SOC 245 Midterm 2 Electric Boogaloo

Social Cognition

The ways in which individuals process, organize, structure, and retrieve information to make sense of themselves, others, and situations

Mental Representations

Cognitive structures involving both general knowledge about a stimulus domain and one’s own experiences

“situated cognition”

Perceivers sample from and combine multiple representations

To Prime/Priming

Something that brings a particular category to mind and heightens the likelihood of processing a situation in terms of it

Assimilation

Fitting new info into what has been accessed

Contrast

When people move away from the judgement implied by the prime, can happen when the perceiver is aware of a prime

Categorization

Placing perceived situational stimuli into groups of conceptually equivalent objects, typically without conscious awareness

Categories

Mental representations of classes or groups of abstract or concrete things that provide initial basises for inferences

Prototype

Representation of a “typical” category member with the most common features

Exemplars

Specific examples of actual members of a category

Schema

Cognitive Structures that organize information by identifying the attributes of a category and the relations among those attributes

Negative schema:

Produce potentially biased estimates of negative behaviors

Confirmation bias

Tendency to confirm initial expectations

Heuristics

Cognitive shortcuts that allow perceivers to get a sense of a situation without considering all available information

Heuristics are most commonly used in:

Situations with lots of practice

Representativeness (heuristic) means that you

Estimate the probability of outcomes and events by considering their resemblance to a more general category

Availability heuristic

People jump to conclusions based on what comes readily to mind

Simulation heuristic

Perceivers mentally simulate why people are doing something, involves imagining alternate situational outcomes

Anchors

Perceptual reference points people use to make decisions

Framing

How information is presented activates different mental representaions used to interpret relevant information

Automatic Processing

Determined directly from stimuli, non-conscious and requires little mental energy

Controlled processing

Ability to direct and regulate cognition

Behavior is determined as a function of

Person and environment

Kahneman’s work

Thinking Fast and Slow: Automatic vs controlled processing and two systems in the mind

System 1

Operates automatically and quickly, with little or no effort and no sense of voluntary control

System 2

Effortful mental activities, including complex computations. Requires attention and is disrupted when attention is drawn away

You can only do several things at once if:

They are easy and undemanting (System 1)

Focusing heavily on a system 2 task can:

Blind you to obvious things around you

Cognitive Illusion

A mismatch between a subjective representation and some underlying reality

Process of Social Perception

Dynamic between what is perceived and what is stored

Attending

What individuals notice, depends on context and salience

Impression

A conception of what another person is like

People switch from autmatic to controlled processing when:

There is an inconsistency between stored information and the target or when they are motivated for accuracy or goals

Impressions are based on:

Physical features, facial expressions, demeanor, social class and status, responses of others, and background characteristics

Impressions are a combination of:

Target information and perceiver’s schemas, goals, and biases

Primacy effect

The order of traits about someone in our mind is often dictated by the first impression we had of them

Recency effect

Tendency to remember the most recent information about someone

Top-down processing

More automatic, fitting people into schemas or categories, more likely in short interactions

Bottom-up processing

More controlled, combine all information available, increases complexity and more likely in long or important interactions

Attribution

Cognitive process people use to explain the causes of their own and other people's behavior and events

Internal attribution

Explains behavior as a result of personal, internal traits

External attribution

Explains behavior as a result of external, situational factors

Attributions form when:

Behaviors are unexpected, unique, or negative

Central trait

An attribute in someone’s personality that is considered particularly meaningful

Naive scientist

Model stating that everyday people behave like scientists, gathering evidence to figure out causes

Cognitive Miser

Model of the human tendency to avoid spending mental effort whenever possible

Activated actor

Model of how people process social information through spontaneous reactions to their environment

Jones and Davis’ work

Correspondent inference

Correspondent inference theory

How people decide whether an actor’s behavior corresponds to a stable, internal personal disposition or external, situational pressures.

