final

Question 1

What is social cognition

Answer 1

What is social cognition?

A discipline in psychology which comprises all the processes that people use to make sense of each other, in order to coordinate in their social world.

Question 2

What is The humanistic psychological idea of phenomenology?

Answer 2

What is The humanistic psychological idea of phenomenology?

The humanistic psychological idea of phenomenology describes systematically how ordinary people say they experience their world. This is something social cognition researchers are interested in. Moreover, because we’re all lay scientists, we have what we believe are commonsense notions as to how the world works – which are sometimes accurate and sometimes not – which is reflected in the idea of naïve psychology

Question 3

What is naïve psychology?

Answer 3

What is naïve psychology?

ordinary people’s everyday theories about each other. Like any discipline in psychology, social cognition tests these everyday mundane ideas people have via the scientific method, and incorporates processes and models from cognitive psychology as well.

Question 4

What kinds of physiological measurements are used in social cognition?

Answer 4

What kinds of physiological measurements are used in social cognition?

Neurological measures aren’t the only type of biological assessment available. Social cognition researchers also tend to utilize physiological measurements such as cardiovascular activity and electrodermal response & changes in hormone levels

Question 5

Define Subliminal Priming:

Answer 5

Define Subliminal Priming:

subliminal priming, a process that occurs when a concept is activated by the environment, but at exposure times below consciousness; it registers on the senses but not on awareness. Subliminal priming falls under the automatic mode of social cognition because it’s effortless and happens outside of a person’s conscious recognition or understanding
ex of subliminal priming: white vs black faces flashed on a screen individuals either randomly assigned to 1 of 2 conditions (subliminally primed with either black or white faces)(subliminal manipulation)
The dependent measure occurred when participants were on trial 130; at this point an error message displayed and told participants their data had been lost, and the experimenter explained they would have to engage in the tedious task all over again. Surreptitiously their facial expressions were recorded, and participants expressed more hostility when subliminally primed 4 with black faces as opposed to white faces.

Question 6

Define Concious Priming:

Answer 6

Define Concious Priming:

Priming can be consciously registered by an individual and still have a subsequent impact on their attitudes and behaviors. Post conscious automaticity entails conscious perception of the prime but no awareness of its effects on subsequent reactions. This would be conscious priming.

Similar results were found for rudeness; those who were consciously primed with rude related concepts interrupted an experimenter more often than those who hadn’t been primed with such concepts. Although these primes are more conscious it seems they’re still subtle enough that they aren’t reacted against (i.e., the participant realizes what’s going on and does the opposite behavior), and powerful enough to affect one’s behavior and momentary attitudes.

Question 7

What is the difference between conscious priming and subliminal priming?

Answer 7

What is the difference between conscious priming and subliminal priming?

Compared to subliminal primes conscious prime manipulations want participants to obviously see the prime.

Question 8

How do physiological measurments measure social cognition?

Answer 8

How do physiological measurments measure social cognition?

cardiovascular activity- heartrates tend to elevate
electrodermal response- Both of these dependent measures can be cues to increased anxiety or a natural response to threat, since our heartrates tend to elevate from stimuli that makes us anxiously aroused, and we tend to sweat in response to similar anxiety provoking stimuli
(electrodermal response)- is depicted as galvanic skin response or GSR, which measures moisture on the skin, or how much someone is sweating, as well as increased blood flow). Lie detectors often deploy such physiological measurement as GSR.
Horomes- Changes to hormone levels, such as cortisol, testosterone, or oxytocin
researchers will record the amount of cortisol circulating in the bloodstream since this hormone has been linked repeatedly to dealing with stressors in the environment, such as when a fight or flight reaction comes online within the individual. Elevated levels of this hormone have been observed when people are stressed out or currently dealing with a stressor, and if they have the resources to cope with a stressor then cortisol levels will be attenuated.

Question 9

What is the cororelation between hormone’s testosterone, oxytocin and social cognition?

Answer 9

What is the cororelation between hormone’s testosterone, oxytocin and social cognition?

The hormone testosterone has been linked to aggressive and dominance displays, confidence and boldness, as well as mating effort (i.e., leads males to pursue females; indeed although both sexes possess this hormone men have higher levels than women on average). Oxytocin is involved with trusting others and social bonding, and tends to be higher on average in females compared to males.

Question 10

Define/explain Attention and Encoding:

Answer 10

Define/explain Attention and Encoding:

Attention and encoding are the preliminary steps in mental representation.

The process of encoding means to transform a perceived external stimulus into an internal representation. There is an aspect of interpretation here. During encoding the inferring process at times – as we just saw with dual modes of social cognition – can be relatively quick and effortless, but at other times is more demanding and effortful. The inferences formed are stored in memory
When human beings encode stimuli, we don’t attend evenly to all aspects of our environment. Encoding external stimuli involves selection. Some things are more salient whereas others are completely ignored.

Attention • Focuses on the contents of consciousness, including encoding external material and retrieving material from memory, characterized by both direction (selectivity) and intensity (effort). • Direction and Intensity
The bottom line is whatever is occupying are consciousness most readily, whether internal or external, is what we’re paying attention to

Question 11

Define Salience and give an example:

Answer 11

Define Salience and give an example:

Salience describes how much particular stimuli stand out relative to others in their environment. Salience speaks to what grabs our attention because whatever is salient is projecting outward and is obvious. Many different things can be more or less salient, including ourselves. For Example, if we’re meeting a group of people for the first time, such as maybe our partner’s family and extended family, then it’s likely we might feel more salient even though we’re in a group setting. There can be a feeling that our partner’s family is paying particular attention to us, assessing us, interpreting every little snippet of behavior in order to make sure that we’re a good fit for our partner.

Question 12

What are the consequences of social salience?

Answer 12

What are the consequences of social salience?

