Social Cognition and Attitudes

These flashcards cover key terms and concepts related to social cognition, including theories on attitudes, persuasion, cognitive biases, and the social perception processes.

Social Cognition

The process of how we think about and understand the social world.

Explicit Social Cognition

Conscious thought processes that require effort and are single-task oriented.

Implicit Social Cognition

Unconscious thoughts that require minimal effort and can occur simultaneously with multiple thoughts.

Thought Suppression

The act of trying to avoid thinking about something, often leading to obsession.

Schemas

Organized knowledge structures that guide information processing.

Scripts

More specific schemas that fill in gaps regarding specific situations or activities.

Confirmation Bias

The tendency to seek out information that supports pre-existing beliefs or assumptions.

Self-fulfilling Prophecy

A belief that influences behavior in a way that brings about the expected result.

Positive Illusions

Overly positive self-perceptions or beliefs that may lead to unrealistic expectations.

Cognitive Dissonance

The psychological discomfort arising from conflicting thoughts, attitudes, or behaviors.

Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)

A theory that explains how the degree of thought given to a persuasive message affects attitude change.

High Elaboration

When an individual engages deeply with the content of a message, leading to strong, lasting attitude change.

Low Elaboration

When an individual processes information superficially, relying on cues like attractiveness rather than content.

Mere-Exposure Effect

The phenomenon where people develop a preference for things merely due to repeated exposure.

Dual Attitudes

Having both implicit and explicit evaluations of the same object, which may conflict.

Source Credibility

The degree to which the source of a message is perceived as trustworthy and knowledgeable.

Stereotyping

Generalizing characteristics of a group based on prior experiences with individuals from that group.

Cultural Frame Switching

The ability of bicultural individuals to adapt their behaviors to fit the cultural norms of their environment.