lecture 6 Flashcards
self-serving bias
- attribute success to our good fortune, failure to circumstance
- we see ourselves more favorably than we see others
- “unrealistic” optimism
- false consensus and uniqueness
self-verification theory
-people have a need to confirm their self-concept- positive or negative (might conflict with the need to maintain a positive self-view)
study: choose who to have an interaction with- those with negative self-concept:
were more likely to choose the unfavorable person
study: choose who to have an interaction with- those with positive self-concept:
chose favorable person
no conflict between two motives
what is automatic thinking?
thinking that is nonconscious, unintentional, involuntary, and effortless
(can be very beneficial, sometimes leads to problems)
when perceiving and processing social information, prejudgments can:
bias our perceptions, interpretations, and later recall (can be conscious or unconscious such as schemas)
car crash example of prejudgements showed that:
about how fast were the cars going when they_____ each other?
- smashed (fastest estimate)
- hit
- contacted (slowest estimate)
what is a schema?
a schema is a mental structure people use to organize their knowledge of the social world around themes or subjects (influences information noticed, thought about, and remembered)
why are schemas important?
help us make sense of the world (we have schemas about many things)
what if no schemas?
Korsakov’s syndrome
what is accessibility? how do they affect which schemas are applied?
accessibility= extent to which schemas and concepts are at the forefront of the mind and thus likely to be used in making judgments
types of accessibility?
chronic accessibility temporary accessibility (priming)
when are schemas problematic?
- stereotypes
- when schemas can be activated for reasons that are arbitrary
what are stereotypes?
schemas applied to social groups, such as fraternity, gender, or race
(most often studied stereotypes are for African-Americans and women)
What are the “Donald” studies?
- participants were told doing 2 unrelated experiments
1) perception test: identifying colors while memorizing list of words
2) reading comprehension study: read paragraph and give impression of donald
what were the results of the “donald” studies?
the 1/2 of participants with positive words in 1st experiment rated donald as more positive “adventurous, self confident, independent”
the 1/2 of participants with negative words in 1st experiment rated donald as “reckless, conceited, aloof”
why were the “donald” studies significant?
showed how schemas can influence opinions when they are both:
- accessible
- applicable
In the study “excuse me, but what about actual behavior?” what did they test?
- subjects had to either unscramble neutral, polite, or rude words
- told to find the experimenter when finished, but they were immersed in conversation for 10 minutes
what were the results of the word unscramble/find experimenter study?
those who unscrambled polite words 15% would interrupt
- w/ neutral 40%
- w/rude 60%
confirmatory hypothesis testing is to answer the question:
do we seek information objectively, or are we inclined to confirm the suspicions we already have?
Snyder & Swann: Confirmatory hypothesis testing experiment
- interview person, told they were either extrovert or introvert
- subjects made up different questions that lead to confirmation of original ideas
results of Synder and Swann confirmatory hypothesis testing
even observers of the interview, blind to condition, saw the “extroverts” as more extroverted, and the “introverts” as more introverted
we are less likely to use this confirmatory hypothesis technique if we:
- if we are uncertain of our impression
- if we are concerned with the accuracy of the impression
belief perseverance
the tendency to maintain a belief even after it has been discredited
(the explanation or theory about why the initial belief was true often survives)
