust on local, national, or even global scale
- can lead to social isolation
- can create barriers to accessing treatment
- heightened anxiety
What is a descendent?
An entity that is descended from a particular ancestor
Impacts of intergenerational trauma on descendents
- may experience difficulties with attachment
- ” disconnection from extended families and culture
- High levels of stress
What are 3 different ways we can reduce prejudice
Public services
Through:
- eductation
- law enforcement
- Media and advocacy
What are some ‘methods of reducing prejudice’
Intergroup contact, sustained contact, equality of status, mutual interdependence
What is the role of education in reducing prejudice?
- can challange negative attitudes
- can reduce cognitive biases that we may hold
- can help those targeted as it normalises the feeling and they feel supported
What is the role of law enforcement in reducing prejudice?
can reduce the impacts prejudice has on personal and public wellbeing
What is the role of the media and advocacy in reducing prejudice?
Helps to raise awareness, encourage others to report discrimination & abuse, and can provide education
What is intergroup contact?
Increasing contact between two groups that are prejudiced toward each other
What is sustained contact?
Ongoing conact, in/directly, to break down an individual stereotype
What is the contact hypothesis?
certain types of contact between two groups can reduce prejudice. Must have ‘mutual interdependence’ present
What is mutual interdependence
A dependence on each other to achieve a goal or outcome
What is a superordinate goal?
A goal that cannot be acheived by any one group alone and overrides other existing goals each group may have.
What does equality of status mean?
This means that groups must have equal status to reduce the prejudice between them.
Distinguish between social cognition and person perception.
Social Cognition involves all the ways we think, perceive, judge, evaluate and understand others and their behaviour Whereas Person perception refers to the mental processes we use to think about and evaluate other people
What are some factors that influence first impressions? PBBSS
Physical Appearance
Body Language
Behaviour
Salience Detection
Social Categorisation
How are attitudes formed?
They are learned through experience
what are attitudes?
an evaluation a person makes about an object, person, group etc.
why are stereotypes an ineffective way of perceiving someone?
it ignores individuality, it can be inaccurate, formed with little to no evidence
What are the three componants of the tri-componant model?
Affective, Behavioural, Cognitive
What influences how we form impressions?
A person’s physical appearance and their non-verbal cues
What is a limitation about forming first impressions?
It is only patially representative and is potentially misleading.
What are the types of cognitive bias? 5
Confirmation bias, Actor-observer bias, self-serving bais, false-consensus bias, Halo effect
What are ways of reducing cognitive dissonance?
Change the cognition, change this behaviour, add new cognitions (justify behaviour)
