Quiz S5 P3 Flashcards
Social cognition
The study of how people understand their world: their thinking, their actions, and the environment in which their behavior occurs.
Baron and Bryne
Explain that to make sense of the world we must engage in three cognitive processes:
1. interpret the information
2. analyze the initial valuation
3. recall previous knowledge and experiences
Helder - naïve scientists
individuals who attempt to link observable behaviors with unobservable causes (interpret the meaning of behavior based on causes rather than the behavior itself)
Principles of social cognition
- people are cognitive misers
- humans engage in both automatic and controlled thinking
- humans seek consistency in behavior
- self esteem guides human behavior
people are cognitive misers definition
human beings are limited in their ability and capacity to process information. accuracy may be sacrificed in favor of making a quick decision
humans engage in both automatic and controlled thinking definition
when faced with a familiar or repetitive situation, people often rely on automatic thought processes as this requires less time and effort
humans seek consistency in behavior definition
inconsistent cognition is self-justified by making a behavior consistent
self esteem guides human behavior definition
people with higher self-esteem prove to have better performance on cognitive tasks or in social situations
Attribution theory
when interpreting behavior of others we tend to attribute dispositional/personal and situational/external factors
correspondent inference theory Jones and Davis
the personality characteristic actually corresponds to the behavior itself.
Jones and Davis: factors that affect the probability of making dispositional attributions?
- hedonic relevance: behavior affects + or - to the person making the attribution
- free choice: if the person decides to act in their own will, we are more likely to make a dispositional attribution
- social desirability
Covariation model
takes both dispositional and situational factors into account.
1. consensus: how do other people react to same situation
2. consistency: how much do people react the same way
3. distinctiveness: is this person’s behavior different from his behavior in other situations
casual schemata model
for people we do not know, we use preconceived ideas about the causes of an event or behavior based on past or similar experiences
The fundamental attribution error
the FAE refers to the tendency to overestimate the importance of dispositional factors and underestimate the importance of situational factors
the ultimate attribution error
uae is the tendency to underestimate situational factors and overestimate personal factors as causes of behavior at a group level
