Social Psychology Flashcards
Schematas
Organized, interconnected mental networks of information that are based on our previous personal and social experiences
- help us process and organize information
People typically pay more attention to evidence that confirms our schematas, and have better recollection of schemata-consistent info
Prototype
More abstract than a schemata
Consists of knowledge about the most representative or ideal example of a particular category of people, objects, or events
Scripts
Known as event schemas
Provide knowledge about a sequence of behaviors that are appropriate for specific social situations
“Warm” and “cold” central traits
We associated warm and cold central traits with collections of other characteristics, which we use to make judgements about others
Social context research
Rosenhan study
Pseudopatients admitted themselves to a hospital and were dx with schizophrenia
the behaviors of others tend to be perceived in a manner that is consistent with the social environment in which they occur
Attribution
Refers to the process of determining or inferring why a behavior has occurred
Three types of attributions
Dispositional v Situational
Specific v Global
Stable v Unstable
Fundamental attribution bias
Tendency to overestimate dispositional factors and underestimate situational factors when considering or witnessing behaviors of others
Supported by people’s belief-in-a-just-world, when we assume victims of circumstances were in some way responsible for their situation
Actor-observer effect
The tendency to make different attributions about our own behaviors than we do for other people
Self-serving bias
The tendency to blame external factors for our failures and attribute successes to dispositional strengths
Heuristics
Mental shortcuts that people use when making attributions and other social judgements
Upside: quick and cognitively efficient
Downside: result in errors
Representativeness heuristic
Basing your judgement about the likelihood that a person, thing, etc. belongs to a certain category based on how representative they are to that category (rather than on base rate data)
Ex. Who is more likely to be conservative, an artist or a lawyer
Availability heuristic
Judging the likelihood of an event based on how easy it is to retrieve information about that event from your LTM
Ex. Estimating School shootings or plane crashes happen more often than they do because of media coverage being readily available in your memory
Simulation heuristic
Using mental simulations of an event to determine the likelihood that the event would happen
Ex. If you can imagine something happening, you’d assume it’d be more likely to happen
Anchoring and adjuatmrent heuristic
Using an initial value (or anchor) as the basis for making a judgement or estimate
Ex. Knowing how much an item costs, and basing the possibility of purchasing a similar item on whether or not it hovers around that price
Purpose of cognitive biases
Automatic processing to help the brain deal with information overload
Base rate fallacy
Tendency to rely on case-specific information and ignore or underuse base rate data when estimating the likelihood of an event or characteristic
Rely on personality traits over base rate data
Confirmation bias
Pay attention of information that confirms your beliefs and ignore or invalidate information that does not
Been used to explain a number of phenomena including paranormal beliefs, hypochondriasis, and the persistence of stereotypes
Illusory correlation
Belief that two characteristics, events, or other variables are related when they actually aren’t
May be the result of a schema linking the two variables
False consensus effect
When we overestimate the degree to which our beliefs, opinions, or behaviors are similar to those around us
(Overestimate how much people share our beliefs)
Gambler’s fallacy
Tendency to believe the likelihood of a particular chance event is impacted by the occurrence of previous events (where there is actually no relationship)
Ex. Assuming you are destined to win at a slot machine after a sting of losses
Affiliation
An innate motive that contributes to the initiating and maintaining of interpersonal relationships
Research on anxiety and affiliation
People with high anxiety seek affiliation with those of equal anxiety
“Misery loves miserable company”
Affiliation and arousal
Introverts experience high physiological arousal and likely avoid interacting with others to avoid overstimulation
Extroverts are low in arousability and seek the company and interaction of others to optimally stimulate their arousal
Law of attraction
We are attracted to those who are most similar to us
Gain-loss effect
Attraction to a person is maximized when that persons evaluation of us starts negatively and becomes positive
Jealousy and close relationships
Men are more threatened by sexual jealousy
Women more threatened by emotional jealousy
(Evolutionary basis: men want fertile women and women want men who are providers with resources)
Emotion-in-relationship model
States there in an innate mechanism that generates emotion whenever a partner engages in behaviors that violate expectations and disrupts sequences of behaviors
Two theories that explain why people choose to stay in, or leave, a relationship
Social exchange theory - decision based on costs and benefits
Equity theory - decision based on fairness in a relationship
Social exchange theory
The decision to leave a relationship depends on the relationships costs and rewards
Equity theory
Perception of equity (fairness) in a relationship is more important than the absolute magnitude of costs and rewards
Ex. Ben and Chrissy
Self-concept
The sum total of beliefs that people have of themselves
Barnum effect
Tendency for people to accept vague or general descriptions as accurate descriptions of themselves.
Ex. Meyers Briggs, astrological signs, etc.
Self-perception theory
When internal cures are insufficient or difficult to interpret, we turn to our environment to figure out how to react
Epinephrine study by Schachter and Singer
- mild physiological arousal, act angry or euphoric
Overjustification hypothesis
When an external reward is given to a person for performing an intrinsically rewarding activity, the intrinsic interest in the activity decreases
Social comparison theory
People have an innate drive to evaluate their opinions and behaviors
In the absence of objective criteria for evaluation, we turn to others to compare ourselves to
Self-verification theory
Once a persons self-concept is formed, they engage in behaviors that provide data in line with that self-concept
Self-monitoring
The degree to which you monitor your behavior and the perceptions that others have of you
High self-monitoring: driven by perceptions of others
Low self-monitoring: driven by personal values and beliefs
