Social Cognition Flashcards
Automatic thinking
quick, effortless, automatic
Controlled thinking
more effort, deliberate
Schema
a mental structure that includes organized sets of cognitions about concepts or stimuli and their relations to other things
Pros: aid in info processing, help us understand the world
Cons: can provide us with inaccurate information
Automatic Thinking can lead to…
1) biased memory of information
2) biased interpretation and processing of information
3) biased judgment and decision-making
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
when beliefs about an outcome help to bring about that outcome
Belief Perseverance
the tendency to maintain beliefs even after they have been discredited
Cognitive Heuristic
mental shortcut
Pros: aid in info processing
Cons: not always accurate
Representative Heuristic
when classifying something, we largely ask “Is it representative of this category?”
- classify objects on basis of similarity to category
- can lead to errors because of the base rate fallacy
Availability Heuristic
when determining likelihood of an event, we largely base our judgment on ease with which the event comes to mind
- base rate fallacy also a problem
