Lecture 03 Social Cognition

Question 1

Social Cognition

Answer 1

How people THINK about themselves and the SOCIAL WORLD; specifically, how people select, interpret, remember, and use SOCIAL INFORMATION to make judgments and decision

Question 2

Automatic / Top-down processes

Answer 2

“Theory-driven” filters and interprets new information in light of PREEXISTING KNOWLEDGE and EXPECTATIONS

Question 3

Controlled / Bottom-up processes

Answer 3

“Data-driven” takes in and forms conclusions on the basis of the STIMULI ENCOUNTERED in one’s EXPERIENCE

Question 4

Schemas

Answer 4

The mental STRUCTURES people use to organize their KNOWLEDGE about the social world around themes or subjects.

Question 5

Person Schemas

Answer 5

Expectations for specific individuals

Question 6

Self Schemas

Answer 6

Use it to determine what people want to involve themselves with or to choose a political party

Question 7

Role Schemas / Stereotype

Answer 7

Beliefs about certain social groups helps navigate world

Question 8

Event Schemas / Scripts

Answer 8

Helps navigate what are going to happen in specific situations based on prior experience

Question 9

3 Characteristics of Schemas that Humans use?

Answer 9

1. Available
2. Accessible
3. Applicable

Question 10

Accessibility

Answer 10

1. Chronic
   - Constantly active schemas due to past experience
2. Temporary
   - Related to current goal
   - Recent experience (Priming)

Question 11

Applicable

Answer 11

When the priming can be applied to the subject or situation
- “Neat” or “disrespectful” isn’t applicable to Donald’s behaviors

Question 12

Priming

Answer 12

Recent experiences increase the accessibility of a schema

Question 13

How Schemas Influence humans’ Thinking

Answer 13

• Selective Attention: Stereotype
• Selective Inference / Construal
• Selective Encoding & Retrieval

Question 14

Abstract Construal

Answer 14

• People describe actions that are consistent with a stereotype/schemas in abstract terms/traits
• Thus reinforcing stereotype

Question 15

Concrete Construal

Answer 15

• People describe actions that are inconsistent with a stereotype in concrete terms
• Thus avoid changing stereotype content

Question 16

A Case Study of Stereotype and Construal

Answer 16

Stereotype of black people to be aggressive
- Abstract construal: He is being aggressive
- Concrete Construal: He give money to a homeless man

Question 17

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Answer 17

1. Having an expectation about someone
2. The expectation influences action
3. Making the expectation comes true

Question 18

Heuristics

Answer 18

Intuitive mental operations that allow us to make a variety of judgments quickly and efficiently

Question 19

Availability Heuristics

Answer 19

Judgments of frequency or probability are based on the EASE with which pertinent instances are brought to mind
- e.g. Are people more likely to die by accident or cancer?

Question 20

Illusory Correlation

Answer 20

• When two memorable events co occur, their co-occurrence is HIGHLY SALIENT and thus more available in our mind
• Leading to the belief that the two events are correlated when in fact they are not.

Question 21

Examples of Illusory Correlation

Answer 21

• Gay couples + murder
• Immigrant workers + violence
• Movie stars + divorce

Question 22

Representativeness Heuristics

Answer 22

Judgments of likelihood are based on assessments of similarity between individuals and GROUP STEREOTYPE or between cause and effect.

Question 23

Base Rate Neglect

Answer 23

Assessments of similarity substitute for the assessment of likelihood
- e.g. Is this person likely to be Jewish?” becomes “Does this person seem Jewish?

Question 24

Processing Social Information

Answer 24

1. Human as Information Processor
2. Source of Information
3. How Information is Presented
4. How Information is Sought Out

Question 25

Steps of Information Processing

Answer 25

1. Exposure 2. Attention 3. Construal 4. Encoding 5. Retrieval

Question 26

Human as (Imperfect) Information Processor

Answer 26

1. Consistency Seeker (Motivation) 2. Naïve Scientist (Cognition/Reason) 3. Cognitive Miser (Efficiency) 4. Motivated Tactician (Switching between the above)

Question 27

Consistency Seeker

Answer 27

MOTIVATION - People are more likely to put time and effort not to be accurate but to serve their thought

Question 28

Naïve Scientist

Answer 28

REASON - Rationally and logically TESTING our hypotheses about the behavior of others - Need to ATTRIBUTE causes to effects (for example, observed behaviors and events) - Create a MEANINGFUL, stable world where things make sense

Question 29

Cognitive Miser

Answer 29

EFFICIENCY - Reluctant to expend cognitive resources - Look for any opportunity to AVOID engaging in the sort of EFFORTFUL thought

Question 30

Motivated Tactician

Answer 30

SWITCHING between the above - ALLOCATE cognitive resources and as such can decide to be a cognitive miser or a naïve scientist - Depends on times and contexts

Question 31

Direct experience with social stimuli can be deceptive because of…

Answer 31

- Inattention - Misconstrual - Unrepresentativeness - Impression management

Question 32

Pluralistic Ignorance

Answer 32

- Think that EVERYONE ELSE is interpreting a situation in a CERTAIN way - When in fact they are NOT

Question 33

Individual-focused discussion

Answer 33

People act on what they want other people to think about them

Question 34

Norm-focused discussion

Answer 34

Reduce pluralistic ignorance by having a discussion among others

Question 35

Memory Biases

Answer 35

- Memory is RECONSTRUCT, not retained and retrieved - Try to remember what’s in the past to confirm what is happening at the present

Question 36

Flashbulb memories

Answer 36

The memory of important life incidents is not always accurate or vivid

Question 37

False memories

Answer 37

Recovered memories might be made up & significantly altered

Question 38

Secondhand Impressions of Other People

Answer 38

Sharpening and Leveling

Question 39

Sharpening

Answer 39

Emphasizing important or more interesting elements in telling a story to someone else

Question 40

Leveling

Answer 40

Eliminating or deemphasizing seemingly less important details when telling a story to someone else

Question 41

Primacy Effect

Answer 41

The disproportionate influence on judgment of information presented first in a body of evidence - Attention span - More salience information influence

Question 42

Framing Effect

Answer 42

The influence on judgment resulting from the way information is presented

Question 43

Spin Framing

Answer 43

Frame a buying decision in terms favorable to the product being advertised

Question 44

Positive & Negative Framing

Answer 44

People feel better about positive side rather than negative side

Question 45

Gain & Loss Framing

Answer 45

People are more willing to invest their time, money, effort, and take more risk to PREVENT LOSSES or to RESTORE what they’ve lost

Question 46

Confirmation Bias

Answer 46

The tendency to test a proposition by searching for evidence that would support it

Question 47

Counterfactual Thinking

Answer 47

Thoughts of what might have, could have, or should have happened “if only” something had been done differently

Question 48

Emotional Amplification

Answer 48

A degree of emotion amplified in proportion to how easy to think of the event that is no happening - e.g. Silver vs. bronze medal