PSYCH Y11 SOCIAL COGNITION

UNIT 2 AOS1

Social psychology

The study of how individuals’ thoughts, feelings and behaviours are influenced by others

Social cognition

How people perceive, interpret and use information to understand themselves and others in social situations.

Person perception

The mental processes used to form impressions and evaluate other people.

When making judgments, we use:

• physical cues

• salience detection

• social categorisation

Physical cues

Information obtained from how people look and act, guiding first impressions.

Halo effect

Bias in which physically attractive people are presumed to have other desirable traits.

Reverse halo effect

Bias in which physical attractiveness is linked to lower ratings on other traits.

Horn effect

Bias in which unattractive people are judged to possess more negative traits.

Salience

To describe characteristics that stand out and are more easily detected

Salience detection

Tendency to notice characteristics that are distinctive, prominent or stand out in context.

Social categorisation

Classifying people into groups based on shared characteristics to simplify the social world.

Ingroup

Any group to which an individual belongs or identifies.

Outgroup

A group to which an individual does not belong

Attributions

Explanations we create for the causes of our own or other people’s behaviour.

Internal attribution

Explaining behaviour by referring to personal traits such as ability, personality or effort.

External (situational) attribution

Explaining behaviour in terms of contextual or environmental factors.

Biases affecting attributions:

• fundamental attribution error

• actor-observer bias

• self-observing bias

Fundamental attribution error

Overestimating personal factors and underestimating situational factors when explaining others’ behaviour.

Just-world belief

Assumption that people get what they deserve and deserve what they get.

Actor-observer bias

Tendency to attribute our own actions to situations but others’ actions to personal factors.

Self-serving bias

Attributing successes to internal factors and failures to external factors when judging oneself.

Attitude

A learned evaluation of an object, person, group, event or issue that can be positive, negative or neutral.

Tri-component model of attitudes consist of:

• affective

• behavioural

• cognitive

Affective component

The emotional or feeling, cannot be argued by others

Behavioural component

The action a person takes (or intends to take) toward an attitude object.

Cognitive component

The beliefs or thoughts a person has about an attitude object, can be argued

La Piere (1934) study

Classic study showing inconsistency between expressed attitudes and actual discriminatory behaviour toward Chinese patrons.

Stereotype

Oversimplified generalisation about members of a social group, ignoring individual differences.

Social stigma

Widespread negative attitudes and beliefs that cause people to fear, reject or discriminate against others.

Cognitive dissonance

Unpleasant psychological tension from holding inconsistent cognitions or when behaviour conflicts with beliefs.

Festinger (1957)

Psychologist who proposed people reduce dissonance by changing cognitions, changing behaviour or adding new cognitions.

3 basic ways to reduce prejudice:

• change the cognition - sour grapes

• change the behaviour - to suit cognition

• add new cognitions - to justify behaviour

Cognitive bias

Systematic error in thinking that affects decisions and judgements.

Confirmation bias

Seeking, interpreting and remembering information that confirms existing beliefs while ignoring contradictions.

Hindsight bias

After an event, the tendency to see it as having been predictable.

Predictability hindsight

Belief that one ‘knew it would happen’ after the outcome is known.

Inevitability hindsight

Belief post-event that the outcome ‘had to happen’.

Memory distortion hindsight

Mistakenly recalling earlier predictions as having been more accurate.

Dunning-Kruger effect

Cognitive bias where people with low ability overestimate their competence.

Heuristic

Experience-based mental shortcut for problem-solving or decision-making that does not guarantee accuracy.

Availability heuristic

Judging likelihood based on how easily examples come to mind.

Representative heuristic

Judging something by how closely it matches a prototype of its category.

Affect heuristic

Relying on current emotions to make quick judgements or choices.

Prejudice

Negative preconceived attitude toward individuals based on their group membership.

Discrimination

Unfair treatment of individuals due to prejudiced attitudes.

Direct discrimination

When a person or group is treated less favourably than another because of a characteristic.

Indirect discrimination

A rule or policy applied to everyone that disproportionately disadvantages a particular group.

Sexism

Prejudice and discrimination based on sex or gender.

