READING NOTES - Chapter 8

Cognitive Psychology

The study of the mental processes involved in human perception, thought, memory, and decision-making.

Nonsocial Cognition

The study of how we understand the physical world and other matters unrelated to people and their social interactions.

Social Cognition

The study of how we understand ourselves and other people.

Morality

The ability to distinguish between right and wrong.

Moral Reasoning

The analytical process used to arrive at decisions about what is right and wrong.

Preconventional Level

The lowest of Lawrence Kohlberg’s levels of moral development, where right and wrong are determined by anticipated rewards or punishments.

Conventional Level

The middle of Lawrence Kohlberg’s levels of moral development, where right and wrong are determined by the expectations of significant others.

Postconventional Level

The highest of Kohlberg’s levels of moral development, where right and wrong are determined by an individual’s own principles.

Moral Disengagement

Processes that people employ to avoid negative feelings after violating their moral standards.

Euphemistic Labelling

A moral disengagement mechanism where individuals apply a positive description to their immoral behavior.

Moral Justification

A disengagement mechanism where immoral behavior is rationalized as necessary to achieve an important goal.

Deindividuation

A psychological state characterized by a loss of individual identity, self-awareness, and self-evaluation in large groups.

Obedience

The action of complying with the directions of a higher authority.

Social Information Processing (SIP) Theories

Theories that liken the human mind to a computer processing stimuli and producing behavioral output.

Encoding Process

The process of perceiving and organizing incoming stimuli such as social cues.

Interpretation Process

The process of integrating encoded social cues to form a mental understanding of the situation.

Response Search Process

The process where behavioral responses retrieved from memory are considered for enactment.

Immediate Appraisal

A subconscious process where arousal, affect, and cognition are evaluated to make inferences about a situation.

General Aggression Model (GAM)

A model to understand episodes of violence as products of both distal and proximate factors.

Hostile Attribution Bias

The tendency to interpret ambiguous actions of others as aggressive.

Excitation Transfer Theory

The theory that emotional arousal can carry over from one situation to another, affecting behavior.