If someone is more salient then people are more likely to explain their behavior in terms of voluntary action and a sense of choice (i.e., they’re more likely to make a personal attribution than a situational one when explaining their behavior). For Example, research suggests that a videotaped confession which focuses primarily on the suspect in custody as opposed to the coercing detective, is more likely to implicate guilt and a sense of choice over the action committed. That is, when the officer and the suspect are shown equally on screen, then participants begin to consider that maybe the confession was coerced (i.e., they take into account a situational factor), but when the footage is unanimously displaying the suspect with intense closeups, then they only focus on personal factors, and assume the suspect to have unequivocal choice in confessing to the alleged crime.

Salience also exaggerates evaluations. This can go both ways. If the person appearing solo is liked then praise will be more prevalent and over the top. But if the person is unliked and is seen as deviant then condemnation will be amplified. A person wearing the visiting team’s sweater for example is going to be perceived as more deviant compared to someone who isn’t wearing such a sweater, and if the two were to engage in the same exact behavior, the former would catch more flak because they’re more salient.

Question 13

Define Vividness:

Answer 13

Define Vividness:

Constitutes the inherent attention-getting features of a stimulus regardless of environment, predicted to be emotionally interesting, imagery-provoking, and proximate. • Doesn’t have as much empirical support as salience; case studies being the one exception.
According to vividness, advertisements or other persuasive messages would presumably be more enticing and impactful when visual images are used, specifically those that ratchet up emotional states, compared to drier and more abstract messages with little emotional valence

Question 14

Describe Salience in coorelation with a sense of “being solo”:

Answer 14

Describe Salience in coorelation with a sense of “being solo”:

We can have a sense of being ‘solo’ when we’re more 8 salient to others in our environment, and this feeling can be detrimental interpersonally. For Example, studies have shown that when we feel conspicuous we feel anxious about how an interaction is progressing or how it concluded, probably because we’re worried about making a desired impression (e.g., we want Uncle Bob to like us cause that’s our partner’s favorite Uncle)

Question 15

What results from being in a Salient state?

Answer 15

What results from being in a Salient state?

when in this salient state, our ability to take in and remember what others said is compromised. This again likely results from being concerned about making a desired impression, being more self-focused, trying to make a favorable impression we end up missing what was said because we’re more in our own heads. Our self-presentation can go awry, and we talk too much to overcompensate or disclose too little to not make waves, rather than just being ourselves and letting the conversations flow naturally.
When feeling solo is at its worst, then existential isolation can set in. This is when we feel alone in a room full of people because we feel that no one else sees, interprets, or understands the world as we do

With existential isolation others can indeed be present, so there’s no interpersonal loneliness, but the fearful dread and anxiety comes from the fact that people don’t perceive the world as we do, they share attitudes that are perhaps the opposite to our own, or they don’t laugh at what we laughed at, creating a different but just as cumbersome sensation of loneliness

Question 16

How is social salience related to visual distinction

Answer 16

How is social salience related to visual distinction?

Social salience and the experience of being ‘solo’ can occur anytime there’s a unique visual distinction. This can be when one is the only member of their gender (e.g., the only male in a psychology seminar), race (e.g., the only Caucasian on a bus in Vietnam), and age (e.g., the only mature student in a class full of youthful freshmen). Dressing uniquely from the norm in the immediate context can also inspire social salience (e.g., wearing a button-down shirt at a metal concert or the away team’s jersey in the local arena).

Question 17

What is meant by the rule “addition is more salient than subtraction?

Answer 17

What is meant by the rule “addition is more salient than subtraction?

Another key rule is that addition is more salient than subtraction. What we mean here is that adding a stimulus is more salient than removing one. For example, in a social setting, we’re more likely to notice when someone has arrived compared to when someone has left or didn’t show up at all. Perhaps this is a good thing to keep in mind when we’re lamenting to our partner about how we don’t want to go to a particular social event, citing the excuse, ‘they won’t even notice I’m not there.’ Apparently, there is some truth to this. Thus, things that are present in the immediate environment are more salient and noticeable than things that are missing.

Question 18

What is meant by negative stimuli are typically more salient than positive stimuli?

Answer 18

What is meant by negative stimuli are typically more salient than positive stimuli?

It seems that negative stimuli are more salient for a couple of reasons. For one thing, as we’ve alluded to before with our disgust response and other instances, when it comes to perceiving stimuli humans seem to have a negativity bias, evolutionarily speaking. It’s unfortunately adaptive to pay more attention to stimuli in the environment that is potentially harmful, such as an angry conspecific, hence the anger superiority effect.

Question 19

What is the firm optimistic bias?

Answer 19

What is the firm optimistic bias?

there is much research to suggest that as human beings we want to believe that positive events will occur for us (and around us) more so than negative events – when it comes to beliefs, we have a firm optimistic bias. ‘Bad things will happen to others but not to ourselves,’ is the primary belief we want to consciously endorse

Question 20

Why are certain events more salient to us than others?

Answer 20

Why are certain events more salient to us than others?

when negative events do occur in our context and disrupt this illusory optimistic belief, the event seems more salient because it’s such an expectancy violation, going against our positive illusions. Salience can also depend on the goals of the perceiver. If we want to make a desired impression on someone, perhaps the boss at work or the coworker we’re hoping to date, that individual is going to be more salient to us, even when in a crowd, because our motivation to make a certain impression on them is strong
Those positioned directly in front of us are also suggested to be more salient. At dinner in a group setting, sitting across from someone will make them more salient, even more so than the person or people sitting next to us, because the person across from us dominates our visual field

Question 21

Why is there a lack of empirical support for vividness?

Answer 21

Why is there a lack of empirical support for vividness?

One idea is that vivid imagery can distract someone against the message itself. If the visuals used are too emotional arousing then the person might be too enthralled with the image and ignore the message. Additionally, the opposite can happen; if the visuals are too anxiety provoking someone can ignore them and thus ignore the message, too, trying to suppress the fearful stimuli and therefore suppressing the message’s contents at the same time. This can happen with fear appeals, such as when an ad or PSA contains imagery of a dead body or car wreck – the vivid visuals ironically turn off the recipient.

