PSYCH EXAM V2 Flashcards
What is social cognition?
How we communicate and interact with others on many different levels everyday.
What is person perception?
the different mental processes that we use to form impressions of other people and conclusions we come to based on their personal characteristics.
What is a negative of person perception/social categorisation?
stereotyping
What is anchoring bias?
when people rely heavily on the first information they find when making decisions and ignore all others
What is attentional bias?
prioritising attention to certain information over others
you get braces and notice everyone else has them
What is conformation bias?
only see/believe/seek evidence that confirms belief and ignores others that don’t
what is false consensus bias
tendency to see our own behaviours as common or widespread
what is the halo effect
where appearances influence beliefs in other qualities
what is hindsight bias
the tendency to recall past events as being more predictable than they were
what is misinformation bias
when new information of an event influence a memory of that event
What is optimism bias
the tendency to overestimate the likelihood of experiencing positive rather than negative events
What is self serving bias
attributing success to internal factors but failure to external factors
What is the dunning Kruger effect
the tendency to overestimate ones knowledge on a certain topic
What are examples of non-verbal communication?
facial expressions, eye contact, posture, gestures and movement
What are attributions?
Inferences that we make about the cause of an event
What are the two types of attributes?
personal/internal and situational/external
What is a situational attribute?
When someone’s behaviour is explained in terms if the situation they are in
What is a personal attribute?
When someone’s behaviour is explained in terms of their personal qualities
What is fundamental attribution error?
the tendency to overestimate the influence of personal factors and underestimate the impact of situational factors, contributing a persons behaviour to internal rather than external factors.
What is saliency bias?
The person tends to be more noticeable/salient than the situation
What is just world belief?
Believing that the world is just and the person gets what they deserve
What is actor observer bias?
the tendency to attribute our our own behaviour to external factors and others to internal factors
What is self serving bias?
attribute our successes to internal factors and failures to external factors
What is salience?
any personal characteristic that is distinctive, prominent, conspicuous or noticeable
What usually creates salience?
novelty, uniqueness or unexpectedness
What is social categorisation?
classifying people into different groups based on common characteristics
What is an attitude?
an evaluation a person makes about an object, person, group, event or issues (generally consistent and long lasting)
What are 5 features of an attitude?
- learnt through experiences
- different intensities
- long lasting
- can be changed
- we can be unaware until expressed
What is an acronym for the 3 components of the tri component model of attributes?
ABC - affective, behavioural and cognitive
What are the three components on the tri component model of attributes?
cognitive (beliefs), behavioural (actions) and affective (feelings)
What does the cognitive component represent?
the beliefs we have
What does the affective component represent?
emotional reactions/feelings we have
What does the behavioural component represent?
the way an attitude is expressed through actions
What needs to be present for an attitude to exsist?
all 3 attitude components (Cognitive, Behavioural and Affective)
Does the tri component model of attitudes always have to be consistent?
no
What does inconsistency between components often mean?
some components are stronger than others
How can attitudes get stronger?
more understanding on topic and how the information is gathered
Is an attitude stronger when information is gathered from direct experiences or indirectly?
direct experiences
What are limitations of the tri component model?
attitudes are not reflected by their behaviour
How can being around like minded people affect attitudes?
strengthens beliefs
What does accessibility mean in relation to attitudes?
strong thoughts, come to mind easily, thought about regularly, well known and stored in memory
What 2 components of the tri component model can be overpowered by social context/ the situation?
affective and cognitive
How does control affect the consistency of an attitude/behaviour?
more likely to match when people believe they have control over the behaviour
What is an ingroup?
Any group you belong to or identify with
What is an outgroup?
Any group you don’t belong to or identify with
What are stereotypes?
a generalisation about the personal characteristics of members of a social group
Are stereotypes positive or negative?
both
What do stereotypes influence?
expectations or what some is like
How do stereotypes help us?
assist in knowing how to react with new people
What can stereotypes lead to?
social stigma
What is social stigma?
negative labels and attitudes associated with disapproval or rejection by others who aren’t labelled the same
How does social stigma affect the stigmatised group?
feel shame, rejection, restrict ambitions and lower confidence and lower self-esteem
What is cognitive dissonance?
an unpleasant psychological state that occurs when people become aware that there is an inconsistency among their beliefs, attitudes or cognitions.
What are the 3 basic ways to reduce cognitive dissonance?
- change our dissonant cognition
- change the behaviour to suit dissonant cognition
- add new cognitions
How do we change our dissonant cognition reduce cognitive dissonance?
convince ourselves that our thinking is faulty or further justifying a belief
What is an example of adding new cognitions to reduce cognitive dissonance?
Not playing sport (dissonant cognition) because I have a bad knee (new justifying cognition)
What is cognitive bias?
a systematic error of judgment and faulty decision making.
What does cognitive bias lead to?
inaccurate or unreasonable conclusions
Why is cognitive bias considered to be a systematic error?
- due to biased thinking
- occurs naturally
- constant and predictable (not random)
What are examples of a cognitive bias?
actor-observer, anchoring, attentional, conformation, false-consensus, hindsight, misinformation, optimism and Dunning-Kruger
What is a heuristic?
a mental short cut we use to make quick judgments or quickly solve problems based on similar experiences
Are heuristics accurate?
not always
What can heuristics involve?
involve or lead to cognitive bias
What is an example of heuristics?
when playing monopoly a heuristic may be to purchase as many properties as possible, however it doesn’t ensure winning but does increase one’s chance of winning
What is an availability heuristic?
a judgment or heuristic that comes to mind quickly is deemed as significant, however, often incorrect
What is availability bias?
the tendency to think that examples of things we can quickly recall are more or less common than they actually are
What is representativeness heuristic?
categorising a person, object, event or other thing by judging how closely it matches our idea of a typical member of the category
What is affect heuristic?
making a judgment that is influenced by the emotion being experienced at the time
What aspects do we commonly judge during a first impression?
physical appearance, behaviour and facial expressions
Are first impressions lasting?
yes
What are the 3 main issues with stereotypes?
often inaccurate
can be harmful
leads to prejudice
How do we often view people in our in group?
positively and we develop loyalty easier