social cognition Flashcards
what is social cognition?
involves how we perceive and use information to understand and make judgements about ourselves and others in different social situations
what is person perception
mental processes we use to form impressions and draw conclusions about the personal characteristics of other people
what is the halo effect?
an example of person perception based on physical cues. it is the tendency to perceive physically attractive people more positively (and vice versa)
fundamental attribution error
for others we overestimate the role of internal factors and underestimate the role of external factors. e.g someone looks angry because they are rude rather than something that might’ve happened to them.
actor-observer bias
behaviour of others internal, behaviour of ourselves external. e.g asleep in class because lazy vs sick
self serving bias
positive outcome, internal. negative outcome, external. e.g i got a good grade because im smart. i got a bad grade because ive got a bad teacher
Attitudes
An attitude involves reactions – likes and dislikes, feelings for and against, preferences and aversions, or non-involvement.
Is learnt – we are not born with it
Is stable and relatively enduring
Can influence an individual’s behaviour
3 components of attitudes (tri component model)
affective, behavioural and cognitive (ABC). feel, do, think / believe
Limitations of the Tri-Component Model
an inconsistency can occur between the three different components of an attitude; usually between a person’s attitude and their actual behaviour.
For example, a person may hate school (affective) but still study hard (behaviour) as they believe a good outcome will be beneficial for their future pathway (cognitive).
cognitive dissonance
unpleasant psychological state, occurs when people become aware that there is inconsistency among their various beliefs, attitudes or behaviour
ways to reduce cognitive dissonance
Change in cognition
Change in behaviour
3 aspects of cognitive bias
It is flawed thinking attributable to the person who thinks in a biased way
It tends to occur naturally, often without their conscious awareness of its use
It occurs constantly and predictably under certain circumstances
cognitive bias
distorted or mistaken way of thinking that usually leads to inaccurate or unreasonable conclusions.
Anchoring Bias
Attentional Bias
Confirmation Bias
False-consensus Bias
Hindsight Bias
Misinformation Effect
Optimism Bias
Dunning-Kruger Effect
anchoring: decisions are influenced by a particular reference point or ‘anchor’.
attentional: perception is affected by selective factors in their attention.
confirmation bias: search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one’s prior beliefs or values.
false-consensus bias: see their own behavioral choices and judgments as relatively common and appropriate to existing circumstances
hindsight bias: perceive past events as having been more predictable than they were.
misinformation effect: recall of episodic memories becomes less accurate because of post-event information.
optimism bias: believe that they themselves are less likely to experience a negative event.
dunning-kruger effect: people with low ability, expertise, or experience regarding a type of task or area of knowledge tend to overestimate their ability or knowledge
three types of heuristics
representative heuristics: estimate likelihood of something occuring or being true based on its similarities to our existing understanding and expectations. “if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, its probably a duck”
availability heuristics: use the info we first think of / is exposed to a lot or easily to make a decision.
affect heuristics: used when decision making is influenced by an individual’s current emotional state or mood. “going with your gut”
factors that reduce prejudice
intergroup contact: increase contact between stereotype holders and stereotype targets.
superordinate goals: members of opposing groups should have shared goals that individuals or groups can only achieve with the cooperation of others.
mutual interdependence: members of the group are reliant on each other to achieve their own goals.
equality of status: members of the in group and out group interact with each other, but without one group exerting power over the other.
changing social norms: prejudice can be reduced by changing the negative or harmful standards or behaviours that might be accepted within society.
Prejudice Vs. Discrimination
Prejudice is an attitude.
Discrimination is behaviour arising from prejudice.
Social Influence
The effects of the presence or actions of others (real or imagined) on the way people think, feel and behave.
Always involves a degree of pressure.
It can come from a person, group or institution, and can be positive (constructive) or negative (harmful).
Group Influence
A Group is any collection of two or more people who interact with and influence one another and who share a common purpose. Characteristics, Number of people, Interaction for longer than a few moments, Individuals influence one another
Share common purpose or goal, Feeling in or a part of perception of belonging, Satisfy some need,
Interdependent
Aggregate (collective) Influence
Number of people
Same location
Common activity
Different from a group because:
Minimal direct interaction
No shared purpose/interdependence
No feeling of belonging,
In group
is the group that you belong to or identify with. We have no prejudice towards people in this group.
Out group
is a group you do not identify with or belong to. We often have prejudice against people belonging to out groups
Obedience
when we follow the commands of someone with authority, or the rules/laws of our society.
Factors influencing Obedience
Social Proximity, group pressure, Legitimacy of authority figure