Or

another explanation can be psychological reactance. If someone sees vividness as a flamboyant and flashy way to change their attitudes then they might react against those images and its corresponding message, doing the opposite because they feel the ad was trying to control them via pulling on their heartstrings.

Question 22

Better define Psychological Reactance:

Answer 22

Better define Psychological Reactance:

Remember that psychological reactance occurs when someone feels their sense of freedom to act has been jeopardized, and therefore they react against whatever that interpreted threat is to regain their sense of freedom. “Don’t tell me what to do or how to feel!” is the trademark phrase of reactance

Question 23

Define Assimilation:

Answer 23

Define Assimilation:

Usually, priming effects follow assimilation, which describes fitting a specific occasion, instance, or behavior to a more general prior concept. That is, however a participant has been primed, they will match the ambiguity of the target person to match up with the accessible category. Sometimes however these typical priming effects of assimilation are unsupported, and instead demonstrate contrast

Question 24

Explain Contrast:

Answer 24

Explain Contrast:

contrast, which describes a specific reaction opposite to a more general prior concept. For example, if someone was primed with rudeness, they may not interpret ambiguous behavior in a rude and negative way, but a more positive way such as saying the person was acting boldly and trying to stand out, which are values of western, individualistic cultures

Question 25

What is the key element to know Contrast is likely?

Answer 25

What is the key element to know Contrast is likely?

The key element to whether or not contrast is likely is whether or not the prime is more overt or covert. As mentioned above, if the prime is conscious and the participant begins to consider that they might be controlled from the prime, they will react against it and do the opposite – in other words, engage in the inverse of the prime’s intended effect. To be sure, assimilation can happen as a result of conscious primes too, but contrast is equally as likely if not more so.
Contrast effects are also more likely if the stimulus isn’t ambiguous. This makes sense because an ambiguous stimulus contains more difficult information for a participant to discern the researcher’s intended effects and hypothesis
If someone is primed with rudeness for example, and they consciously register the prime, and if subsequently their task is to rate clearly rude behavior, it’s not hard for a participant to understand they’re trying to be influenced from the prime and react against it – that is, do the opposite. If the target is more ambiguous then assimilation will be more likely than contrast

Question 26

What is the difference between long-term and short-term memory?

Answer 26

What is the difference between long-term and short-term memory?

Long-Term Memory- Long-Term Memory • Comprises the vast store of information that can be potentially brought to mind.

Short- Term Memory- Short-Term Memory or Working memory • Comprises information being considered at any given moment, contents of attention.

Most cognitive memory models differentiate between long-term memory (LTM) and short-term memory (STM). LTM comprises the vast store of information potentially brought to mind. STM in contrast is more in the immediate moment as a person considers, or works through, information consciously. Given the sort of laborious effort associated with STM, this portion of memory is also called working memory.
In several memory models, material (i.e., propositions) that is retrieved from LTM then becomes STM or material in one’s immediate consciousness.

Question 27

How is long term/short term memory related to Attention?

Answer 27

How is long term/short term memory related to Attention?

In several memory models, material (i.e., propositions) that is retrieved from LTM then becomes STM or material in one’s immediate consciousness. This is very much related to attention because the material is in one’s immediate consideration. These are nodes that are most salient to a person at a given time. Of course, the opposite is also true, namely that material that is freshly activated or being encoded in STM can be consolidated and stored as nodes in LTM

Question 28

How is Long-term memory/ short-term memory related to Freud’s iceberg theory?

Answer 28

How is Long-term memory/ short-term memory related to Freud’s iceberg theory?

These ideas speak to Freud’s classic iceberg metaphor regarding the structure of the mind. Ignoring the unconscious, which would be memories the ego is trying to repress because they’re threatening and painful, this cognitive model of the mind talks about the conscious (i.e., what we’re currently aware of, or the tip of the iceberg) and the preconscious (i.e., the much larger part of the iceberg just below the water that is somewhat visible). Material on the tip of the iceberg can sink below the water, that is, pass freely from the conscious to the preconscious, or pass from STM into LTM. The inverse is also true; material in the preconscious can pass into consciousness rather freely, or go from LTM to STM, or working memory. For Example, if we get a new phone number, then encoding that information will start with our STM (or the conscious) and with enough rehearsal will pass into our LTM (or the preconscious), ready to be received when needed. Similarly, the opposite is also true, that a phone number from deep in our past, and therefore deep in our preconscious LTM, such as maybe the landline number of the house we grew up in, can be recalled into consciousness (i.e., STM) when needed.

Question 29

Define the person memory model:

Answer 29

Define the person memory model:

The person memory model is another associative network model of social memory. This model also really speaks to impression formation, making it quite social.
Person Memory Model • Basic processes create an impression from a target’s behavior (e.g., inferring certain traits).
the Person Memory Model assumes like the PM – 1 Model that inconsistent or unexpected behaviors are attended to more closely, forming stronger links.
Person Memory Model would suggest, if the interaction with our friend’s new date begins negatively, then subsequent behavior will be interpreted more negatively, and those associations being formed within our STM are going to pass into LTM, leaving an overall negative evaluation (i.e., a negative memory-based impression) behind.

Question 30

Describe the Primacy Effect:

Answer 30

Describe the Primacy Effect:

The Primacy Effect • Describes early information most influencing an evaluation or being most memorable.
If the interaction begins positively, that will predispose us towards interpreting subsequent behavior positively. The same is true for a negative first impression

Question 31

Define Categories:

Answer 31

Define Categories:

Categories • Expectations about clusters of people, entities, or social groups.
Categories relate to the expectations or assumptions we have about others as well as ourselves. The categories we have about others doesn’t always imply we’re accurate or right in our views (e.g., stereotypes), but they do serve functions that facilitate our understanding of the world, making it seem more predictable and controllable, a sense of knowing what to expect. As an example, I was at the dentist a couple weeks ago and my hygienist informed me of her interest in zodiac signs and astrology, saying that when she knows what sign someone is then she knows what to expect, because they fit in the category of Gemini, Leo, and so on. Ultimately, expectations are useful, despite our often inaccuracies.

