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Social Psychology > Week 2:Social Cognitions > Flashcards

Week 2:Social Cognitions Flashcards

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1
Q

We categorize other objects and people in order to…

A

Reduce uncertainty

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2
Q

If we assume that ice cream sales and aggression are highly correlated this is known…

A

An illusionary correlation

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3
Q

When a heuristic is based on resemblance this is known as…

A

A representativeness heuristic

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4
Q

What is social cognition?

A
  • Social cognition is the way in which we interpret, analyze, remember and use information about the social world.
  • Cognitive processes and structures that influence and are influenced by the social context
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5
Q

Theories on how we process SOCIAL INFORMATION

A

a) Naïve Scientist
b) Cognitive Miser
c) Motivated Tactician

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6
Q

Naive Scientist Theory

A
  • We are able to look for information in a systematic way to make conclusions about the world (Heider, 1958)
  • Two primary needs: predict and control
  • We want to come up with causal explanations
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7
Q

Cognitive Miser Theory

A
  • Processing resources are valuable so we engage in time-saving mental shortcuts when trying to understand the social world (Fiske & Taylor, 1991)
  • Because we are “cognitive misers” we develop cognitive tools that help us to free up limited cognitive resources (Macrea et al. 1994)
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8
Q

Motivated Tactician Theory

A
  • We choose from multiple cognitive strategies based on goals, motive, and needs.
  • Sometimes we choose wisely in the interests of -adaptability and accuracy, and sometimes defensively, in the interest of speed or self-esteem (Fiske & Taylor, 1991)
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9
Q

Biases when Forming Impressions

A
  • Primacy and recency: Only attend to the information initially presented with. First impressions are lasting. Most recent information we attended to. PRIMACY BIAS IS STRONGER.
  • Positivity and negativity: Halo effect towards more attractive people, more positive traits. Warm kind etc.
  • Physical appearance:
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10
Q

What is a schema?

A

Schemas about everything in our social world. Even schemas about ourselves.

  • Cognitive structures that represent knowledge about a concept or type of stimulus, including its attributes and relations among those attributes. e.g. nurses, female etc.
  • Mental frameworks centering around a specific theme that help us to organize social information
  • Coherent memories or mental structures for organising an individual’s understanding of daily life
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11
Q

What is a category?

A

Categorisation is the process of classifying some collection of objects, events, opinions,

(To apply schematic knowledge, you have to be able to categorise the person, event, or situation)

  • Categories are not rigid/fixed systems but have “fuzzy” boundaries based on a prototype
  • Prototype is a (subjective) cognitive representation of the typical/ideal defining feature of a category
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12
Q

Types of schema

A

Person schemas; Role schemas; Scripts; Content-free schemas; Self-schemas

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13
Q

Types of schema

A

Person schemas; Role schemas; Scripts; Content-free schemas(connections); Self-schemas

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14
Q

Storing categorical info

A

Store in a hierarchal manner. Intermediate basic-level categories.

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15
Q

Why do we categorise?

A
  • Saves us time and cognitive processing. natural and efficient in the social world. (Fiske & Taylor, 1991)
  • Frees up cognitive resources for other tasks (Macrae, Milne, & Bodenhausen, 1994)
  • Categorisation provides meaning (Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher, & Wetherell, 1987),
  • Reduces uncertainty (Hogg, 2000)
  • Provides prescriptive norms for understanding ourselves in relation to others (Hogg, 2002)
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16
Q

Where do schemas/categories come from?

A
  • Schemas and categories are basically learnt. Across time, developed across the lifespan.
  • They become richer and more complex as more instances are encountered (Linville, 1982)
  • They become organised and we develop links between schemas (McKiethen et al., 1981)
  • Schemas become more resilient over time, more tolerant of exceptions
  • Some schemas become chronically accessible
17
Q

Schema Change

A

Rothbart (1981) suggested three processes to change schemas:
-Bookkeeping: retrieve info that goes against info against original schema

  • Conversion: Dramatic change in our schema
  • Subtyping: Different subtypes of particular schemas. Compartmentalise different schemas.
18
Q

Define Stereotypes

A
  • Stereotypes are a type of schema about groups of people.

- Stereotypes are widely shared generalizations, often used to describe groups as a whole

19
Q

Stereotype Content Model

A

The content of stereotypes reflects the social structural relations between groups.

