Chapter 8 - Social cognition Flashcards
What are stereotypes, and how do they change with age? What is the age-based double standard, and why is it important? Provide an original example.
A stereotype is a socially shared belief or social knowledge structure about the traits of a specific group. Stereotypes help us process information about social interactions. they help us categorize behaviour as either positive or negative.
An age-based double standard is when someone sees an individual older adult’s memory failure as more serious than a young person’s memory failure. This is important because judging one’s competence can affect their ability negatively. Memory is the most susceptible area to negative stereotype attributions of aging.
ex of forgetting wallet.
What is implicit stereotyping, and why is it important? How is it measured with the Implicit Attitude Test? What is stereotype threat? Describe the evidence for stereotype threat in older adults.
Implicit stereotyping is the unconscious activation of strong stereotypes. It is important because it can affect our thoughts and behaviour without our awareness.
Implicit stereotyping can be measured with the Implicit Attitudes Test. In this test, an individual is shown pictures of young and old individuals. They are given instructions to use press a button with their right hand when it is an old person and their left hand when it is a young person. Right is also originally associated with being pleasant and the left is associated with being negative so old-pleasant and young-unpleasant. In part 2, the right hand becomes associated with unpleasant and the left hand becomes associated with pleasant so now old-unpleasant and young-pleasant. The idea is that if you take longer to respond in part two, you hold a negative stereotype about aging.
A stereotype threat is an evoked fear of being stigmatized with a negative stereotype as a result of being to a specific group to which you belong. For example, if you are Muslim or Latino, you are more vulnerable to stereotype threat. Stereotype threat can affect one’s academic ability, even if they have high confidence. Research suggests that stereotype threat negatively affects older adults cognitive function and and may contribute to our perception of age-related decline in cognitive functioning.
What is social knowledge, and how is it related to social beliefs? How does social knowledge change with age? What is self-perception of aging, and why is it important? Describe the two theories that explain this influence.
When we are drawing on previously stored information in the memory when faced with a new situation, we are drawing on social knowledge. Social knowledge is related to social beliefs because together they influence how we interpret social behaviours such as how a sup should act at work. Social knowledge is influenced by social beliefs.
Many social belief systems are held and change with age. This can be because of cohort differences, how different generations were socialized, or how strongly one relates to the situation at a specific point in his or her life.
Self-perception of aging is an individual’s perception of their own age and aging. It is important because positive self-perceptions are correlated with better health and longer life.
Two theories that help explain how social stereotypes related to aging can influence what we think of ourselves are:
Labeling theory - according to this theory when faced with a negative stereotype about aging, one is likely to combine this into their self-perception.
Resilence theory - according to this theory, when a negative stereotype is rejected, a more positive self-perception results.
What is impression formation, and how does it differ with age? What is the negativity bias, and why is it important? Why is knowledge accessibility important? Describe the processing capacity explanation for age differences in social judgement biases.
Impression formation is how we shape or modify our first impressions. It was found in a study that older adults were likely to change their initial positive impression after being presented with negative information. Though, this change did not occur as much when presented with negative information first and positive information second. Therefore, older adults make impressions based on all of the information they gather. Young adults make impression based on their most recent information gathered.
Knowledge accessibility is important because our implicit personality schemes we hold shape our impressions. the accessibility of this information determines how effective that info is in guiding our social judgements and or behaviour.
The processing capacity explanation explains why older adults may be less likely to change their initial impressions. Changing impressions can demand high processing capacity, whereas older adults may not have the cognitive resources to do so.
What are causal attributions? Provide original examples of how it is used. Be sure your answer includes a definition of the two major types. What is the correspondence bias, and how is it affected with age?
Explanations of why behaviour occurs are casual attributions. For example, Tyler is performing in the school play. His drama teacher has put pressure on the class to perform well. He is nervous. A situational attribution is an attribution where the cause is outside the actor - Tyler is nervous because his teacher has placed pressure on him. A dispositional attribution places the cause on the actor - Tyler is just a nervous person.
A correspondence bias is when one makes informational misrepresentations when making casual attributions about problem solving. This is found mostly among college youths. It is impossible that life experience places a role in the more well-rounded attributions made by older adults.
Define each of the following, and describe how they influence information processing. Also, include a description of how they are related to age.
a. personal goals
b. emotion
c. cognitive style
Personal goals are something we strive to accomplish in life. Goals change as we get older due to life experience and time left in the life span. Selective optimization and compensation states that our goals will change based on interests and abilities, thus as we grow older and our limitations increase, our goals may be reevaluated. Young people strive to accomplish maximum performance whereas older people focus more on elevated cognitive performance in the cognitive domains they prioritize.
Emotion is a mental state caused by circumstances or feelings. Emotion is more important to older adults, especially positive information. Young adults pay attention equally to negative and positive inform. Highly arousing events may demand high levels of executive control processing which can result in older adults lessened ability to remember and process.
Cognitive style refers to how one approaches problem solving. when increased cognitive processing is needed, such as processing info quickly, more inaccuracies and biases are common. Both limited cognitive resources and motivational differences are age related and influence information processing.
What is personal control? How is it multidimensional? Provide original examples. Describe the different control strategies. What are the criticisms of primary control?
Person control is how much one thinks their performance is based on themselves.
Personal control is multidimensional because it can range in different domains. For example, Sally might have high athletic ability and thereby feel a high sense of persona control. But, she can also be low in mathematical ability and thereby feel a low sense of control.
Bringing the environment closer inline with one’s goals is primary control. These strategies focus on manipulating the environment.
Bringing oneself closer inline with the environment is secondary control. These strategies focus on the self.
Criticisms of primary control include researchers believing that the natural flow of life can be enough to account for age-related changes in goals. As well, collectivist societies do not put emphasis on individualistic strategies such as that of primary control.
What is collaborative cognition, and why is it important for older adults? How does the social context facilitate cognition? Provide examples of each.
Collaborative cognition is when two or more adults work together to solve cognitive tasks. For example, two adults working together to successfully recall the events of their wedding night.
It is important in older adults because it can increase performance in memory and problem-solving tasks. Cognitive performance increases with collaborative context.
Social context facilitates cognition when real world learning and social memory experiences are involved in the task. Memory can be influenced by prior knowledge and memory practice. For example, an older adult teaching young people through ways of story telling.