Question 32

Describe Schemas:

Answer 32

Describe Schemas:

These are knowledge structures, or an organization of knowledge in memory. Schemas are related to top-down processing because they relate to prior knowledge. Bottom-up processing is a more data driven approach, where we filter incoming stimuli. Remember that human beings are cognitive misers, thus our schemas help to process novel information, checking our categories to see what best resembles the unfamiliar stimuli. For Example, if one heard the title, Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, even if we’ve never heard such a title before, we can access each schema we have about 1) Pres. Lincoln 2) Vampires and 3) Hunters, and when we combine these schemas, we would have at least some understanding of what to expect. Without categories and schemas we would be constantly depleted; trying to sort through each piece of information one at a time would leave us cognitively drained

In addition, schemas help to fill in missing information. If someone tells us they went to the movies or a new restaurant, we don’t need to hear every single detail to have an idea of what transpired.
schemas don’t always operate in an all or none fashion for inclusion. Consider the schema we have of birds. An essential attribute to this schema is likely flight. But upon closer inspection, a few birds don’t actually fly, like the penguin or the ostrich. Yet, we still think flight when we think bird

Question 33

What are fuzzy sets?

Answer 33

What are fuzzy sets?

Consider the schema we have of birds. An essential attribute to this schema is likely flight. But upon closer inspection, a few birds don’t actually fly, like the penguin or the ostrich. Yet, we still think flight when we think bird; these two 11 nodes would be strongly associated. The reason for this is because we use fuzzy sets. Flight is relevant to our bird schema but not absolutely essential. Fuzzy sets help to preserve the schema.

Question 34

Why is pursuing self esteem detrimental?

Answer 34

Why is pursuing self esteem detrimental?

One researcher and social psychologist, namely Jennifer Crocker, suggests that pursuing self-esteem can be “costly.” In other words, the pursuit of self-esteem causes more problems than it fixes. She doesn’t deny the fact that individuals with high self-esteem are often better off than those with low self-esteem, that is, those with higher trait levels of self-esteem, those with more positive affect and perceived worth than others dispositionally.

Her first argument is that actively pursuing selfesteem is detrimental because an individual will not always be successful in what they’re trying to accomplish. Thus, they will experience negative emotions such as feeling insignificant. In short, we sometimes fail to meet standards. For instance, if an
that this is detrimental because an individual is constantly pursuing selfesteem, and feeling worse about themselves more often than better. Meaning, self-esteem is low more often than high, and a flood of negative emotions perpetually plague the individual
She also suggests that pursuing self-esteem is detrimental to learning
What Dr. Crocker suggests happens here is that any type of mistakes, negative feedback, or other criticisms we receive, are often met with defensive reactions rather that with ways to improve. That is, an individual will not accept negative feedback as an opportunity to improve their writing style, for instance, because they dismiss the negative feedback because it’s threatening to their self-worth.
negative feedback, though quite threatening, is how we improve. Whenever we do receive critical feedback, regardless of the task or whatever domain of self-esteem is at stake, we should try to consider at least some of the feedback, even if it’s only ten percent of it. By cognitively considering a smaller dose of criticism we often 12 won’t be as threatened and dismissive. Another way to say this in a nutshell is… as human beings we’re much more inclined to offer advice than take it
Crocker also suggests pursing self-esteem can hurt relationships. For one thing, she suggests pursuing self-esteem can often be detrimental because the individual doesn’t relate fully to others since during the interaction they’re primarily concerned about themselves. It’s as if they only want others around to validate themselves, to boast, and feel superior, and that’s all. What ends up happening are very superficial relationships because the individual pursuing self-worth is so focused on themselves they don’t care about the other person’s needs or feelings. The relationship, or group outing, is used primarily to stand out, via telling the best joke or story, and often times people end up talking at one another rather than with one another. The result is that we can lose intimacy and empathy during our interactions with others because there’s less concern for our conversational partner and little reciprocity between parties.
Lastly, Dr. Crocker suggests actively pursuing selfesteem is detrimental to one’s physical health. For example, there’s research to suggest stress and anxiety can affect one’s physical health. If someone is stressed about constantly meeting self-esteem contingencies, then they can be at greater risk for heart disease. One example of this is the Type A personality, or individuals who are constantly doing things, always competing and striving for something, becoming exceptionally hostile whenever something trivial interferes with their sense of progress. In essence, because these individuals are likely constantly pursuing work related goals for self-esteem reasons (i.e., to stand out and feel utterly significant), they’re more likely to suffer heart disease because their hearts are working overtime all the damn time.
In a similar vein, pardon the pun, stress affects the immune system negatively. As an example, if an individual is stressing about their self-esteem standards perpetually, then they will be more likely to get head colds. This is one potential reason why during exam time more students become sick. A further manifestation of self-esteem jeopardizing physical health can occur with the domains themselves. When people derive their self-worth from risky behaviors, such as tanning, driving fast, or excessive exercise, then they can potentially harm their bodies.

Question 35

How is the incentive approach related to the behavioural approach activation system? (BAS)

Answer 35

How is the incentive approach related to the behavioural approach activation system? (BAS)

The incentive approach system is synonymous with the behavioral approach (or activation) system (BAS). This system is all about regulating the pursuit of incentives. We can think of this system as giving us the green light, to go towards something that we desire. To approach it. This can be both biological and psychological needs. When we’re hungry then we’re motivated to order a pizza, when we are cold we’re motivated to warm ourselves by an inviting fire;

Question 36

Define self regulation:

Answer 36

Define self regulation:

Self-regulation pertains to motivation and thus incentives, and asks what areas of the brain are involved in approaching incentives, what neural structures lead us to pursue something?

Question 37

According to the self-esteem perspective what is the primary function of self esteem?

Answer 37

According to the self-esteem perspective what is the primary function of self esteem?

