Chapter 7 - Social Cognition Flashcards
Social cognition
how we judge others in social situations by interpreting and analysing information
Cognitive bias
a systematic error in thinking generally due to oversimplifying the information available
Bias
a disproportionate weight in favour of or against an idea or thing, usually in a way that is closed-minded, prejudicial or unfair often leading to error
Person perception
the mental processes we use to form our impressions of other people
Schema
our pre-existing mental ideas relating to a given concept that help us organise and interpret new information
Physical cues
the physical characteristics and behaviours of people that influence our impressions of them
Halo effect
a cognitive bias in which
one impression of a person influences our
belief about their other
qualities
Body language
non-verbal communication in which physical behaviour and movement rather than words are used to express or deliver a certain message
Salient
a descriptor for anything that is prominent, conspicuous
or otherwise noticeable when compared to its surroundings
Social categorisation
a mental shortcut used
in person perception
to categorise people into groups based on their shared characteristics
Attributions
inferences that we make about the causes of events and behaviours (both our own and those of others)
Personal attributions
explanations of a person’s behaviour
based on their characteristics, such as
their ability, personality or energy
Situational attributions
explanations of a person’s behaviour based on factors outside the person involved, such as luck or
something in the environment, in the task or in the actions of another person
Fundamental attribution error
the tendency to overemphasise personal characteristics
and ignore situational
factors when judging the behaviour of other people
Just-world hypothesis
a cognitive bias in which
people believe that the world is fair or just, and
that everyone gets what they deserve
Actor–observer bias
the tendency to attribute our own behaviour to situational
(external) causes, but to
attribute the behaviour of others to their internal factors
Self-serving bias
the tendency to attribute our successes to internal factors, and our failures to external
factors
Attitude
an evaluation that a person makes about
other people, objects, issues or any other thing
Tri-component model of attitudes
a model proposing
that attitudes must have three related
components – affective,
behavioural and cognitive
Affective component
the emotional component of attitudes,
involving how you feel about people, objects,
places, events or ideas
Behavioural component
the action component
of attitudes, involving what you do (or do
not do) as an expression of your attitude
Cognitive component
the mental component
of attitudes, involving the beliefs or thoughts that you have about people, objects, places, events or ideas
Stereotype
a collection of fixed ideas about members
of a certain group in which their individual
differences are ignored
Stereotyping
the process of creating
stereotypes and matching people to them
Stigma
negative attitudes about someone
based on a distinguishing characteristic (e.g. mental illness, disability, gender, sexuality, race, religion or culture)
Ingroup
any group that a person belongs to or identifies with
Outgroup
any group that a person does not belong to or identify with
Cognitive dissonance
the discomfort that people experience when they have conflicting beliefs or when their behaviours
contradict their beliefs
Anchoring bias
the tendency to rely too heavily on the first piece of information that we learn when we make decisions
Attentional bias
our tendency to pay attention to some things and ignore others, thereby limiting our options
Confirmation bias
the tendency to seek, favour or remember
information that supports an existing
belief rather than contrary information
False-consensus bias
the tendency to overestimate how much
others share our opinions or beliefs
Functional
fixedness
a cognitive bias involving the tendency to regard objects as only having one function or as working in a specific way
Misinformation effect
a cognitive bias in which information that is received after an event interferes with a person’s original memory of the event
Optimism bias
our tendency to underestimate the chances of negative events happening and
overestimate the chances of positive events happening
Dunning–Kruger effect
a cognitive bias in which people with low skills
or ability in a specific area overestimate their abilities and performance, while people with high skills or ability underestimate
their abilities and performance
Heuristics
mental shortcuts that allow us to make quick decisions on limited information
Cognitive load
the amount of information that our working memory can hold at any given time
Availability heuristic
a mental shortcut that
uses the first thoughts that come to a person’s mind when they are evaluating an issue or deciding what to do
Representativeness heuristic
a mental shortcut that estimates the probability of an event occurring by comparing its similarity to a prototype that we know
Prototype
what we think is the most relevant or typical example of a specific event or object
Affect heuristic
a mental shortcut based on a person’s current emotional state
Affect
an emotional response (in the field of psychology)
Prejudice
the negative attitude people possess towards individuals based only on their membership of a group
Discrimination
a negative behaviour directed towards a specific group or individual of the group based only on their membership of the group
Old-fashioned prejudice
deliberate and overt prejudice
Modern prejudice
a more subtle form of
prejudice that insinuates rejection while displaying acceptance
Direct discrimination
the unfavourable treatment of a person due to a personal characteristic protected by law (e.g. age, sex, marital status or sexual orientation)
Indirect discrimination
when the same treatment is applied to
everyone, but it disadvantages someone due to a personal characteristic
Intersectional discrimination
when several forms of
discrimination combine to leave a certain group
or groups at an even greater disadvantage
Sexism
a type of prejudice or discrimination based on a person’s sex or gender
Racism
a type of prejudice or
discrimination based on a person’s race or ethnicity
Ageism
a type of prejudice or
discrimination based on a person’s age
Homophobia
a type of prejudice or
discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation
Inter-group contact
a concept proposing that for prejudice between groups to be reduced, there must be
more direct contact between the groups’
members (i.e. the groups must spend more time together)
Sustained contact
prolonged and cooperative interaction between two groups who are prejudiced against each other
Contact hypothesis
Gordon Allport’s hypothesis stating that social contact between social groups is enough to reduce inter-group prejudice
Mutual interdependence
when two groups must depend somehow on one another to meet a goal
Equality
the state of being on the same level as one another, with neither
group having more or less status or power than the other
Superordinate goals
the top-level, ultimate goals shared between groups or individuals
that cannot be achieved alone or without the other person or group
Social norms
shared standards or social beliefs about what is normal, acceptable or typical behaviour
Extended-contact hypothesis
the idea that when members of an ingroup
see that one of their own has a close relationship with an outgroup member, it can lead to more positive attitudes towards that outgroup
