Social Psychology, 5: Social Cognition Flashcards
Priming
Faster recognition of a target (word, object, person, etc) when is preceded by a related item.
Automatic vs. Controlled Processing
A is nonconscious, effortless, faster, and unintentional. C is conscious, effortful, slower, and intentional.
Availability heuristic
Tendency to judge what is more easily available in memory as more common. As with most heuristics, it tends to be more accurate than not, but can lead to systematic biases (e.g., when frequent media reports make certain kinds of ‘interesting’ events seem more common).
Representativeness heuristic
Tendency to make judgments based on similarity. Sometimes results in stereotyping. Especially inaccurate when it leads people to ignore base rates.
Fundamental Attribution Error
Our general bias towards assuming other people’s behavior derives from inner qualities or traits, underweighting the impact of the situation on their behavior.
Counterfactual thinking
Considering outcomes and situations that did not occur or may occur. “As if” or “what if” thinking.
Upward vs Downward Counterfactuals
Upward counterfactuals are to outcomes that did not occur but would have been more desirable, and can lead to regret. Downward counterfactuals are to outcomes that would have been worse and can lead to gratitude.
Self-serving bias
Attributing one’s own positive outcomes to the inner self, and negative outcomes to external excuses. The normal pattern of attribution for most people (at least in individualistic cultures).
Social cogntive factors in suicide
Self awareness tends to be very high in persons who commit suicide. Self awareness can promote escape when one seemingly cannot perform up to their standards; suicide may be an extreme form of escape.
According to recent research, what is the apparent function of most of the human neocortex?
To persuade and influence other members of our social groups. This helps explain the paradoxes in social psychology wherein we often believe drastic falsehoods about ourselves and others, despite having large brains for our body size.
Schema
A general knowledge structure that contains multiple concepts and clarifies their relationships.
Thought Suppression
Attempting to avoid thinking about an undesired thought. Involves both automatic and controlled processing, and often ultimately backfires.
Monitoring (Thought Suppression)
The automatic component of suppression. Scans the environment and unconscious processing for all cues that could trigger the thought.
Suppression (Thought Supression)
The controlled component. Distracts one’s consciousness from incoming opportunities to have the undesired thought. Because controlled processes fatigue and automatic don’t, leads to thought suppression backfiring.
Most important dimensions of attributions
Internal/External and Stable/Unstable. The former refers to whether causes of an event are believed to originate from within a person or from without. The latter refers to whether the causes is believed to be consistently present or temporary.
