Psychology - Social Cognition

Person Perception

The mental processes we used to understand and form impressions and of other people.

Physical Ques: Physical apperance, body language, behaviour

Social Cognition

involves how we interpret, analyse, remember, and use information to make judgements about others in different social situations and the social world.

Attribution

An evaluation made about the causes of behaviour and the processes of making this evaluation.

Personal attribution - explanation of behaviour due to the characteristics of the person involved.

Situational attribution - explanation due to factors external to the person involved.

Attitude

An evaluation a person makes about an object, person, group, event or issue.

(Tricomponent Model) Affective component

Emotional and intuitive feelings towards something reflected in our attitude.

(Tricomponent Model) Behavioral component

Outward and observable actions that reflect our point of view about something

(Tricomponent Model) Cognitive component

Thoughts and beliefs towards something.

Consistency in tricomponent

The tri-component model proposes that all three components must be present, and consistent with each other, before it can be said that an attitude exists

Inconsistency in tricomponent

A person's behavior does not always reflect the attitude they hold.

Example - attitudes towards cricket

Affective - You hate watching cricket.

Cognitive - You believe it takes too long for the game to finish

Behavioral - BUT you still go and watch a match because your friends are going

Stereotype

Widely held belief and generalisations about a group, such as people animals or objects

Stigma

A negative label associated with disapproval or rejection by others who are not labelled in that way.

Cognitive Dissonance

The psychological tension that occurs when our thoughts, feelings, and/or behaviours do not align.

Cognitive Bias

Conscious, systematic tendencies to interpret information in a way that is neither rational nor based on objective reality.

Confirmation bias

The tendency to search for and accept information that supports our prior beliefs or behaviours, and ignores contradictory information.

Actor-observer bias

The tendency to attribute our own actions to external factors and situational causes while attributing other people's actions to internal factors.

Self Serving bias

The tendency to attribute positive success to our internal character and actions and attribute our failures to external factors or situational causes.

False-consensus bias

The tendency to overestimate the degree to which other people share the same ideas and attitudes as we do.

Heuristics

The information processing strategies that enable individuals to form judgements, make decisions, and solve problems quickly and efficiently.

Anchoring (adjustment) heuristic

Information-processing strategy that involves forming judgements based on the first information received about an idea or concept.

Availability heuristic

Information-processing strategy that enables individuals to form a judgement, solve a problem, or make a decision based on information that is easily accessible.

Representative heuristic

Information-processing strategy that involves making a categorical judgement about an idea, event, or person based on their similarity to other items in that category.

Affect heuristic

Information-processing strategy that involves using emotions to make a judgement, decision or problem-solve.

Base-rate fallacy

Type of bias in which decisions, social perceptions, and judgements are influenced more by vivid memories and experiences than statistical fact.

Social Stigma

The disapproval of or discrimination against an individual or group, based on perceived characteristics that serve to distinguish them from other members of a society

Self Stigma

The negative attitudes, including internalised shame, that people may have on themselves and their own condition

Group

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

In-group

A group that an individual identifies with or belongs to.

Out-group

A group that an individual does not identify with or belong to.

Social Norms

Spoken or unspoken rules or values that defines or outlines appropriate behaviour or experience within a group.

Social Influence

The effects of the presence or actions of others, either real or imagined on the way people think, feel and behave

Obedience

Adhering to the instructions of authority figures or the rules or laws of society

Factors effecting obedience

Social Proximity - Closeness between two or more people both physically and emotionally (e.g. their relationship)

Legitimacy of authority figures - When the individual who genuinely has power in a given situation, or according to the law

Group Pressure - Direct or indirect social pressure exerted by a group on its individual members to influence their choices.

Conformity

Tendency to adjust one's thoughts, feelings or behaviours in ways that are in agreement with what is accepted behaviour at the time.

Group polarisation

Group polarisation is the tendency of an individual group member following group discussion, to shift their initially held views to a more extreme position (in the same general direction). As a result, the group as a whole tends to respond in more extreme ways than one would expect given the sentiments of the individual members prior to the discussion

Deindividualisation

The tendency for individuals to lose their sense of identity and individuality within a group