From the ST perspective then, monitoring inclusion and exclusion is the primary function of self-esteem, because doing so allowed our ancestors (and us in the present day) to keep tabs on their level of belongingness, which ultimately helped to perpetuate their genetic material from generation to generation

Question 38

Explain the behavioural approach activation system (BAS)

Answer 38

Explain the behavioural approach activation system (BAS)

To be clear, different brain areas and pathways are involved in this system, but they all contribute and form the BAS in some way. For Example, the nucleus accumbens, which is related to recognizing and tracking down rewards (i.e., facilitating approach motivation), such as potential mates, would be part of this system.

Question 39

How is the (BAS) behavioural approach activation system related to self regulation

Answer 39

How is the (BAS) behavioural approach activation system related to self regulation?

The BAS is associated with many pleasurable emotions related to the anticipation of reward. When it’s Friday afternoon and we feel eager about what’s to come on the weekend because maybe we have a get-together we’re excited about or a concert, or when we feel alacrity about cashing a paycheck, there is activity in this incentive approach system. These positive emotions tend to be activated in the Left prefrontal cortex (aptly in green on the slide). One way we can remember that positive is associated with the left side of the brain is to maybe think of the word Luscious, because this word refers to things that are sweet, romantic, and desirable; all good things, positive things, enjoyable things that are very pleasing and delightful. 19 Research has shown when participants are presented with positively worded adjectives (e.g., happy as opposed to sad, or successful as opposed to struggling, or pizza as opposed to cockroach) there is increased activity in the left prefrontal cortex. Thus, the Left prefrontal cortex is a major component of the BAS

Question 40

Explain self regulation and the BIS

Answer 40

Explain self regulation and the BIS

Behavioral Inhibition System • The part of the brain that regulates responses to punishment. • This is the system that alerts us of potential stimuli to be avoided

We’ve covered the approach system, but what brain structures and pathways are involved with sensing threats or anticipating punishment? The system responsible for responding to negative stimuli in the environment is the behavioral inhibition system (BIS). This system is what allows us to inhibit our movements, such as when we stop in response to something threatening (i.e., most animals first response to a fearful threat is to freeze, even if only for a second, to determine if the threat in our surroundings notices us or not) or retreat away from something potentially harmful
If we’re anxious then this system is online
Associated with right pre-frontal cortex activity. • The area of the brain that is activated when viewing stimuli depicting fear or disgust

Question 41

What is the difference between the BIS and the BAS?

Answer 41

What is the difference between the BIS and the BAS?

If the BIS is the inverse of the BAS, it fits they’re opposites in the prefrontal cortex as well. The right prefrontal cortex is activated when we are responding to potential threats that we’re averse to, when we retreat from a negative stimulus. We might think Right prefrontal cortex, as in R for repulsive or repellent, because these words relate to causing disgust, being resistant to something, or pushing something away. Simply, dislike. Avoidance motivation to disgusting stimuli; For example, if we see rotting food or a dead carcass disgust would be activated and this is adaptive because it prevents us from contracting potential disease or simply being sick. Evolution would have favored individuals with this system equally as well as the BAS. Indeed, we often have a negativity bias, suggesting this system might be more active from day to
In short, bad is stronger than good. Responding quickly to negative stimuli is adaptive for the organism, probably more so than responding quickly to positive stimuli

Question 42

Describe Individualism:

Answer 42

Describe Individualism:

By individualism we’re talking predominately about cultures that emphasize autonomy, selfgovernance, and standing out. Just as the name implies, the individual is the key element here. One’s personal goals are more important than group goals. Within these cultural contexts, it’s emphasized that one needs to be unique or “A cut above the rest.” Thus, people from individualistic cultures are more likely to hold an independent view of the self, and endorse items such as, “the only person you can count on is yourself,” and, “I enjoy being unique and different from others.” Ultimately, in an individualistic culture, it’s valued that a person makes choices 22 that are often independent from traditional cultural practices. Self-esteem is derived from personal accomplishments.

Question 43

Define collectivism

Answer 43

Define collectivism

In contrast, in collectivistic cultures the individual is emphasized as existing within a group. Concerning collectivism think, ‘the collective,’ and the self belonging within that collective. These folks have an interdependent view of the self; their self extends more so into others as a larger social network. These individuals are more likely to endorse items such as, “I’m partly to blame if one of my family members or coworkers fails,” and “My happiness depends on the happiness of those around me.” People from collectivistic cultures derive their self-esteem more from group contributions and group accomplishments. Also, these cultures emphasize fitting in rather than standing out, endorsing statements such as, “the nail that stands out gets pounded down.” Being uniform is more important than being unique

Question 44

independent self construal vs. interdependent self-construal.

Answer 44

independent self construal vs. interdependent self-construal.

Some research simply had participants complete 20 sentences starting with “I am”. Those from North American cultures such as USA were more likely to complete those sentences with individual describing traits. For Example, “I am shy, or I am outgoing.” However, those from more collectivistic cultures were more likely to complete such sentences with group affiliations, such as “I am a college student, or I am a member of the drama club. These data suggest participants from western cultures show a more independent self construal and participants from eastern cultures a more interdependent self-construal.
westerners picked the unique pen 75% of the time whereas the opposite was found for easterners, who picked the uniform pen 75% of the time.

Question 45

What evidence supports that self esteem is not a universal need?

Answer 45

What evidence supports that self esteem is not a universal need?

self-esteem and individualism vs. collectivism (or independent self construal versus interdependent self construal). Some have suggested (e.g., Steven Heine at UBC) that Self-esteem is NOT a universal need as TMT (and Sociometer theory) would claim. Instead, self-esteem is perhaps, especially in western cultures, something of a value that is more or less pushed on people rather than a universal need to buffer the potential for anxiety.

