L08 - Social cognition Flashcards
What are the two needs that people are motivated by?
- Form a coherent view of the world
2. Gain control over the environment
What is social cognition?
- Social cog encompasses all thought processes that involve ppl:
- “The process by which people think about and make sense of other people, themselves and social situations”
- “The perception of others, self and interpersonal knowledge”
Why is social cognition important in medicine?
- Med deals with ppl
- A lot of people’s decisions are influenced by social factors - Social cog is v important determinant of behaviour
- Prov understanding of how ppl think and behave, which can then help us influence how ppl think and behave
What is attribution theory?
- Explanation for the CAUSE of events/behaviours
- Based on locuses of causality
What are the different locuses of causality?
- Internal/ dispositional locus
- Cause = internal to the person (i.e. personality, mood, abilities, attitude and effort
- Controllable - External/ situational locus
- Cause = external to the person (i.e. circumstances, actions of others, nature of situation, social pressures, luck)
- Uncontrollable
How would you describe ‘ability’ in terms of locus of control (LoC) in the attribution theory?
- Internal LoC
- Stable
How would you describe ‘task difficulty’ in terms of locus of control (LoC) in the attribution theory?
- External LoC
- Stable
How would you describe ‘effort’ in terms of locus of control (LoC) in the attribution theory?
- Internal LoC
- Unstable
How would you describe ‘luck’ in terms of locus of control (LoC) in the attribution theory?
- External LoC
- Unstable
What is Kelley’s covariation theory?
- Causality is ascribed to the cause that co-varies with the behaviour (how cause co-varies with behaviour)
What are the three factors in Kelley’s theory?
- Consensus - do other people do the same in this situation?
- Consistency - does the behaviour occur in the same way on different OCCASIONS (i.e. personality, patient may do smth that is out of the ordinary as their personality would not suggest for them to do that) ?
- Distinctiveness - does the behaviour occur the same way in other SITUATIONS (behaviour usual or unusual for tha person across all situations)?
What are examples of some different biases that can affect how attributions are made?
- Actor-observer bias
- Self serving bias
- Fundamental attribution error
- Heuristics
- Culture - Individualist or collectivist
What is actor-observer bias?
Tendency to attribute other people’s behaviour to internal causes, and attribute our behaviour to external causes
(basically hypocrite and making up excuses)
What is self-serving bias/ hedonically biased attributions?
Tendency to:
- Take credit for successes (internal attribution)
- Deny responsibility for failures or negatives (external attribution)
What are some examples of heuristics?
- Representative heuristic
- Availability heuristic
- False consensus effect
- Anchoring heuristic
What is representative heuristic?
Tendency to allocate a set of attributions to someone if they match the prototype of a given category (tends to be stereotypical)
What is availability heuristic?
Tendency to judge the frequency or probability of an event based on how easily examples come to mind (recent cases will bias your thinking) - ‘med student syndrome’
What is false consensus effect?
Tendency to see one’s own behaviour as typical and to assume that under the same circumstances others would react the same way
What is anchoring heuristic?
Tendency to be biased towards initial information/ value in making quantitative judgements
What is Leventhal’s self regulation model?
A system of conscious personal management that involved the process of guiding one’s own thoughts, behaviours and feelings to reach goals (shows how patient will self-reg their behaviour in the future)
- Understand the patient’s emotional responses and coping strategies
What are some of the different types of illness attributions by patients?
- About symptoms - disease or normal?
- About cause - virus, genetics, smoking?
- About illness management responsibility - doctor or self?
What are some different dimensions of attribution?
- Internal External
- Stable Unstable
- Global Specific
- Controllable Uncontrollable
What is fundamental attribution error?
Tendency to attribute behaviours to a person’s internal qualities, while underestimating situational influences
What is the importance of attributions to doctors?
- May be able to predict and influence their behaviour
2. Understand own att processes means may be able to commit fewer biases/ errors and so clarify/ expand thinking
What is individualist thinking?
People are independent and focused on achieving own private goals
- Rights, needs and preferences override social obligation
- Personality, morality, health (mental and physical), mental state
What is collectivist thinking?
People are interdependent - focused on obligations to family and community
- Maintaining norms, standards, traditions - connections between individual and immediate (social) environ
Why is attributions about symptoms significant?
- Self-diagnosis not accurate
- Symptoms can be misread (availability bias) - Self-serving att can lead to delays in consulting
- Defensive avoidance (by fear); initially psychologically protective, but can have negative health impacts long term
Why is attributions about causes significant?
- Patients coming up with hypotheses for cause of illness
- Cause of illness is one of most important pieces of info people want from dr.
- How accepting people are of this info will be influenced by their att - Affect patient’s decisions about controllability
- Is the person responsible for the illness? - Affect coping and adaptation
- How do ppl adapt? What motivates ppl to get well again?
Why is attributions about responsibility for illness management significant?
- Internal v external att have v diff outcomes depending on illness
- Internal att leads to better mngment of condition
- Chance att leads to poorer mngmnet
- Proven that chance att more common in women and internal att more women in men - High levels of internal control can lead to personal blame if illness is uncontrollable
- Does Dr. and patient’s att match?
- Will affect how approach convo and recommendations for treatment
What can the different dimensions of attribution be applied to?
- Symptom perception
- Social messages
- Illness cause/ control
- Coping
What is stage 1 of Leventhal’s self-ref model?
Interpretation
- Symptom perception
- Social mssgs –> deviation from norm
What is stage 2 of Leventhal’s self-reg model?
Coping
- Approach coping
- Avoidance coping
What is stage 3 of Leventhal’s self-reg model?
Appraisal
- Was coping strategy effective?
What is the theory of planned behaviour?
Theory that links one’s beliefs and behaviour
- States that intention toward behaviour, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control, shape an individual’s behavioural intentions and behaviours
What do health campaigns/ interventions aim to do?
Try to change att around food to be more: - Internal - Stable - Global - Controllable (only work if LoC is internal)
What are subjective norms caused by according to the theory of planned behaviour?
- Beliefs about other’s attitude to behaviour
- Motivation to comply
What is perceived behavioural control caused by according to the theory of planned behaviour?
- Internal control factors
- External control factors
What is behavioural attitude caused by according to the theory of planned behaviour?
- Beliefs about outcome
- Outcome evaluation
How can you try to influence ppl’s behaviour?
Change ppl’s att
Describe a pessimistic attributional style
Negative events are internal, stable and global
Describe an internal attributional style
Good health practices
What is pessimistic attributional style characteristic of?
Depression and a risk factor for physical illness (may be related to reduced immune function)
Why is self-management training good?
- Helps patient to gain control over illness (boosts internal att)
- Aims to maximise QOL
How can self-management training be carried out?
- Structured, progressive skills training
- Usually group sessions
- Can be IT based (interactive PC programmes, videos, internet sites)
