Social cognition chapter 3 Flashcards
(21 cards)
Function of Schemas
Give order/predictability to the world
Ex. Do I want fast-food? Reduce ambiguity
Ex. Warm-cold study -When arrogance was obvious schemas did not influence judgment of the lecturer.
Increase cognitive efficiency/save effort Ex. Stereotypes as energy saving devices
Holistic thinking style –
A type of thinking in which people focus on the overall context, particularly the ways in which objects relate to each other (more common in Eastern cultures) cultures).
Which photo was taken by an analytic thinker (American college student)? Which photo was taken by a holistic thinker (an East Asian international student)? A B?
A-just focused on the individual
B- focused on individual and background.
Counterfactual thinking-
mentally changing some aspect of the past as a way of imagining what might have been (Aronson et al., 2007).
Negative events that are more easily mentally undone are more upsetting
Like getting a red medalla instead of a gold one.
Are there elements of automatic thinking in counterfactual reasoning? =
Controlled thinking- thinking that is conscious, intentional, voluntary, and effortful (Aronson et al., 2007).
Can you think of an example of someone using automatic thinking? How about someone using controlled thinking?
Representativeness Heurisic-
A mental shortcut whereby people classify something according to how similar it is to a typical category member. William is a short, shy man. He has a passion for poetry, and loves strolling through art museums. As a child, he was often bullied by his classmates. Do you suppose that William is a farmer or a classics scholar?
William is a Classics Scholar, not a farmer ,
Target description: William likes poetry and art and got beat up as a kid Classics Scholar Category Stereotype: Poetry and art lover Gets beat-up Farmer Category Stereotype: Aren’t interested in art Is strong (don’t get beat up)
Automatic Thinking With Schemas.
mental structures people use to organize the social world around themes or subjects and that influence the information people notice, think about, and remember
The Effect of Schemas On Others’ Behavior: The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
Self-fulfilling prophecy- the case people have an expectation about what another person is like, which b)influences how they act towards that person, which c)causes that person to behave consistently with peoples original expectations. Girls can’t do math (He never calls on me for math 1+2=7 ) (Girls really can’t do math). Stereotypes and Self-Fulfilling Prophecies in “Crash”
Why does the mobster get shot for pulling out a sandwich?
Is the object (gun or sandwich) ambiguous? Is a crime schema accessible in the mind of the police? Why?
What is the problem with using the representativeness heuristic?
Most people ignore base rate information Sheldon doesn’t http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF9fxLN-Iyc Base Rate Information- Information about the frequency of members of different categories in the population.
Judgmental Heuristics-
Mental shortcuts people use to make judgments quickly and efficiently
Types of schemas:
Script- schema that tells people how to behave in certain situations.
Stereotype- a schema about the characteristics generally shared by group of people.
Priming Goals and Unconsciously Influencing Behavior Priming politeness v. rudeness influences interruption of another (Bargh et al., 1996).
Evidence of automaticity: participants did not believe the priming had influenced them. WE ARE OFTEN UNAWARE OF THE FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE OUR BEHAVIOR
Analytic thinking style –
A type of thinking in which people focus on the properties of objects without considering their surrounding context (more common in Western cultures).
Automatic thinking
thinking that is nonconcious, unintentional, involuntary, and effortless
Subliminal Priming and Perception
Can priming influence us when we can’t even know that we have been primed? Can stereotypes influence perception at a noncoconscious level (Eberhardt et al., 2004)? Participants are subliminally primed with either Black faces, White faces, or no faces (control condition) Then see increasingly clear images of crime relevant objects and non-crime relevant objects
White / Caucasia they rated higher on priming on crime relevant objects than black or no priming individuals.
Availability heuristic-
A mental rule of thumb whereby people base a judgment on the ease with which they can bring something to mind
Often what comes easily to mind is correct and so availability heuristic is useful… …but Not in all occasion like a shark vs an airplane although they have similar shape they’re very different from each other.
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy Implications A school gives teachers a list of students that are predicted to fail a standardized test in order to encourage teachers to give these students extra help. Is this a good idea?
People seem inclined to point out others’ weaknesses in trying to get them to change. For example, a parent might say to a child, “look at your room, you are such a slob, you really need to keep it cleaner in there.” Based on the concept of self-fulfilling prophecies is this likely to be an effective way to get people to change? Based on the concept of self-fulfilling prophecies what should we do if we want to change others’ behavior?
What is social cognition?
How people think about themselves and the social world, or more specifically, how people select, interpret, remember, and use social information to make judgments and decisions
Apply and Discuss How could priming be used to activate goals in ourselves or in others with the aim of influencing behavior?
If you were a McDonalds executive trying to boost sales how might you use priming effects to your advantage? How could you prime people with a generosity goal to increase giving to charity? What could you do to keep important personal goals primed?
Priming-
the process by which recent experience increases the accessibility of a schema, trait, or concept. Classic “Donald” Research (Higgins et al., 1977)
Accessibility & Priming Accessibility-
the extent to which schemas and concepts are at the forefront of people’s minds and are therefore likely to be used when we are making judgements about the social world (Arosnson et al., 2007).
Chronic accessibility- schemas that are constantly at the forefront of ones mind, perhaps due to prior experiences.
Goal relevance /Recent experience (priming) Permanent, personality Temporary, situational