There are three pieces of evidence we should know to lend support to this notion:
1) Among North Americans, who are immersed in an individualistic culture, self-esteem scores are negatively skewed (see on the slide the different distributions), such that 25 individuals classified with low self-esteem are barely below the midpoint of the scale, meaning a low self-esteem individual would have a score of 3.5 on a 7 point scale, which isn’t really low, but more so an average level of Self-esteem. However,
among Japanese, who are immersed in a collectivistic culture, self-esteem scores are more normally distributed. This led Heine and colleagues to suggest a need for self-esteem is more of a Western phenomenon rather than a universal need
2) Americans have been shown to selfenhance more than East Asians, as demonstrated in a metaanalysis incorporating 91 comparisons. For Example, East Asians are less likely to use self-serving cognitions compared to North Americans, that is, after threat or failure, Japanese are less likely to use external attributions such as blaming the test for their poor performance, and are more likely to blame themselves, such as their abilities or how they prepared. Blaming the test is an example of putting the blame where it does the most good to preserve the ego, to maintain self-esteem.
3) 3) In a similar vein, cross-cultural studies have shown Canadians to be more self-enhancing and Japanese to be more self-effacing in response to feedback. For Example, North Americans believe self-esteem will increase more so after success whereas East Asians are more likely to believe selfesteem will decrease after failure. These data can be interpreted as further evidence that Americans are preoccupied with boosting self-esteem, that self-esteem is more of an individualistic cultural phenomenon. This evidence is interesting and informative, but the idea that human beings do NOT need self-esteem is probably unrealistic and upon closer inspection it seems likely that selfesteem is derived in different cultural domains such as 25 downplaying accomplishments or deriving more satisfaction from group performance rather than individual performance
That is, East Asians do need to feel a sense of significance and security that comes from meeting cultural standards, (much like discussed with TMT and the relativity of cultural worldviews) but the contingencies are different.

Question 46

Individualism vs collectivism:

Answer 46

Individualism vs collectivism:

Differences in how the self is constructed

Question 47

Explain etic phenomenon and emic phenomenon:

Answer 47

Explain etic phenomenon and emic phenomenon:

Etic = common to all or ubiquitous, emic = varies importantly across cultures. Hence the need for self-esteem is an etic phenomenon, and the different self-esteem outlets or domains are emic phenomenon. A simple way to remember this is where the words originate from. Etic phenomenon comes from linguistic terms such as phonetics, which essentially refers to the universal sounds of language, and phonemics, which refers to the sounds of a specific language.

Question 48

Define heuristics:

Answer 48

Define heuristics:

Heuristics • Mental shortcuts that provide quick estimates about the likelihood of uncertain events. • Are more useful than useless.

Question 49

Explain the representativeness heuristic:

Answer 49

Explain the representativeness heuristic:

This is the tendency to judge the frequency or likelihood of an event by the extent to which it resembles the typical case. One way to think about this heuristic is with the outcomes of flipping a coin (Heads vs. Tails)
Representativeness judgements are also influenced by how likely a person resembles a typical case, and because of this, are related to stereotypes. For instance, suppose we learn that Tom is a 41-year-old who enjoys reading nonfiction, listens to classical music, and plays tennis. Then we’re asked which is more likely, that Tom is a Professor at an Ivy League School or a Truck Driver? Here, we’re likely to pick the Prof option. Why? Because we’re using a heuristic to check how representative Tom is of Professors compared to Truck drivers. Tom seems to very much resemble a member of the professor category

Question 50

Describe the availability heuristic

Answer 50

Describe the availability heuristic

This cognitive rule of thumb can be defined as the tendency to judge the frequency or likelihood of an event by the ease with which relevant instances come to mind. It’s how available the instances are in one’s mind, basically. The greater the availability then the greater the tendency to influence judgement. For example, what is more common in the English language, words that begin with the letter r or words that contain r as the third letter
r. But this is in fact wrong; there are apparently more words that contain r as the third letter, but words that start with 4 R are more available cognitively then words that contain r as the third letter.
Ease of retrieving instances is one way of estimating frequency via the availability heuristic, and strength of association is another. Recall that associative bonds strengthen by repeated examples, via recalling instances from memory consistently. In the previous example then, perhaps an individual would be more likely to judge r in the third letter position as more common in words if they had been living in Boston for a semester, and were constantly hearing Boston accents, and the r sounding more like an ah sound when it’s in the third position of a word compared to the first position
Our availability heuristics can be influenced further from, and become biased by, the fact that dramatic events are easier to recall than less dramatic events.

Question 51

Explain Decision framing effects

Answer 51

Explain Decision framing effects

An important element to social cognition is how information is presented, or framed. How information is framed can affect us in myriad ways and in a variety of domains. For instance, consider grocery shopping. We’re looking for some ground beef because it’s taco night, and one package says 90% lean whereas another package says 10% fat. Both numbers present the same facts about the same beef, but the 90% lean seems more appetizing and healthier

Ultimately framing effects are the result of whether something is spun in terms of gains or losses. A gain framed appeal focuses on how doing something will add a positive outcome or confer a benefit. A loss framed appeal in contrast focuses on how not doing something will subtract from our health or add a negative outcome, conferring a loss. As just alluded to, one area where these appeals are quite influential are health related domains. Consider flossing. If the dental message reads, “flossing your teeth daily promotes fresh breath,” then that’s a gain framed appeal. On the flipside, “not flossing daily causes bad breath,” would be an example of a loss framed appeal.
Research suggests that gain framed appeals are more persuasive when targeting behaviors that prevent the onset of disease. Thus, being proactive, trying to eliminate the source of disease before it is diagnosed, is more effective when gain frames are used. However, if the person might already have the disease or does unquestionably have the disease, such as bad breath if we can indeed label that a disease, then loss framed appeals are more persuasive. Thus, if someone suffers from bad breath and aren’t flossing regularly, a message that relays, “if you don’t floss daily then particles of food remain in the mouth, collecting bacteria, and causing bad breath,” would be more likely to get the person to floss than had a gain appeal been 9 relayed.

