Social Cognition

Question 1

Definition of social cognition

Answer 1

Social cognition refers to the processes involved in interpreting, analysing, remembering and using information about the social world. We, as humans, seek to predict how others will behave, explain our own successes and failures and make positive and negative impressions on others.

Question 2

What is an attitude

Answer 2

An attitude is an evaluation a person makes about an object, person, group, idea, event or issue

Question 3

Attitudes can be…

Answer 3

• Postitive
• Negative
• Neutral (no real opinion)
• Ambivalent (partly positive, partly negative)

Question 4

Tri-component model

Answer 4

• The tri-component model of the structure of attitudes is well known and is also called the ABC model.
• The ABC model suggests that attitude consists of 3 related parts, all of which must be present for an attitude to form.

A – Affective (feeling)
B – Behaviour (actions)
C – Cognitive (beliefs/thoughts)

Question 5

ABC Model example

Answer 5

atherine does not like spiders
Katherine avoids spiders
Katherine thinks spiders are dangerous

Question 6

What are the four functions of attitude

Answer 6

Adaptive, Self-expressive, Ego-defensive, knowledge.

Question 7

Adaptive function

Answer 7

helps maximise rewards or advantages or minimise punishments or disadvantages.

Question 8

Self-expressive function

Answer 8

attitude helps us to express information about ourselves to other people, it helps to establish our identity.

Question 9

Ego-defensive function

Answer 9

allows us to protect our self-image by avoiding admitting negative things about ourselves

Question 10

Knowledge function

Answer 10

the attitude helps us to know how to act in various situations, giving structure and order to our world.

Question 11

Attitude affects behaviour

Answer 11

• If we have a positive attitude towards something our behaviour will reflect thing.
• However, how much our attitude affects behaviour depends on how strong the attitude is, how specific the attitude is and the social situation surrounding it.

Question 12

Factors effecting how much attitude effects behaviour

Answer 12

• How strong the attitude is will spend on how it was formed. Direct experience being the strongest, indirect being weaker as it doesn’t invoke an emotional response.
• How specific it is: if it is about a general concept it will be weaker, if it is more specific it is stronger. Specificity refers to knowledge.
• The social situation; are there social influences acting in favour of a certain attitude?

Question 13

Behaviour affecting attitude

Answer 13

If we behave in a certain way this may affect our attitude. There are two theories as to how this can be.

• Self perception theory
• Cognitive dissonance theory.

Question 14

Self Perception theory

Answer 14

This theory suggests that we observe our own behaviour and conclude our attitude from this.
I play netball therefore I must like netball.

Question 15

Cognitive dissonance theory

Answer 15

Suggests that when our attitude and behaviour are inconsistent it makes us feel uncomfortable so we change one.

Question 16

Central route of persuasion

Answer 16

• Involves giving the audience information about the topic and trying to get them to think critically about the message (high elaboration).
• It works best for an audience that is willing to and capable of paying attention and evaluating arguments
• Facts, statistics, intellectual. Based on logic and content of message
• Creates a more permanent change in attitude.

Question 17

Peripheral route of persuasion

Answer 17

• Uses peripheral cues not requiring the audience to think carefully (Low elaboration)
• It uses imagery that is attractive or pleasurable.
• Based on emotion and attractiveness.
• It is best for audiences that are not likely to think deeply about the message.
• The attitude change is less permeant.

Question 18

What does SAM stand for

Answer 18

Source, audience, message.

Question 19

Source

Answer 19

• The person giving the message (the more we favour the source the more we favour the message)

Effectiveness depends on credibility, trustworthiness, likeability and attractiveness

Question 20

Audience

Answer 20

• The way the audience perceives the source is important
• Older people are conservative
• Younger people tend to form attitudes through indirect experiences and are easier to persuade
• People with low self-esteem are easier to persuade
• Intelligent people are better swayed by central and vice versa.

Question 21

Message

Answer 21

• The message refers to the type of information.
• Emotions aroused by the message are effective.
• The message is more effective if the audience thinks it is honest rather than deceptive
• Repetition of message can get people to remember it but can often lead to overexposure.

Question 22

What is prejudice

Answer 22

Prejudice is a negative attitude towards people in a distinguishable group, based solely on their membership of that group. Reducing prejudice involves changing an attitude.