According to Correspondent inference theory, behavior that is non-common in effect, low in social desirability, and freely chosen originates from

A person’s stable traits

Kelley’s work

Covariation model

Covariation

The tendency of two things to occur at the same time, assessed by distinctiveness, consistency, and consensus

Consensus

Other people enacting the same behavior

Drawback of attribution models

Assume the standard of “rational information processing,” assuming that perceivers given the same information make the same attribution

Fundamental attribution error

Tendency to overestimate the extent behavior is due to internal factors and underestimate situational factors

Correspondence bias

Drawing correspondent trait inferences from situationally constrained behavior

Actor/observer difference

Actors explain behavior in terms of situational factors and observers explain behavior in terms of dispositional causes

Spontaneous trait inference

Snap judgements focused on traits of actors to account for behavior

False consensus

Assuming own beliefs and qualities are common in the general population

Egocentrism

Tendency to see oneself as more central to events than you really are

Ego-defensive bias

Constructing perceptions of others to ensure positive self-view (blaming others)

Self-serving bias

Attributing positive outcomes to disposition, negative ones to external factors

Ultimate attribution error

Tendency to attribute positive behavior and outcomes of own group members to dispositional causes and externalize negative behavior and outcomes

Gutierrez-Serran et al.’s work

Latina First-Gen college students - self-determination theory

Student Departure Model

Students are more likely to complete their goals and remain enrolled if they are academically AND socially integrated

2 types of self-beliefs that contribute to expectations for academic success

Competence beliefs (perceptions about capabilities) and control beliefs (perceptions about likelihood of desired outcomes)

2 aspects of Self-determination theory

Intrinsic motivation (doing something because it is enjoyable) and extrinsic motivation (doing something directed toward attaining rewards)

Kelley’s discounting principle

People reduce their confidence in assigning a specific cause to behavior if other plausible causes are present

Kelley’s augmentation principle

People assign stronger internal or dispositional cause to behaviors if they persist despite risks or costs

Self-fulfilling prophecy

An initial belief causes one to act in ways that make that prediction come true

Attitude

Favorable or unfavorable evaluation of an object

Referent

Object eliciting an attitude

Attitudes develop through:

Direct and indirect experience with an object

Mere exposure

The repeated exposure to an object increases the favorability of the attitude toward it

Classical conditioning

The repeated pairing of stimuli leads to the expression of a response in the absence of the unconditioned stimulus

Pavlov’s experiment is an example of:

Classical Conditioning

Operant Conditioning

Consequences of an action affect repetition of that action in the future

Self-perception theory

People infer their attitudes from their own behavior

Balance theory

Our attitudes towards other people influence our attitudes towards things we associate with them, positive multiplication = balanced

Reception of an argument

attention + comprehension

Elaboration Likelihood Model

The extent to which audience members elaborate/think about arguments, involves central vs. peripheral routes

Central route of attitude change

Requires consideration of message

Peripheral route of attitude change

Relies on heuristics

Cognitive Dissonance

Inconsistency between two cognitions, greatest when self-concept is threatened

Theory of Planned Behavior

Since people can’t always control the behavior in a situation, intention doesn’t always correlate with behavior

DeLeeuw et al.’s work

Planned behavior to identify key beliefs of pro-environmental behavior - Extent of control belief is important in environmental behaviors

Communicator characteristics

Credibility, expertise, trustworthiness

Communication charactersistics

Argument (number of sides, points within audience’s frame), vivid examples, emotional appeal

Audience Characteristics

Existing beliefs, level of forewarning, self esteem, context

Attitude change is most likely when:

Dissonant conditions are of high importance, decisions are irrevocable, and free choice is present

Free choice

no constraints in behavior

LaPiere study

While most said they wouldn’t accept Chinese as guests, almost everyone behaved otherwise

Attitudes predict behavior when:

Measured at matching levels, attitudes are learned through direct experience, and situations don’t constrain behavioral expression

Primary Emotions

Hardwired and innate, cross-culturally universal

Secondary Emotions

Constructed, variants or combinations of primary emotions

Functions of emotions

Motivate us to action, provide clues to understand world, aid us in being social, function as self-control

Affect

A deep, evaluative orientation toward an object that encompasses moods, emotions, and sentiments

Moods

Affective states, internal to a person without a clear source

Sentiments

Enduring evaluations typically pertaining to social relationships or identities

Emotional valence

positive to negative