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two assumptions of the cognitive perspective
understanding behavior means understanding how people deal with information that surrounds them
flow of life consists of an elaborate web of decisions—some conscious, others not—how the mind is organized, personality is structured, personality emerges from styles of cognitive processing
george kelly’s personal constructs
our experiences aren’t based entirely on physical reality
the physical reality of an experience may be the same for all, but the experience of it can very widely from person to person
people impose subjective organization on the world they perceive
schemas
cognitive structures used to organize knowledge about the world
influence attention, interpretation, memory, and behavior
schemas include information about
exemplars (specific examples)
general characteristics
theories of schema formation
generated around construct of prototype (best member)
represent a composite of characteristics that are relevant by not necessary (fuzzy set)
social cognition
cognitive processes focusing on socially meaningful stimuli
people form cognitive categories for
types of people
gender roles
environments
social situations
social relations
people differ in what regarding schemas?
how readily they develop schemas
content and complexity
which schemas are most readily activated
why do people differ in the these things about schemas
differential experiences
memory and schema activation
memory is organized in a network of interconnected nodes (areas of storage)
information from activated memory nodes is represented in consciousness
as a given node is activated, partial activation spreads to related (linked) nodes
partial activation makes it easier for information to move into consciousness
priming and use of information
idea that partial activation produces easier access to memories has led to experimentation with priming
activating a node of information prior to a task of interest—does schema remain activated and influence subsequent judgments/behaviors, does related information become more accessible?
srull and wyer
participants complete two unrelated tasks
“word comprehension” - scrambled sentence task (80% vs 20% related to hostility)
“impression formation”
priming and behavior - macrae and johnson
scrambled sentence task (ex: clean you the dishes should (neutral prime), old helped he lady the (helpful prime))
experimenter drops box of pens
person most likely to help is the participant given the helpful prime
priming and personality
priming happens constantly in life
whenever you read, hear, think, or see something, it makes corresponding parts of your memories active (directly or indirectly)
residual activation can impact judgments, behaviors, goals, and mindsets
personality is partly the product of residual schema activation
chronic schemas
the most accessible categories an individual uses most—reflects a readiness to use particular schemas in perceiving the world
people (are the same/differ) in what categories are generally accessible
differ
individual differences and schema accessibility (brady and matthews)
children from low-income neighborhoods perceived more hostile intent in ambiguous actions than other children—most likely because they had a higher likelihood of being exposed to violence growing up so the schema was more well-developed and accessible
