Stage 1- Social Psych-Lecture 1- The self and cognition

Question 1

What is social psychology?

Answer 1

The scientific study of how thoughts, feelings and behaviours are influenced by the actual/imagined/implied presence of others

Question 2

What is the self?

Answer 2

A combination of physical and psychological attributes that are unique to an individual

Question 3

Self concept?

Answer 3

Cognitive processes and structures that are concerned with thoughts and perception- provide a framework and sense of continuity for past/presence/future

Question 4

What is the notion of symbolic interaction?

Answer 4

The idea of actors on a stage

Question 5

What is a self schema?

Answer 5

Specific knowledge structures, build on past experiences- guide for future experiences

Question 6

What is social identity?

Answer 6

The self we show to others- the impression we give e.g. sex/ethnicity/height

Question 7

How does group membership influence self concept?

Answer 7

Individuals categorise people into groups- their self is included- this leads to ingroups and outgroups with in groups being favoured - which then leads to inter group behaviour

Question 8

Self esteem?

Answer 8

How confidence one is within themselves- early developmental process, that is influenced by experience of success or failure- seen as a trait that fluctuates

Question 9

How would low self esteem be demonstrated?

Answer 9

Someone who performs poorly
Tends to give up earlier
Is more concerned with avoiding failure

Question 10

How would high self esteem be demonstrated?

Answer 10

Spurs them into action
Less likely to give up
Works hard
Wants a successful self image

Question 11

How can self esteem be enhanced?

Answer 11

By rating ones own group positively- become associated with a successful group
Praise from peers/parents

Question 12

What does research into social cognition focus on?

Answer 12

Judgements and decision making- how do errors influence our behaviour

Question 13

Heuristic technique characteristics?

Answer 13

Makes quick decisions
Takes mental short cuts 
Rapid judgement
Reduced effort
Reasonable accuracy
If there is a danger they withdraw themselves

Question 14

What is a representativeness heuristic?

Answer 14

Makes social judgements based on a current person or event’s characteristics and how they resemble the characteristics of a stored schema

Question 15

Availability heuristic?

Answer 15

Makes decisions based on specific kinds of information that can easily be brought into mind

Question 16

What is a disadvantage with heuristics?

Answer 16

A person may face difficulty when faced with complex problems

Question 17

What is the planning fallacy??

Answer 17

Make optimistic prediction based on how long a task will take

Question 18

What is automatic vigilance?

Answer 18

Tend to notice negative stimuli rather than positives

Question 19

Magical thinking?

Answer 19

Assumptions that do not hold up to rational inquiry

Question 20

Law of contagion?

Answer 20

Properties pass on when objects touch e.g. lucky charms

Question 21

Law of similarity?

Answer 21

Things that resemble each other have the same fundamental properties

Question 22

Homeopathy?

Answer 22

Properly conducted studies show no effect beyond the placebo

Question 23

What is the attribution theory?

Answer 23

Deals with how the social perceiver uses information to arrive at casual explanations for events - what info is gathered and how it is combined to form these judgements

Question 24

Heider 1958?

Answer 24

Talked about naive psychologists- trying to make sense of the world by establishing cause and effect even when there isn’t one

Question 25

Fundamental attribute error?

Answer 25

Look for internal attributes to explain behaviour e.g. when someone says a snide comment it is because they are a nasty person - common in court rooms - crime= bad person

Question 26

Correspondence interference theory?

Answer 26

Tries to make sense of why people make internal/external attributions - say intentional and freely chosen as it originates from a person’s stable contributions- if common or irrelevant it originates from situational effects

Question 27

What is personalism?

Answer 27

If a person’s actions have consequences for ourselves

Question 28

Hedonist?

Answer 28

If a person’s behaviour is intended to harm/ benefit use

Question 29

What is the covariation model?

Answer 29

Kelley 1967- does someone laugh because something is funny or because other people are laughing- use false logic to judge causality

Question 30

Consensus?

Answer 30

The extent to which other people behave in the same way- e.g. is everyone laughing

Question 31

Distinctiveness?

Answer 31

The extent to which a persons behaviour is the same in similar situations- do you laugh at all comedy or just one comedian

Question 32

Consistency?

Answer 32

The extent to which a person behaves like this every time the situation occurs

Question 33

What is multiple necessary causes?

Answer 33

Are there multiple reasons why an outcome occurred e.g. you performed well- did this occur because you are of a high ability or because the field was weaker

Question 34

Multiple sufficient causes?

Answer 34

You failed an exam, was this because it was difficult or you are bad- did you not revise or is stats difficult