  • Perceived group status influences the group’s stereotypic competence
  • Intergroup competition influences (lowers) group’s stereotypic warmth
  • Combinations of warmth and competence predict affective reactions to members of outgroups
20
Q

Stereotypes of Elderly

A

Cultural stereotypes about old age affect the way seniors see themselves, often to the detriment of their physical and mental health
Positive self-perceptions of ageing increases lifespan

21
Q

Bargh et al 1996-Scrambled sentence task

A

Elderly prime words: worried, Florida, old, lonely, grey, selfishly, careful, sentimental, wise, stubborn, courteous, bingo, withdraw, forgetful retired, wrinkle, rigid, traditional…
Measured the time it took participants to walk down the corridor afterwards. BEHAVIOUR Impacted-unconscious priming. Walked slower down the corridor
-Exposing individuals to a series of words linked to a particular stereotype (= activation of a category) influences behaviour

22
Q

Define Social Encoding

A

Social encoding refers to the process whereby external stimuli are represented in the mind of an individual.

23
Q

What are the stages of social encoding?

A
  • Pre-attentive analysis
  • Focal attention
  • Comprehension
  • Elaborative reasoning
24
Q

What kind of stimuli grasps our attention?

A
  • Salient stimuli: stands out just by the situation
  • Vivid stimuli: Inherent quality
  • Accessible stimuli
25
Q

What are associative networks within-person memory?

A

Initial activation of idea-associations
Associative networks: a model of memory in which nodes and ideas are connected by associative links along which cognitive activation is spread.

Traits and physical appearance.

26
Q

How do we organise person memory?

A

Organised by person and group level

27
Q

Define Heuristics

A

Information overload: the ability to process information is exceeded

  • Heuristics are simple rules of thumb for making complex decisions or drawing quick inferences
  • Cognitive short-cuts that provide adequately accurate inferences for most of us most of the time
28
Q

Types of Heuristics

A

Time-saving mental processes that reduce complex judgements to simple rules-of-thumb (Tversky & Kahneman, 1974)

  • Availability
  • Representativeness
  • Anchoring/ adjustment
29
Q

Heuristics-Representativeness

A

Representative heuristic: A strategy for making judgements based on the extent to which current stimuli or events resemble other stimuli or CATEGORIES(Tversky & Kahnemann, 1974)

30
Q

Heuristics-Anchoring

A

Anchoring heuristic: A strategy for making judgements based on the tendency to use a number or value as a staring point, to which we then make ADJUSTMENTS(Tversky & Kahnemann, 1974; Wyer, 1976)

31
Q

Heuristics-Availability

A

Availability heuristic: A strategy for making judgements based on how easily specific kinds of information can be BROUGHT TO MIND(Tversky & Kahnemann, 1982)

32
Q

Cognitive Errors and Biases

A
  • Regression to the mean

- Illusory Correlation- How quickly 2 things correlate with each other

33
Q

Hamilton and Gifford-Illusory Correlation

A
  • Participants read information about people from group A (majority) or group B (minority)
  • There was twice as much information about group A than group B, but the proportion of positive and negative information was the same
  • Asked to attribute behaviours to the groups
  • Despite there being no actual correlation between group membership and the proportion of positive or negative information provided, more undesirable behaviours were attributed to group B than group A
34
Q

Dual Process Theory

A
  • Either a heuristic (category) versus systematic (individuated) approach is used when forming impressions of others
  • Distinction maps on to the cognitive miser (category) versus naive scientist (individuated) approaches
35
Q

Fiske and Neuberg’s continuum model

A
  • Propose a continuum where one extreme is category-based (heuristic) processing and the other is attribute-based (systematic) processing.
  • On this continuum people can be perceived as a representative of a group, or as an individual separate from any category membership
  • Both models consider encoding social information to comprise two distinct processes: categorisation and individuation
  • People begin by trying to fit the target person into a category, but if there is not a good fit (or they get to know a person better), will shift towards an individuated mode of perception

-This switch is known as decategorisation
Decategorisation may represent a means of countering the negative implications of categorisation

36
Q

How do we perceive others?

A

Categorize; activate a schema; apply a schema

Social Psychology (10 decks)

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