Question 52

Explain downward social comparisons and exestensial guilt

Answer 52

Explain downward social comparisons and exestensial guilt

The self-esteem defense of downward social comparisons is our defensive tendency to compare ourselves with others who are worse off than we are. This defense can be accented with a single phrase: “It can always be worse.” As though to say, ‘yes, things are bad, but others have it worse than me.’ We might think about the fact that we didn’t do as well on an exam as we had wanted, but then to help repair our selfesteem, we might think, ‘at least I get an opportunity to attend University.’ It’s like preserving our self-worth by counting our blessings or not sweating the small stuff, to an extent. It’s focusing on that things are rather than how things are

Question 53

How can downward comparisons buffer against tragic life events?

Answer 53

How can downward comparisons buffer against tragic life events?

There’s some work suggesting that downward comparisons can help to buffer people against tragic life events and hardships, such as disease diagnoses or accidents. For one thing, research has found that after such incidents people tend to prefer to affiliate with others, but not just family, those who have encountered similar circumstances and are adjusting fairly well. This makes sense because those who are doing well with a similar ailment can act as a model of how to cope. This is one of the primary ideas behind group therapy; namely, that others in the group can act as supporting models of how to persevere and endure a hardship while maintaining self-integrity and esteem. More relevant to this discussion, people in such unfortunate circumstances can cope via downward comparisons. Someone who has a disease diagnosis could think, ‘yes it’s a bad, crummy illness, but catching it early gives me more treatment options, whereas those who didn’t catch it early are far worse off than me.’

Question 54

How do downward comparisons help us buffer guilt?

Answer 54

How do downward comparisons help us buffer guilt?

. But existential guilt is different. Here someone is guilty of something that they have NOT done. This guilt is related to possibility and potentiality. We’re guilty of 7 having not reached our potential, at having not lived the life we wanted to live, at failing to take responsibility for our existence. We regret not living fully enough, not honoring our choices. Omission fuels self loathing in this regard. We regret the things we were too afraid to attempt rather than what we did attempt and failed
With this in mind, how do downward comparisons help to mitigate regrets and existential guilt? We can deal with our regrets by concluding that our regrets could always be more, and thus, worse. Often as we age we consider the lives we’ve led, looking back on our decisions, there is the potential for regret and despair. This potentiality is manifested in the final psychosocial stage articulated by neo analyst Erik Erikson, namely the conflict during old age is integrity versus despair.

Question 55

Explain counterfactual thinking-upward and downward:

Answer 55

Explain counterfactual thinking-upward and downward:

Counterfactual thinking involves mulling over what could have happened but didn’t, and as such it can come in two varieties: upward and downward counterfactuals. The former is what we’ve been discussing, and is indeed the more common.
Upward counterfactuals involve imagining alternatives that are better than actuality, whereas downward counterfactuals involve imagining alternatives that are worse than actuality. If I stay at a sketchy hotel after driving over 14 hours, I might think later that night, ‘I should’ve looked for a much nicer place, one with consistently hot water and a functioning shower.’ This would be an upward counterfactual

At least I didn’t get robbed or murdered.’ This would be a downward counterfactual

In fact, upward counterfactuals can at times be good for future motivations, whether it’s motivation to drive a little longer next time and look for a nicer place, or an athlete who trains even harder so they can get that gold medal rather than the counterfactual heavy silver

Question 56

What is the base rate fallacy?

Answer 56

What is the base rate fallacy?

The base rate fallacy is the tendency to ignore or underuse base rate information (i.e., information about most people), and instead to be influenced by the distinctive features of the case being judged. In other words, we’re not as swayed from consensus information as we often are from more specific examples. Or yet another way to think about this fallacy is that we’re not often skilled at statistical reasoning
Results from… • Poor statistical reasoning • Availability heuristic

Question 57

Explain Gambler’s fallacy and the hot hand:

Answer 57

Explain Gambler’s fallacy and the hot hand:

The Hot Hand • The tendency for gamblers who get lucky to think they have a ‘hot’ hand and their luck will continue. This is all about riding a lucky streak, expecting an outcome to continue

• The Gambler’s Fallacy • The tendency to believe that a particular chance event is affected by previous events and that chance events will even out in the short run.

• Both of these biases are the result of the representativeness heuristic.
about riding a lucky streak, expecting an outcome to continue. In contrast, if someone is betting that tails is due, they’re succumbing to the gambler’s fallacy, or the tendency to believe that a particular chance event is affected by previous events and that chance events will even out in the short run

Question 58

What is introspection?

Answer 58

What is introspection?

Judgements about our own choices and feelings can also be erroneous. Although much of the time we know ourselves through introspection, and can correctly explain our behavior or predict how emotional we would respond to some event, at other times our explanations are flawed. In short, sometimes, like the title of Timothy Wilson’s work from which these ideas are based suggests, We’re Strangers to Ourselves. For example, research has shown that participants preferences are predicted from situational factors than their own internal reasons.

What’s going on here? On social cognitive idea takes us back to dual modes of processing information. It seems that the automatic system quickly makes the judgement, registering a yes or an I like that on our internal like’ometer (i.e., the BAS), but when asked to recall why we like that option or made that choice, we activate the rational system, and search for a deliberative and plausible response (e.g., because that color is pink and I need more of that color in my wardrobe). It seems our rational system is more likely to look inward than outward when searching for an explanation in these types of tasks.

However, research suggests that we overestimate how affected our emotional states would be from such events, both positively and negatively. That is, we think a positive event will confer positive emotions for longer than they actually do and a negative event will confer negative emotions for longer than they actually do. This is labeled our durability bias. So if I think that I would be miserable for a month if the Oilers lost again in the first round then I would be mistaken; in reality my brooding wouldn’t last longer than a week or two

Question 59

What is perserverance of beliefs or confirmation bias?

Answer 59

What is perserverance of beliefs or confirmation bias?

psychology’s formal arrival, which nowadays we refer to as the confirmation bias, or the tendency to notice and search for information that confirms one’s beliefs and to ignore information that disconfirms one’s beliefs. Thus, it seems it’s human nature to in a way be stubborn, to continue to believe something as true even in the face of opposing evidence

Even if better options exist, we 8 might ignore those novel ideas in favor of our already established methods.