Racism

Prejudice and discrimination based on race or ethnicity.

Ageism

Prejudice and discrimination based on age.

Old-fashion prejudice

Open, blatant negative attitudes toward a group.

Modern prejudice

Subtle, hidden negative attitudes expressed in socially acceptable ways.

Intergroup contact

Direct interaction between members of different groups aimed at reducing prejudice.

Sustained contact

Prolonged, cooperative intergroup interaction that promotes positive attitude change.

Contact hypothesis

Theory that under certain conditions, intergroup contact reduces prejudice.

Implicit prejudice

Unconscious negative bias toward a group.

Explicit prejudice

Consciously held and openly expressed negative attitude toward a group.

Mutual interdependence

Situation where rival groups depend on each other to achieve a goal, reducing rivalry.

Superordinate goal

Objective that cannot be achieved by one group alone and requires cooperation.

Equality of status

Intergroup interaction where members have equal power and standing.

Group (social)

Two or more people who interact, influence each other and share a common purpose.

Status (group)

A person’s position in the social hierarchy of a group.

Social power

Degree of influence one individual has over another.

Reward power

Influence based on ability to provide desired outcomes.

Coercive power

Influence based on ability to deliver punishments for non-compliance.

Legitimate power

Influence arising from a recognised position or role within a social structure.

Referent power

Influence because others identify with, admire or seek approval from the person.

Expert power

Influence derived from possessing knowledge or expertise.

Peer

An individual of equal status who can influence one’s behaviour.

Collectivist culture

Culture that prioritises group goals and interdependence over individual desires. (many Asian countries)

Individualist culture

Culture that values personal goals and independence over group needs. (many western countries)

Horizontal culture

prioritise equality

Vertical culture

Accepts inequality

Obedience

Refers to situations in which people change their behaviour in response to commands from others

Factors that affect obedience:

• social proximity

• legitimacy of authority

• group influence

Social proximity

A social distance between 2 parties

Legitimacy of authority

when people assign authority to an individual and are obedient to their instructions

group influence

when people are influenced by social norms and the actions of their peers

Conformity

occurs in situations in which people change their behaviour as a result of real or implied pressure from others

Factors that affect conformity:

1. normative influence

2. informational influence

3. unanimity

4. group size

5. deindividuation

6. culture

Normative influence

refers to the impact of the established behaviour of the group, termed ‘group norms’ on the likelihood of a person conforming

Informational influence

when we are influence by the behaviours of people around us and these behaviours shape our actions

Unanimity

When EVERYONE in the group agrees or does the same thing (think unanimous)

What is the most powerful number for unanimity?

A unanimous group of 3 is more powerful than a group of 8 that has 1 disserting person

group size

the extent of group influence depends on the size of the group.

What group size is max conformity reached?

maximum conformity is reached with a group of 4-6 people

Deindividuation

The loss of social identity when in a group, resulting in doing things without the thought of consequences

Culture

Shared patterns of norms, values and behaviours learned and followed by members of a group.

Social loafing

the tendency to make less effort when involved in a group activity than when acting alone

public conformity

only conform in presence of group, normative influence

private conformity

conforming even when alone, informational influence

Groupthink

When a group makes poor decisions because its members prioritise harmony and conformity over critical thinking and individual opinions, even when there are doubts.

Groupthink occurs when

• high level of cohesiveness

• strong leader who takes charge

• lack of considering pros and cons

• isolated from outside influence

• under stress

Group polarisation

The tendency of an individual group member, following group discussion to shift their initial views to a more extreme position.

Social comparison

The process of evaluating our attitudes and abilities by comparing ourselves to someone else

Factors of deindividuation:

• Anonymity

• shift in attention

Anonymity

the feeling of being unidentifiable (think of anonymous), groups can lead people to feel anonymous, therefore less accountable for their actions

Shift in attention

Occurs in groups when people shift their focus to events that are external to the group, paying more attention to what the group is doing and less to what you are doing

Social comparison theory consists of:

• upward social comparison

• downward social comparison

• lateral social comparison

Upward social comparison

comparing ourselves to those we view as superior