Unit 2 Revision Flashcards
What are heuristics?
Heuristics are mental shortcuts used to make quicker and more efficient decisions.
Heuristics are decisions that are made without critically evaluating it first.
What are positives of heuristics?
They reduce cognitive load that is normally required in decision making
Snap judgements can be made that save time and mental effort
What are the 3 types of heuristics?
Availability, Representative and Affect
The Availability Heuristic
A mental shortcut in which we use the information that we first think of to make a judgement. Information is readily available or easy to imagine
The Representative Heuristic
A mental shortcut in decision-making where we estimate the likelihood of something occurring or being true based on its similarity to our existing understanding and expectations about the world.
The Affect Heuristic
An approach that is used when decision-making is influenced by an individual’s current emotional state or mood
“Going with your gut”
What is prejudice?
The negative preconceived notion that we hold towards individuals due to their membership in a particular group.
What is discrmination?
The action of being prejudiced or treating others in an unfair manner based on the negative attitude held about that person or the group to which they belong.
What is direct discrimination?
A person or group is treated less favourably than another person or group because of their background or certain personal characteristics.
What is indirect discrimination?
An unreasonable rule or policy that is the same for everyone but has an unfair effect on a particular group.
Forms of discrimination
Sexism, Racism, Agism
How can you reduce prejudice?
Intergroup contact, sustained contact, superordinate goals
What is a group?
A group is formed when two or -more people:interact, influence each and
share a common objective/goal
What is status?
Status refers to a person’s position in the hierarchy of a group. A person’s status can determine their degree of influence over others
What is social power?
Social power refers to the amount of influence that an individual can exert over another person. In general, the higher a person’s status, the more power they exert
What are the different types of power?
Reward power, Coercive Power, Legitimate Power, Referent Power, Expert Power
What is Reward Power?
Ability to give positive consequences or remove negative consequences in response to specific behavior.
What is Coercive Power?
Ability to give negative consequences or remove positive consequences in response to specific behaviour
What is Legitimate Power?
An individual’s status or position in a group, institution or society in general gives them the right (authority) to exercise power over those with a lower status or with less authority.
What is Referent Power?
Individuals identify with or want to be like or liked by this person.
What is Expert Power?
Having special knowledge and skills that are desirable or needed
What is obedience?
Obedience occurs when people change their behaviour in response to direct commands from others.
Examples: picking up rubbish when asked, despite not dropping it.
Obedience requires direct commands, and it is more direct and less subtle than social power.
What is social proximity?
Social proximity refers to the distance between the person giving orders and the person affected.
What is Legitimacy of Authority?
Legitimacy of authority is when people assign authority to an individual and are obedient to their instructions.
What is conformity?
Conformity occurs in situations in which individuals change their behaviour as the result of real or implied pressure from others.
What are some factors that affect conformity?
Group size, Uniaminty, Informational Influence
What is unanimity?
We are more likely to conform when other members of the group behave in the same way.
What is group size?
Our conformity increases as the group size expands from two to four, then stays at similar levels of conformity in a group of eight.
What is informational influence
We look at the behavior of others to guide us in whether we should behave in a similar way.
Social Connections
Strong social connections have a beneficial effect on our mental health because they help foster
empathy,
higher self-esteem
the development of trusting relationships
What is the social comparison theory?
It suggests that to gain an accurate understanding of who we are, we have a drive to make decisions, evaluations and judgements about ourselves in relation to those around us.
What is upward social comparison?
We compare ourselves to those we view as superior or that have positive traits
What is downward social comparison?
We compare ourselves to those we view as inferior or possessing negative characteristics
What is lateral social comparison?
We compare ourselves
to those we view more or less as our equals.
What is independence?
Independence occurs when an individual is aware of how the group expects them to behave or respond, but their decision-making is not swayed in any way by the expectations of the group. Instead, they reject the views or norms of the group in order to arrive at their own objective decision.
What is anti-conformity?
Deliberate refusal to comply with social norms as demonstrated by ideas, beliefs or judgements that challenge these social norms. Anti-conformity is not a genuine attempt to express one’s ideas of perspectives. It comes from a desire to be stubborn or rebellious.
What is playing devil’s advocate?
The role of the devil’s advocate is to actively argue against the points of group members, even if they share the same beliefs as the group members.