Question 60

What is the study associated with confirmation bias?

Answer 60

What is the study associated with confirmation bias?

One study to demonstrate this bias had participants look at pairs of photographs depicting children and adults. For some of the pairs, participants were told the pair was related, but for other pairs participants were given no such information – some of the pairs were in fact truly related whereas others were not. The task of participants was to indicate how much of a relationship they perceived. This was the dependent measure. According to the confirmation bias, prior information should influence their perceptions, working in a top-down processing manner. Indeed, the biggest predictor as to whether or not participants saw a relationship between pairs was if they were told a relationship existed. Participants sought out information consistent with their prior beliefs, for example, erroneously looking for commonalities between the pairs that weren’t even related, and ignoring commonalities between the pairs that were actually related

Question 61

What is elf fulfilling prophecy in relation to perserverance of beliefs?

Answer 61

What is elf fulfilling prophecy in relation to perserverance of beliefs?

The Self fulfilling Prophecy
• The process by which one’s expectations about a person eventually lead that person to behave in ways that confirm those expectations.
• Effect less pronounced as students’ get older.
Our preconceived notions can be so powerful interpersonally that at times our biased expectations can actually cause another individual to behave in such a manner that confirms our expectations. This is what the self-fulfilling prophecy is all about. The first documented instance of this phenomenon came from elementary school classrooms in the late 1960’s. These researchers noticed that teachers had higher expectations for some students more than others, and wondered if those expectations facilitated the students’ performance or hindered performance. Does a teacher’s expectation or their belief in turn cause a student to excel in the classroom?

Question 62

Define attitudinal reactions

Answer 62

Define attitudinal reactions

Quadrant figure 6.1- people evaluate objects along both positive AND negative dimensions. As a result our attitudes can be positive, negative, ambient or indifferent
This figure shows how we tend to feel about things, whether people or objects. The two most straightforward quadrants of the figure are when we feel uniformly positive about something or uniformly negative about something. When our positive reaction is high and our negative reaction low then we hold a positive attitude about something, but when these are reversed then we hold a negative attitude about something. However, as mentioned on the prior slide, we also tend to have mixed feelings or ambivalence about things as well. When we hold dual attitudes, we have a strong positive and a strong negative reaction to the object. The opposite of this then is apathy or indifference. This state of being means we have neither a positive reaction nor a negative reaction to the stimulus or object. Here, we’re neutral, and have no opinion one way or the other.

Question 63

How are attitudes measured?

Answer 63

How are attitudes measured?

• Self-report • An assessment in which people make ratings pertaining to themselves (e.g., how one feels).
• Attitude Scale • A multiple item questionnaire designed to measure a person’s attitude toward some object.
• Reliability • Consistency across repeated measurements

Question 64

What is a covert meaure for studying attitudes?

Answer 64

What is a covert meaure for studying attitudes?

Attitudes can also be measured covertly. Such techniques are needed to assess the automatic mode of dual cognitive processes, material that might not be accessible to awareness, or material which the participant wouldn’t readily want to admit to. These measures make it particularly difficult for the participant to monitor and alter their true feelings. One such measure is with the facial electromyograph (EMG). The facial EMG records muscular activity in the face. There are many muscles in the face and neck region, and some of them are so refined and minor that detecting them with the naked eye is virtually impossible. Thus, they cannot be seen or assessed simply with external observer ratings via hidden cameras or one-way mirrors

Question 65

Facial Electromyograph (EMG) :

Answer 65

Facial Electromyograph (EMG) :

An electronic instrument that records facial muscle activity associated with emotions and attitudes.
Facial emg makes it possible to detect differences between positive and negative attitudes. Major facial muscles and recording sites for electrodes. When people hear a message in which they agree rather than disagree there is a relative increase in EMG activity in the DEPRESSOR and ZYGOMATIC MUSCLES but a relative decrease in CORRUGATOR and FRONTALIS MUSCLES. These changes cannot be seen with the naked eye

Question 66

Explain cognitive dissonance theory:

Answer 66

Explain cognitive dissonance theory:

The theory holding that inconsistent cognitions arouses psychological tension that people become motivated to reduce.
• The biggest determinant of experiencing dissonance is when we commit to an attitude discrepant behavior freely with at least some knowledge of the consequences.
This theory starts with the premise that as human beings we have a strong desire for cognitive consistency. We want our attitudes and behaviors to be consistent rather than inconsistent. That is, we wish to avoid dissonance, since this state of discord can lead to anxious arousal, to a state of undesirable tension
The tenet of dissonance theory is that inconsistent cognitions arouse psychological tension that is aversive, thereby motivating the person to reduce this tension. Therefore, when have two inconsistent cognitive molecules in our minds, this will lead to arousal, and in order to subdue that arousal, we need to change our attitude to correspond with our behavior, or try to rationalize and justify our behavior. As an Example, imagine we just had an intense workout and we feel healthy, in shape, and strong. Then later on that night we overindulge on extra Halloween candy. We might have some cognitive dissonance now. Why? Because we’re holding two inconsistent attitudes in mind. We were healthy and had exercised but then regained all those calories we had shed. Yet, it’s possible the person wouldn’t experience an ounce of dissonance because it’s easy to rationalize their indulgence on sweets (e.g., it’s fine if I pigged out on candy because I ran 5 miles earlier today). This is in fact the entire rationalization of the diet known as the “guyit,

Question 67

What is the biggest determinant of experiencing/feeling cognitive dissonance?

Answer 67

What is the biggest determinant of experiencing/feeling cognitive dissonance?

t’s crucial to mention that the biggest determinant as to whether or not dissonance will be experienced is when we commit to an attitude discrepant behavior freely with at least some knowledge of the consequences. In other words, dissonance is going to be most pronounced when we feel we have some choice and are aware of our actions. C
? Dissonance theory suggests we have to change our attitude if we cannot provide a plausible explanation for our actions. Thus, participants maintained an inner belief that the task was actually somewhat enjoyable