Social Cognition Flashcards
Person Perception
your own understanding of reality, forming opinions on others.
Example: Forming an opinion on someone based on their appearance.
In the movie, the people who were white didn’t want to talk to ‘black’ people just because of their appearance and race.
Attitudes
Evaluations of people, objects, and ideas.
The way we think of something.
Tricomponent Attitude Model
Affective, Behavioural, Cognitive.
Affective
How you feel about the attitude of the object.
Example: I love pizza
Behavioural
Actions that reflect your attitude.
Example: I eat pineapple on pizza.
Cognitive
What you think about the object.
Example: I love pineapple on pizza, because it is both sweet and savoury.
Limitations of the Tricomponent Model
Our behavior doesn’t always reflect our attitude.
Movie Example: Forced to sit with someone of a different race on the bus, and rooming with them.
Stereotypes
A generalised belief about a group of people.
Example: Blonds are dumb.
Movie Example: Most young girls are into dolls, but sheryl is into football.
Prejudice
Negative feeling against people within a certain group.
Example: Sex, Gender, Race, Ageism.
Movie Example: The white people of the town, have a negative feeling towards the African Americans.
Discrimination
The unjust treatment of people within a certain group.
Example: Saying hurtful things about your race.
Movie Example: Gerry’s girlfriend refuses to shake Julius’ hand.
Prejudice is a _______, Discrimination is an ___.
Prejudice is a FEELING, Discrimination is an ACT.
Ways to prevent and reduce prejudice.
Education, Cognitive intervention, Direct Experience, Intergroup Contact, Super-Coordinate Goals.
Education (reducing prejudice)
Helps students identify prejudice and discrimination, as well as acceptance and tolerance of others.
Movie Example: No example in the movie, didn’t have any lessons on helping the students identify prejudice.
Cognitive Intervention
Informing people about the group they hold prejudice against. And providing time for this information to be understood.
Movie Example: They are all team-mates and need to work together.
Super-Coordinate Goals.
Getting conflicting groups to work together on a common goal, they both want and need to solve.
Movie Example: Winning the championship, by working together as a team.
Direct experience.
Experience of another culture or lifestyle. This may lead to bigger appreciation of the culture or group which may have a prejudice held against them.
Movie Examples: White people got to see how the African Americans were treated, when they hung out with them in public.
Intergroup contact.
Increasing direct contact between two groups who are prejudiced against each other.
Movie example: sitting them besides the opposite race in the movie- (the bus scene)
Intergroup contract includes:
- SUSTAINED contact over a period of time.
- Groups must CO-OPERATE together.
- Both groups must share EQUAL STATUS.
What are the effects of prejudice and discrimination?
Effects:
- Mental Health.
- Violence.
- Self Esteem.
Cognitive Bias
a systematic error in thinking that affects the decisions and judgments that people make.
Self-serving bias
the tendency for people to take personal credit for success but blame failure on external factors
fundamental attribution error
Tendency to explain people’s behavior in terms of internal factors, whilst ignoring external factors.
Actor-Observer Bias
Tendency to explain others’ behaviors in terms of internal factors, but our own in terms of external factors. We place more responsibility on others for their actions when something bad happens, while we tend to let ourselves off the hook.
defensive attribution
Occurs when we learn of a person in crisis or adversity and attribution of that event to something internal and controllable. This reduces the risk of this happening to us.
Cognitive process
Follows 3 distinct steps:
- Observation
- Conscious determination.
- Attribute
Observation.
An observation of an outward act of behaviour.
Conscious Determination.
Acknowledgement of the behaviour.
Attribute
We decide on our attribute cause to this observed behaviour.
Personal attributions
Caused by something internal
External attributions
Caused by something outside the individual.