Question 23

Structure of prejudice

Answer 23

A – Feelings of hatred
B – discrimination against group
C – thoughts and beliefs based on stereotypes

Question 24

Functions of racist attitudes

Answer 24

• Helps us feel better about ourselves to see others as lesser (Ego-defensive)
• Learned through observation and learned through rewards.

Question 25

Suggestions to reduce prejudice

Answer 25

- Equal legal and economic status - Normal for groups to have equality - Increased contact with group - Cooperation - Creating cognitive dissonance - Cognitive intervention

Question 26

Impression formation

Answer 26

Factors influencing impression formation can be broken down into 2 categories - Verbal communication - Non-verbal communication

Question 27

Verbal communication

Answer 27

What we say

Question 28

Non-verbal communication

Answer 28

- What we do and look like - Visual cues such as physical appearance, facial expressions, eye contact, posture. - How we say it - Variations in speech, rhythm, pitch, inflection, loudness, hesitations, emotion.

Question 29

Principles of impression formation

Answer 29

- Impressions are formed on limited, external information. - First impressions are formed within seconds and affect how we see e person from that point forth, these impressions are not easily changed. - We tend to form more positive impressions of attractive people

Question 30

Impression Management

Answer 30

Impression management is the attempt we make to influence the impression we make on others. - Verbal and non-verbal factors are involved. - There are two methods for managing impressions of you; those that increase our appeal and make us seem like better people and those that use flattery, do favours for other in order to be viewed in a more postitive light.

Question 31

Social Comparison

Answer 31

- Social comparison means gaining self-knowledge by comparing ourselves to others. - Social comparison can be downwards, upwards or similar.

Question 32

Downwards social comparison

Answer 32

- Comparing ourselves to someone who is worse off in some way. - Its benefit is that it makes us feel good and boosts self-esteem - Its disadvantage is that it can result in accepting lower standards for ourselves.

Question 33

Upwards social comparison

Answer 33

- Comparing ourselves to someone who is better off in some way - Its benefit is that it can give us a goal to aim for a motivate us - Its disadvantage is that it can result in discouragement if the goal is unrealistic for us.

Question 34

Similar social comparison

Answer 34

- Comparing ourselves to someone who is similar - It enables us to check if we fit in with social norms, it advantage being that it confirms that our behaviour is acceptable and in form with others. - There is no real disadvantage.

Question 35

Self-handicapping

Answer 35

- Self-handicapping is a cognitive strategy by which people make excuses for a potential failure of anticipated poor performance. The excuse can be real or fake, but it only works if you provide the excuse before receiving results or preforming the task. - It helps us avoid low self-esteem, its ego defensive. - The danger is that it lowers performance, decreases motivation.

Question 36

What do we use to measure attitudes

Answer 36

- Behavioural observation | - Self reports

Question 37

Behaviour observations

Answer 37

- Watching and recording behaviour and then inferring what the attitude must be. - Recording can use written descriptions, producing qualitative data, or behavioural counts (Observing how many times a person smiles) can be used to produce quantitative data.

Question 38

Self-reports

Answer 38

Questionnaires, surveys, interviews, rating scales.

Question 39

Experimental design for social cog

Answer 39

-Dividing participants into two groups to observe cartoon vs graphic images for an anti-smoking campaign. Experimental because of random allocation to experimental and control groups

Question 40

Quantitative observational for social cog

Answer 40

- Observing people’s attitudes to smoking based on their own or friends smoking habits. Observational quantitative because the smoking habits of self or friends is a pre-existing variable.

Question 41

Qualitative for social cog

Answer 41

- Focus groups or Delphi technique questionnaires regarding attitudes to smoking.

Question 42

Ethics for social cog

Answer 42

- Ethical issues in advertising to young children - Debriefing when trying to persuade people or change attitudes - Protection of vulnerable groups regarding prejudice. - Informed consent, right to withdraw, confidentiality, etc.

Question 43

Public safety and fear (Psychological interventions)

Answer 43

- Fear is an excellent way to change attitudes, it appeals to our self-interest. - However, it is only effective if you provide a way to avoid the scary thing.