Week 2: Social Cognition Flashcards
What are the 3 physiological motives that influence thinking and decision making in the social world? What is the name of the theory behind it?
The theory if lay epistemology (Kruglanski, 1989, 2004)
- the need to be accurate (which takes time and energy)
- the need to make a decision quickly
- the need to confirm what one already believes
Compare the cognitive and experimental system of thinking
They are two ways our brain precesses information, both part of the dual process theory, both used to form attitudes (thought in different ways)
Describe the experimental system making referring to adjectives ti briefly describe it, organization of stimuli (implicit/explicit), conscious /subconcious
Fast, automatic, frequent, implicit association of stimuli (automatic associations 🐍=😵💫 )and subconscious.
Describe the cognitive system using relevant adjectives, ways if organizing information, (implicit/explicit associations) and (conscious/subconscious)
Slow, effortful, infrequent, uses rule based logic, uses explicit attitudes are made with cognitive system, consciously
What is the implicit association test? What system of thinking is it based on?
Used to measure the degree to which people mentally associate 2 concepts by measuring how quickly people mentally associate them. It make use if the experimental method
What are 5 reasons as to why the experimental is smart?
1) the choices are made unconsciously
2) it is used ti consolidate memories while we sleep
3) because of unconscious mind wanderings it can help generate creative ideas
4) it is a system that allows intuition a spot at decision making table (gut feeling)
5) it listens to bodily changes (somatic marker experience: there are certain somatic changes that people experience as emotion)
What is a schema?
It is a mental structure used to store memories into categories (mental containers where similar things are placed) 📥🗄️🗃️
What is priming? How does it influence an impression?
Priming is when something in the environment activates as schema. This happens because stored memory is associated via associative networks.
Impressions we have of people are shaped by what schema are made salient before meeting them. Sometimes we associate schemas with the person (first given rude words–>person is rude) sometimes they become a point of contrast (primes with adventurous adj–> person is seen as more timid in comparison)
What is confirmation bias? What are 3 consequences?
When we tend to seek out and evaluate any new information in a way so that it conforms to what we already believe or feel. It is a way in which humans preserve a consistent worldview and psychological security.
It is so strong it can distort meaning of objective information, lead to gathering of bias info and creating social realities we expect (self-fulfilling prophecy)
How does confirmation bias occur?
Schemas activated in our mind can lead us to interpret ambiguous info in a schema conforming manner.
What is the role of motivation in shaping schema activation?
Primes (including subliminal primes: where ppt isn’t aware of prime presence because of how quickly it happens) are used and turned into behavior only when motivation and a goal us present.
What is the role of motivation in shaping schema activation?
Primes (including subliminal primes: where ppt isn’t aware of prime presence because of how quickly it happens) are used and turned into behavior only when motivation and a goal is present. Different environments may also influence the degree to which primes affect behaviour.
What is the effect of schema activation (through motivation) on behavior and judgment?
When a certain schema is activated the motivation to follow it emerges.
On behavior: whether the schema activated contains positive or negative attitudes the individual will behave more positively or negatively. Depending on which of the 3 factors (accuracy, speed, consistency) used for decision making we are more motivated to follow the more it will guide behaviour
Judgment: moods act as a form of judgment which affects social judgments and motivation (to reflect if the world around them)
Explain the process if memory formation
Depends on what type of memory we are referring to:
Short term memory: from attending to a part of sensory info from the environment
Long term memory: by repeatedly rehearsing and consolidating important information
How are memories reconstructed (aka how do we remember)?
Memory retrieval isn’t as straightforward as one may think. It is affected by biases, schemas, motives, goals ect.
Schemas are used to fill in the gaps of what we do not know. Bartlett’s work suggested that memory is an active process where individuals reconstructs past experiences using current knowledge and schemas. (🧍♀️ approach)
Maurice Halbwachs suggested that Memories can also be constructed through conversations with others and memory is reconstructed through memories with others (👯♀️ approach)
