Psych and the Media Test 1

What is the media? 

The main means of mass communication used to store and deliver information 

Correlational research

From knowing X, can we predict Y?

Experimental research 

Is variable X the cause of variable Y?

experimental research =

causality

correlational research = 

prediction

Experimental method requirements

testable hypothesis, at least two conditions, one control condition, random assignment, and researcher has full control

independent variable

what is manipulated

dependent variable

what is measured

dependent variables should be 

concrete and codeable

There must be ___ on what the dependent variable means

consensus

Kaye & Johnson refer to heuristically as

newstrusting

Kaye & Johnson refer to systematically as

newsbusting

heuristic processing

intellectual shortcuts and superficial cues 

systematic processing

effortful

system 1

automatic/fast

What percentage is system 1?

95%wh

what percentage is system 2?

5%

system 2

controlled/slow rational thinking

automatic =

fast

controlled =

slow

automatic (fast) usually beats out what?

controlled (slow)

what does controlled thinking do?

provides checks and balances on automatic thinking

heuristic is

system 1

systematic is

system 2

heuristic judgements

quick, superficial, shortcuts, minimum cognitive demands

systematic judgements

attention and deep thought

schemas are classified as

automatic thinking

schemas

mental structures used to organize the social world

representative heuristic

mental shortcut used to classify something according to how similar it is to a typical case

a stereotype is an example of a

representative heuristic

base rate information

how frequently different categories occur in the population

availability heuristic

basing a judgement on the ease with which you can bring something to mind

familiarity

retrievability of an exemplar 

salience

arousing or recent exemplars

what is an availability heuristic influenced by?

familiarity and salience

what is an availability heuristic an example of?

judgmental heuristic

persuasion communication

a message advocating a particular side of an issue; targets largescale attitude change

motivation and ability increases likelihood of which processing?

systematic

exposure to negative elicits ____ & ____

approach (fight) and avoidance (flight)

heart rate variability

reflects the balance between the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system

what is a reliable measure of emotional arousal?

skin conductance

cross-institutional theory

negativity is shaped by culture

negativity bias

negative events have more of an impact than positive ones

misinformation

information that is false, inaccurate, or misleading. Not necessarily created deliberately 

disinformation

information that is false or inaccurate; created with a deliberate intention to mislead

fake news

content that resembles legitimate mainstream news content, but is fabricated or inaccurate

cognitive drivers of false beliefs

intuitive thinking, cognitive failures, and illusory truth

socio-affective drivers of false beliefs 

source cues, emotion, and worldview

stages of memory processing

acquisition, storage, and retrieval

acquisiton

what people notice and perceive

storage

what people store in memory

retrieval

what people recall later

examples of source monitoring errors:

credit stealing and eyewitness

illusory truth effect

repeated exposure to a statement (even if it is false) increases a person’s belief in the statement

attitude inoculation

expose people to small doses of an argument counter to their position 

cognitive dissonance

the discomfort that people feel when two cognitions (beliefs, attitudes) conflict, or when they behave in ways that are inconsistent with their conception of themselves 

gatekeeping bias

what stories the media chooses to cover

presentation bias

how the media covers certain stories

how do people resolve cognitive dissonace?

change your behavior or change your cognition

partisan bias

political bias

conformity

changing behavior due to real or imagined influence of others

social norms

implicit or explicit rules a group has about acceptable values, behaviors, and belief of its members 

reasons for conforming

informational social influence and normative social influence

informational social influence

rely on others as a source of information

normative social influence 

conform to be liked to avoid rejection/exclusion

private acceptance

believe that what others are doing or saying is right

public acceptance

conforming publicly but not believing in what we are doing or saying

informational social influence often leads to

private acceptance

normative social influence often leads to

public acceptance 

prescriptive norms

perceptions of what others approve or disapprove of

descriptive norms

how they act regardless of whether others approve or not

when are prescriptive norms effective in changing behaviors?

complex decisions and may help motivate prosocial behavior

when are descriptive norms effective in changing behaviors?

relied on for more risky decisions and helpful shortcut for low-risk decisions

explicit prejudice

those of which we are consciously aware

implicit prejudice

those that exist are outside of conscious awareness

stigma

an attribute, behavior, or condition that makes someone devalued

interpersonal stigma (public stigma)

negative beliefs that members of society attribute toward stigmatized individuals 

intrapersonal stigma (self-stigma)

negative beliefs that individuals with a stigmatized condition attribute to themselves

structural stigma

systemic rules, policies and practices that constrain opportunities and resources of a stigmatized group

what is a group?

a group consists of two or more people who have assembled for a common purpose

interdependent

needs and goals cause mutual influence

social roles

expectations shared by group members about group members’ behavior

group cohesiveness

qualities that bind group members together and promote mutual liking

group diversity

groups tend to be homogenous

groupthink

a decision process in which maintaining group cohesiveness and solidarity is more important than considering the facts 

when is groupthink most likely?

group is cohesive, threat, lacks diversity, no other viewpoints, isolation from other viewpoints, ruled by directive leader

deindividuation

process by which individuals lose their personal identity and accountability

mob mentality

individuals in a group conform to behaviors and attitudes that differ from their own

implicit bias 

Unconscious and often unrecognized by the individual

explicit bias

Conscious and acknowledged by the individual