Social Cultural Flashcards
impression formation AKA
social cognition
schema
Organized patterns of thought and behavior that influence what we attend to and how we observe new information
Why do we use schemas
Facilitate memory recall
Save energy
improve predictions
Four main types of schemas
Person schema
event schema
role schema
self schema
Person schema
Attributes we use to categorize people and make inferences about their behavior
Event schema
A.k.a. cognitive script, provides the basis for anticipating the future, setting goals, and making plans
Role schema
Often associated with stereotypes, tell us how we expect individuals in certain roles to behave
Self schema
Representations about our self-concept. Perceptions of our traits, competencies, and values
What is a heuristic
Mental shortcuts, efficient thinking strategy, can lead to errors in judgment and decision making
Availability Heuristic
The easier information is to recall, the more impact it will have on subsequent decisions or judgments
Representativeness heuristic
Judging the likelihood of an event based on its resemblance to the typical case rather than base rates
Leads to errors over estimating the likelihood that something will happen
Heider’s two types of causal attribution
dispositional: personal characteristics like personality traits, motives, attitudes
situational: social norms, external pressures, etc.
Correspondent Inference Theory
Jones and Davis (1965)
people make inferences about others’ behavior when they are looking for a cause of their behavior
Covariation Model of Attribution
Kelley (1972)
we assess similarities (covariation) across situations to help us make causal attributions in a rational and logical fashion
use 3 types of info:
consensus information: how other people act in the same situation and with the same stimulus
distinctiveness information: how similarly people act in different situations
consistency information: how frequently people perceive the same stimuli and respond the sam e
Weiner (1985) theory of motivation and emotion
ppl make attributions for success and failure. these elicit different emotional consequences characterized by three dimensions:
stable vs unstable
internal vs external (locus of ctrl)
controllable vs uncontrollable
bias occurs when
the perceiver systematically distorts whta are thought to be correct and logical procedures
fundamental attribution error
tendency to overvalue personal/dispositional explanations for behavior while undervaluing situational explanations
Actor-observer bias
tendency to attribute dispositional factors to others’ behavior but situational factors to our own bx.
self-serving bias
tendency to attribute dispositional factors for success and external, uncontrollable factors for failure
AKA self-enhancing bias
confirmation bias
when we search for, interpret, or recall info that confirms our pre-existing beliefs
self-fulfilling prophecy
when a prediction causes itself to become true
Barnum effect
tendency for individuals to give high accuracy ratings to general descriptions (of their personalities)
ex: horoscopes
illusory correlation
perception that a relationship exists between variables when only a minor or NO relationship exists
2 concepts involved in forming impressions
filtering: people tend to ignore much of what they see
inference: people tend to go beyond evidence
both lead to errors of judgment
tactics used in impression formation
self-promotion
self-monitoring
self-handicapping
affiliation
the desire to be with others and form social relationships
gain-loss theory of attraction
higher attraction when first evaluation is negative but changes to positive
social exchange theory of attraction
attraction occurs when the relationship’s rewards exceed costs and when costs and rewards are reciprocal
equity theory of relationships
perceptions of equity in a relationship are more important than the magnitude of costs vs rewards
4 categories that motivate altruism
egoism (to benefit self)
altruism (to benefit other)
collectivism ( to benefit a group)
principlism (to uphold a moral principle)
empathy-altruism hypothesis
altruism is evoked by the desire to help someone who is suffering
bystander effect
people are less likely to offer help to a victim when other people are present
Latané and Darley’s additional 2 factors influencing bystander apathy
social comparison: compare your behavior to what others are doing.
evaluation apprehension: fear of taking action due to embarassment or social disapproval if action is inappropriate
frustration-aggression hypothesis
aggression is result of frustration. aggression removes what is getting in the way, or can be directed to another thing.
NOT well supported in rsch
social learning theory of aggression
People learn what initiates and sustains aggression from observations of others
deindividuation, and how it relates to aggression
people act more aggressively when they believe their actions are anonymous
in contrast, threat of retaliation often decreases aggressiveness
how are prejudice and discrimination different
prejudice: attitudes
discrimination: actions
aversive racism
more subtle racism characterized by persistent avoidance of other racial groups. often learned behaviors from childhood, can be more complex and ambivalent racial expressions
implicit bias
internalized and unconscious attitudes and stereotypes that affect our attitudes and behaviors towards ppl
