Psychology AOS 1 - Social Cognition: Chapter 6

Social cognition

how individuals perceive, think about and use information to understand and make judgments about themselves and others in different social situations

Person perception

The mental processes used to think about and evaluate other people using information available to us.

Includes attribution, biases, attitudes, salience detection.

Physical cues

In person perception, information gained from the way people look and act. Is the basis of first impressions because we believe that appearance and behaviour reflect personality.

Body language

Non-verbal communication involving expression of feelings and thoughts through movement.

There exist many commonly-held beliefs about certain aspects of body language.

Eye contact

Social-cultural method of non-verbal communication. Western see it as interest + attention. Avoiding is shyness or embarrassment. Good amounts are sign of honesty and likability.

Behaviour

Includes actions and speech. Forms more accurate impressions than just appearance.

Salience detection

In relation to person perception, personal characteristic that is prominent or noticeable and therefore attracts attention.

Social categorisation

Grouping people based on common characteristics. We group ourselves into ingroups with others with a common characteristic, and others into outgroups of which we don't belong to.

Attribution

The evaluation and the process of evaluating the causes of behaviour.

Internal vs external attribution

INTERNAL: Caused by a characteristic of the person.

E.g. Their psychological state, age, gender or past behaviour.

EXTERNAL: Caused by situation factors outside individual. E.g. The environment or the events outside of their control (like emergencies or others' actions).

Attitudes

An evaluation of something; a learned idea we hold about something. These judgements must be relatively long-lasting and consistent.

3 ways attitudes are formed

Direct contact - personal experience with object of attitude

Child rearing - Parental values and beliefs applied to child

Group membership - Association with people whom we share characteristics e.g. being a Melbourne resident may lead you to think it's the best place to live.

Tri-component model of attitudes

Affective component - emotional reaction to/feelings about something.

Behavioural component - The way an attitude's expressed in how we act, or would act if given the chance.

Cognitive component - beliefs we have about the object of the attitude

Limitations of the tri-component model

1. Doesn't indicate attitude strength

2. Doesn't reflect how the more an attitude is thought of or brought up, the more likely the behaviour is to align

3. Doesn't include ambivalent (neutral and can be persuaded) attitudes

4. Does not explain misalignment of behaviour with other components

Stereotype

Generalisation about the characteristics of the members of a social group, ignoring individual differences. Allows quick judgements at the cost of accuracy.

Social stigma

Negative attitudes and beliefs held by the community that lead people to fear, exclude, and discriminate against people with a particular attribute.

Cognitive dissonance

Psychological uncomfort when people realise that there is inconsistency among their attitudes or other 'cognitions', or that their behaviour conflicts with their cognitions.

Ways to reduce cognitive dissonance

Change cognition - Changing your thinking about an action so it feels more normal (e.g. Cheating is bad —→ cheating isn’t that bad)

Change behaviour - Align behaviour with previous idea

Add new cognition - Rationalise behaviour by adding new ideas to make it seem okay, e.g. 'Everyone does it' or 'It's worth it'.

Cognitive bias and why is it systematic?

A systematic error of judgment and faulty decision-making. Is systematic because:

- It's flawed thinking attributed to someone who thinks in a biased way

- Occurs naturally without awareness

- Constant and predictable under certain circumstances

Cognitive bias types (other than major 4)

Anchoring bias - Relying on 1st piece of information, used in first impressions

Attentional bias - Prioritise attention to certain information over other

Confirmation bias - Seeking, recalling and interpreting information in a way that affirms our beliefs

False-consensus bias - Overestimating extent that others' beliefs, characteristics and behaviours align with our own

Halo effect - When the overall positive impression of someone or one of their qualities influences our expectations of the person

Hindsight bias - After an event has occurred we overestimate extent that outcome could've been predicted

Misinformation effect - Information gained after event to influence how we remember the event.

Optimism bias - Overestimate chance of good things happening, underestimating chance of bad things

Self-fulfilling prophecy - Acted in ways that make our expectations come true

Dunning-Kruger Effect - Overestimating own ability or knowledge, especially in an area we have little knowledge

Major 4 cognitive bias types

Just-world belief - Everyone gets what they deserve

Self-serving bias - We take credit for our successes and blame failures on external factors

Actor-observer bias - Attributing own behaviour to environment and others' to internal factors

Fundamental attribution error - overestimating internal influence and underestimating external influence on someone's behaviour.

Heuristic

Problem-solving and decision making technique based on experience with similar types of problems but cannot guarantee a correct outcome. 3 types are availability, representative and affective.

Availability heuristic

Making a judgment based on how easy or difficult it is to bring specific examples to mind. E.g. deciding not to go swimming as you recently read a shark attack article

Representative heuristic

Categorising something by judging how closely it matches our idea of a typical member of that group. E.g. labelling a rough, tattooed, bearded man as a biker instead of a teacher

Affective heuristic

Making a judgment that is influenced by the emotion being experienced at the time. E.g. If you are scared of heights, being in a good mood may make you decide to ride a cable car.

Individualist culture

Society that values being an independent individual and achieving personal goals

Collectivist culture

Society that values being a group member and contributing to shared causes over personal preferences.

Prejudice

Negative attitude and FEELINGS towards another person or social group, based solely on their membership of that group

Old fashioned vs modern prejudice

Old-fashioned (overt) - majority group openly reject minority group members and this rejection is obvious and recognisable to others.

Modern (covert) - subtle, hidden and expressed in ways more likely to be accepted within society

Explicit vs implicit prejudice

Explicit - knowingly held

Implicit - unknowingly held (can include stereotypes)

3 elements that form the basis of prejudice

Scapegoating - blaming a person or group for others actions of for conditions they didn't make

Direct experience - negative contact with the group will create dislike for the group

Prejudiced personality - those with authoritative personalities (rigid, inhibited, oversimplifying) can be more prejudiced.

Discrimination and different types

When a person or a social group is treated differently than others (can be good or bad). 3 common types are sexism, racism and ageism

Direct - someone treats another person differently because of a personal characteristic

Indirect - condition for all that disadvantages a person or group because of a personal characteristic

Factors to reduce prejudice and discrimination

(SEMICS)

SUSTAINED CONTACT - More time, less prejudice

EQUALITY - Equal status between groups is essential

MUTUAL INTERDEPENDENCE - both groups rely and need things from each other

INTER-GROUP CONTACT- Increased contact, , working together on something meaningful to both parties

COGNITIVE INTERVENTIONS - Intervening in a cognitive pattern to change the way someone things about prejudice

SUPER-ORDINATE GOALS - a goal that can't be achieved without both groups and overrides other existing goals

Situations requiring cognitive intervention

* Just-world belief against other group

* Self fulfilling prophecy held by a group

* Social competition among groups

* Other cognitive biases in play

Types of cognitive interventions

* Sharing individuating information (knowledge that helps to see individuals rather than group member

* Teaching about prejudices

* Sharing commonalities (things in common)

* Educating on cultural awareness

Stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination in the tri-component model of attitudes

Stereotype is cognitive - All women are dumb

Prejudice is affective - I hate women

Discrimination is behaviour - Excluding women