social cognition and attribution Flashcards
define thought
the internal symbol and language that we use which is conscious
controllable
define cognition
conscious thingking plus underlying non-conscious processes that are automatic
memory, executive finctions, etc
define social cognition
focus on how cognition is effected by wider and more immediate social contexts and on how cognition affects our social behaviour
what is impression formation
out perception of a person
what we notice about a person
what we take in subconsciously about a person
what aspects of these are most influential
what are social schemas
our mental representation of a person
organise and categorise information about people
direct future cognition, emotions and behaviours about and towards other people
influence future perceptions about people
what contributes to impression formation
physical features
non-verbal communications
observations of behaviour
impression formation -
how are physical features interpreted when impression formation occurs
individual and cultural associations dictate associations between the physical features of a person and stereotyped psychological , personality and social characteristis
tall = good leader
asian = smart
red head= hot head
in impression formation, what are the consequences of physical beauty?
people prefer to meat attractive strangers than intelligent strangers
people are more likely to help attractive strangers
what are some elements of non-verbal communication that contribute to impression formation
eye contact
- gaze direction/duration, fixation length/duration/frequency
facial expression
- smile, frown
body language
- angle, movements, personal space
what are some elements of behaviour contributing to impression formation
direct observations
- sitting in corner at a party = shy
- pushing ahead in line = rude
information of someones behaviour from other sources
- friends/family, social media
what are the influential aspects of impression formation
Salience
valence
order effects
what is salience in impression formation
information that stands out in the context
stimulus properties
- colour, movement, contrast,
stand out behaviour
- as an individual, in a social group, in general
other motivational factors
- factor of personal interest
- instructed to focus on them
what is valence in impression formation
the positivity or negativity of the information
positive is default but we are biased to negative information
negative information
- can be unusual, novel, distinctive which attracts attention (salience)
- indirectly signifies danger or threat
whats are order effects in impression formation
primacy and recency refer to the order in which information about a person is presented to you
what is primacy information in relation to order effect
initial information that disproportionately influences final overall impression
influences how we interpret later information
is resistant to change adn preserves even when known to be false
what are the types of schemas
person - specific individuals
trait - characteristics, internal dispositions, personality factors
behaviour - types of behaviours/ activities
group/role - types of groups or prescribed occupants in a group
event- situations or contexts
self
what is the purpose of social schemas
allows us to quickly categorise a person on some universal dimension
lets us infer why they did something
predict their future behaviour
formulate appropriate behaviours and responses to that person
what are the implications of social cognition
our impressions form a bias for how we interact with people (friendly/not friendly)
how we bevhave towards a person influences how they behave towards us
how can we change peoples impressions of us
modify the schema
enhance the schema holder
what does it mean to attack the schema
provide discomforting or more refined information to change the schema
what are the three main ways to change schema
bookkeeping
- schema gradually changes as more evidence accumulates overcoming initial impression
conversion
- schema hole on to initial stigma until the evidence against it is overwhelming then abandon it for a new one
subtyping
- place contextual boundaries around a schema and build a different schema for other contexts
what does it mean to enhance the schema holder
induce a positive mood in them, as positive emitios lead to more positive impressions
flattery, expressing liking for them
can backfire if overdone
what is attribution
how we explain our own and others behaviours and outcomes
what is the covariation model of attribution
basing attribution on three types of information that occur on a continuum from high to low, co-varying the most with the behaviour exibited
consistency
distinctiveness
consensus
in the covariation model what is consistency
how often does a particular behaviour accompany a particular stimulus
is he ALWAYS moody at monday 8am meetings
in the covariation model what is distinctiveness
hwo much does a particular behaviour belong to a particular stimulus or stiluli
is he ONLY moody at 8am monday meetings
in the covariation model what is consensus
how idiosyncratic is the behaviour
is he the ONLY ONE who is moody at the 8am monday morning meetings
what is attribution bias
biases in attributions of others and out own behaviours
biases are systematic patterns of error in our perceptual and cognitive system
what is a correspondent inference bias
attributing behaviours of others relatively more to personal factors rather than situational
e. g. see someone trip
- more likely to think they are clumsy
- less likely to think the step was irregular
what is actor-observer bias
attributing behaviours of others relatively more to personal factors,
but our own behaviours relatively more to situational factors
someone trips they are clumsy
if i trip, there was uneven ground
what is self enhancing bias
attributing our own positive outcomes to personal outcomes and own negative outcomes to situational factors
