Social Key Terms Flashcards
(62 cards)
Social Psychology
The study of people’s thoughts, behaviour and beliefs, how these things are constructed within a social context, and how they are influenced by others around them.
Schema
Mental models of the world; they organise knowledge, enable meaningful encoding of new information, and guide anticipation of additional information.
Stereotype
Beliefs about social categories regardless of their accuracy.
The 2 broad types of cognitive processes.
– System 1 (intuitive, automatic) – faster, less awareness, less effortful.
– System 2 (rational, controlled) – slower, more awareness, more effortful.
Dunbar’s Social Brain Hypothesis
More social information → larger capacity (specifically neocortex, outer-most part of the brain)
Dispositional Attribution
(internal), ‘explaining’ behavioural outcome by referring to stable, dispositional causes.
Situational Attribution
(external), ‘explaining’ behavioural outcome by referring to transient, situational causes.
Attribution
Explanations that we form spontaneously, often at an intuitive level without complete awareness of the process.
Correspondence Bias/Fundamental Attribution Error
We tend to assume that observable outcome corresponds to underlying disposition
Three types of self-awareness
Subjective self-awareness – distinguish self and environment, regulate own internal processes (all organisms?).
Objective self-awareness – become the object of one’s own attention, be aware of own state of mind, theory of mind ability (those capable of mirror self-recognition?).
Symbolic self-awareness – represent the self through language, communicate the self to others, set future goals for self, perform goal-guided actions, evaluate outcomes of those actions, possess extensive self-schemas (only humans?).
The watching-eye effect
Seeing one’s own mirror image makes people more prosocial and honest.
The spotlight effect
People tend to overestimate the extent to which others notice them.
The illusion of transparency
People tend to overestimate the extent to which their internal states (thoughts, emotions) are apparent to others.
Self control
The capacity to regulate thoughts and behaviours in the face of conflict (important for group living).
Delay of gratification.
Passing up a smaller immediate reward for a larger later reward, an eg of self-control.
Ego depletion and The Model of Self-Control (Baumeister et al.)
Self-control ability is a finite resource that can be temporarily used up.
Can train our self-control ability.
Self-esteem
One’s overall evaluation of one’s worth.
Maslow’s Hierarchy
Physiological needs
Safety needs
Belongingness and love needs
Esteem needs
Self-actualisation
Social pain
An acute aversive experience that demands immediate attention, may overlap with ‘state’ self-esteem.
Motives and Motivation.
Specific internal drivers of behaviour.
A state of arousal that promotes goal-directed behaviour.
Inter vs Intra sexual selection.
Intra = characteristics that facilitate direct competition eg weaponry.
Inter = seemingly useless traits that are attractive eg colour.
Fluid compensation
An attempt to restore one’s sense of meaning using any available means.
Mere exposure effect
Repeated exposure to a stimulus increases positive feelings, even when the exposure is subliminal.
Passionate vs Companionate love
Passionate love – an experience involving feelings of euphoria, intimacy, and intense sexual attraction (a few months ~ 2 years).
▪ Companionate love – also called compassionate love, an experience involving affection, trust, and concern for a partner’s wellbeing (slower to develop, much longer lasting).
