PSYCHOLODGY UNIT 2 Flashcards
What is social cognitions
the way we behave in social settings and how we interpret the behaviour of others.
this also includes
1. social perception
2. social understanding
3. social decision making
person perception
process by which people think about, appraise and evaluate other people. person perception leads us to make judgements about people based on limited information and there for isnt always accurate
key concepts in person perception
physical cues- appearance, facial expression and overall manner serves as signals that allow us to draw conclusions about a person
saliency detection- the tendy to notice physical features that are unique, novel or stand out from the norm. we tend to spend longer looking at someone we perceive as saliency
social categorise - how we group individuals, eg sex, race, age
attributions
process of assigning causes for our own behaviour, behaviour of others and events we witness
internal dispositional factors - attributions
when a dispositional attrivuton is made the cause of the given behaviour is with in hte person. they can include variable like attitude, aptitude, charcter and personality
external/situational factors - attributions
the cause of the given behaviour is assigned to the situation. the person responsible for the behaviour may assign casuality to the environment or weather
fundamental attribution error
overestimating the personal causes for others behaviour while underestimating the situatinal causes
self serving bias
attributing personal success to internal facotrs and personal failure to external factors
attitudes
leanred ideas we hold about ourselves, others, objects and experiences. attitudes are not innate. they are learned through exposure to the environment and can cause a person to repson in a positive or negative way
some examples of what attitudes can be formed against
- death penalty
- birth control
- euthanasia
4.global warning - pokie machines
- co education
- school uniform
tri component model of attitudes
ABC
AFFECTIVE- emotional reactions or feelings of an individual has towards an object person group event or issue
BEHAVIOURAL- refers to the way which an attitude is expressed throuhg our actions
COGNITIVE - refers to beleifs we have about an object person group event or issue
define stereotype
a widely held generalisation about a group of people. a cognitive process whereby a set of characteristic is attributed to all group members
cogniative bias
systematic elyrror that occur in our decision making. cognitive biases occur when we attempt to simplify the information we are processing especially if we have to interpret quick
halo affect
occures when the positive evaluation we hold about one quality of a person influences our beliefs and expectations regarding other qualities of that person
dunning kruger affect
occurs when people with low ability at a task overestimate their own skill set and that people with high ability at a task underestimate their own skill set
heuristics
mental shortcuts used to make quicker and more efficent decisions. made with out quickly evaluating first
positives of heuristics
1.They reduce cognitive load that is normally required in decision making
2.Snap judgements can be made that save time and mental effort
3.It simplifies complex information
- Attention is directed toward the question, probable outcomes and plausible answers
three types of heuristics
ARA
Availability- decisions based on what first come to mind or info that is readily available
Representatives- basing decisions on existing understanding of the world
Affect- decisions influenced by an emotional state
prejudice
The negative preconceived notion that we hold towards individuals due to their membership in a particular group.
Prejudice leads to discrimination or the unequal treatment of people who should have the same rights as others.
discrimination
The action of being prejudiced or treating others in an unfair manner based on the negative attitude held about that person or the group to which they belong.
Discrimination frequently prevents people from doing things they should have the opportunity to do.
direct discrimination
A person or group is treated less favourably than another person or group because of their background or certain personal characteristics.
indirect discrimination
An unreasonable rule or policy that is the same for everyone but has an unfair effect on a particular group.
forms of discrimination
sexism
racism
agism
reducing predjudice - ISSMEC
INTERGROUP CONTACT
SUSTAINED CONTACT
SUPERORDINATE GOALS
MUTUAL INTERDEPENDENCE
EQUALITY OF STATUS
CHANGING SOCIAL NORMS
Obedience
Obedience occurs when people change their behaviour in response to direct commands from others.
factors that affect conformity
NORMATIVE INFLUENCE
INFORMATIONAL INFLUENCE
UNANIMITY
GROUP SIZE
DEINDIVIDUATION
Social connections
The belief that we belong to a group and generally feel close to other people.
Strong social connections have a beneficial effect on our mental health because they help foster
empathy,
higher self-esteem
the development of trusting relationships
independence
Independence occurs when an individual is aware of how the group expects them to behave or respond, but their decision-making is not swayed in any way by the expectations of the group.
anti- conformity
Deliberate refusal to comply with social norms as demonstrated by ideas, beliefs or judgements that challenge these social norms
devils advocate
The role of the devil’s advocate is to actively argue against the points of group members, even if they share the same beliefs as the group members.
They take the opposite position of the group members to encourage them to reflect on their positions and prevent them from hastily arriving at a solution without considering potential consequences.
benefits of devils advocate
- not constrained
- can challenge group assumptions
- challenge proprosed solutions
- consider risk vs reward
- prevent groupthink
- encourage alternatives
controlled processess
conscious, voluntary actions or cognitive processes that require a high level of attention and monitoring
automatic processes
actions that require little conscious awareness or mental effort and do not interfere with performance on other activities
sustained attention
also known as vigilance, involves maintaining a high degree of attention over a prolonged period
selective attention
focusing on a single activity while disregarding other environmental stimuli
perception
a psychological actviity that gives meaning to the stimuli our sense organs detect that help us understand the world
divided attention
distributing attention to allow the processing of two or more stimuli at the same time
bottom up processing
we receive sensory information and do not rely on prior experience to interpret it
top down processing
brain starts with an overall idea about a stimulus and uses contect and general knowledge to fill in gaps
visual perception
gives meaning to a visual stimulus. it involves
selection
organisation interpretation
visual sensation
being aware of the visual stimulus. it involves reception transdcution and transmission
depth perception
process of perceiving the world in three dimensions, despite the two dimensionals retinal image we receive
binocular depth cues
requires the combined infromation from both eyes
monocular depth cues
requires information from one eye only that is each eye can operate indepedntly of the other eye
convergence
involves the brain detecting changed in muscle tensions in msucles surrounding the eye as the eyes turn inwards towards to focus on objects that are close
retinal disparity
as our eyes are 6-7cm apart each retina receives a slightly different view of the visual image. the brain combines to the ideas
