psychology unit 2 sem 1

Social cognition

The study of how individuals process, store, and apply information about themselves and others in social situations, influencing judgments and decisions.

Person perception

The mental processes involved in forming impressions and evaluations of other people, including first impressions and ongoing assessments.

Physical cues

Observable indicators such as appearance, body language, and behavior that contribute to forming impressions and social judgments of individuals.

Halo effect

A cognitive bias where a positive initial impression of a person influences beliefs about their other qualities, often leading to overly favorable assessments.

Body language

Nonverbal communication conveyed through gestures, postures, facial expressions, and other bodily signals, providing insights into emotions and intentions.

Behaviour

Observable actions and reactions exhibited by individuals, which may be innate or learned from others through observation and experience.

Salience detection

The cognitive process of identifying standout characteristics, people, or objects in a situation that capture attention due to novelty, intensity, or relevance.

Attributions

Explanations of the causes of behavior, either related to oneself or others, influencing perceptions, expectations, and emotional reactions.

Internal attributions

Explanations of behavior that attribute causes to personal characteristics, such as traits, abilities, and motives.

External attributions

Explanations of behavior that attribute causes to situational factors, such as environmental constraints or social pressures.

Cognitive bias

Systematic patterns of deviation from norm or rationality in judgment and decision-making, often resulting from mental shortcuts or heuristics.

Fundamental attribution error

The tendency to overestimate the influence of personal factors and underestimate the impact of situational factors in explaining others' behavior.

Actor-observer bias

The tendency to attribute one's own behavior to situational factors while attributing others' behavior to personality traits or disposition.

Self-serving bias

The tendency to take credit for successes by attributing them to personal characteristics while blaming failures on external circumstances or others.

Attitude

An evaluation or judgment of an object, person, or issue that influences thoughts, feelings, and behaviors toward that object, person, or issue.

Tri-component model

A model suggesting that attitudes consist of affective (emotional), behavioral (actions), and cognitive (beliefs) components, which may or may not align.

Affective component

The emotional reactions or feelings experienced toward an object, person, or issue, influencing overall attitude.

Behavioral component

Actions or observable behaviors that express an attitude, reflecting a tendency to act in a certain way toward an attitude object.

Cognitive component

Beliefs, thoughts, and knowledge held about an object, person, or issue, shaping one's attitude and evaluation.

Stereotype

A generalized belief or expectation about the characteristics of members of a social group, often oversimplified or inaccurate.

Cognitive dissonance

The psychological discomfort experienced when holding conflicting beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors, motivating efforts to reduce inconsistency.

Minimizing cognitive dissonance

Strategies to reduce the discomfort from conflicting beliefs or behaviors, such as changing beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors to achieve consistency.

Anchoring bias

The tendency to rely too heavily on an initial piece of information (the "anchor") when making decisions, causing estimates to be biased toward that anchor.

Confirmation bias

The tendency to seek out, interpret, and remember information that confirms existing beliefs or hypotheses, while disregarding contradictory evidence.

Misinformation effect

The impairment in memory for the past that arises after exposure to misleading information about the event.

Optimism bias

The cognitive bias that causes a person to believe that they are at a lower risk of experiencing a negative event compared to others.

Heuristic

A mental shortcut or rule of thumb used to solve problems and make judgments quickly and efficiently, often based on past experiences.

Availability heuristic

A mental shortcut that relies on immediate examples that come to a given person's mind when evaluating a topic, concept, method or decision.

Representativeness heuristic

Is used when making judgments about the probability of an event under uncertainty.

Affect heuristic

A psychological phenomenon in which our current emotion (affect) influences our judgments and decisions.

Prejudice

A preconceived judgment or attitude toward a person or group, often based on stereotypes and lacking sufficient evidence.

Old-fashioned prejudice

Overt and explicit rejection of minority groups by the majority, characterized by open expression of discriminatory beliefs and behaviors.

Modern prejudice

Subtle and often hidden rejection of minority groups, characterized by discriminatory attitudes expressed indirectly or in ambiguous ways.

Implicit prejudice

Unconscious and unrecognized biases or negative attitudes toward certain groups, influencing behavior without conscious awareness.

Explicit prejudice

Conscious and deliberate biases or negative attitudes toward certain groups, openly expressed and acknowledged.

Contact hypothesis

The theory that direct contact between members of different groups can reduce prejudice under certain conditions, such as equal status and cooperation.

Intergroup contact

Increasing direct interactions and communication between members of different groups to foster understanding, empathy, and reduce prejudice.

Mutual interdependence

A situation in which groups depend on each other to achieve shared goals, promoting cooperation and positive intergroup relations.

Superordinate goals

Shared goals that require cooperation and collaboration from multiple groups, fostering a sense of common purpose and reducing intergroup conflict.

Equality of status

Groups recognizing and perceiving themselves as equally important and valued, fostering mutual respect and reducing prejudice in intergroup interactions.

Discrimination

Differential treatment or actions directed toward individuals or groups based on personal characteristics, resulting in advantages or disadvantages.

Direct discrimination

Unfavorable treatment of individuals or groups due to protected characteristics, such as race, gender, or religion, in a direct and overt manner.

Indirect discrimination

Practices, policies, or rules that appear neutral but have an unreasonable and disproportionate negative impact on a particular group, leading to disadvantage.

Prejudice vs discrimination

Prejudice refers to negative attitudes or beliefs toward a group, while discrimination involves actions or behaviors that result in unequal treatment based on group membership.

Binocular Depth Cues

Depth cues that require the use of both eyes to perceive depth.

Monocular Depth Cues

Depth cues that require the use of only one eye to perceive depth.

Accommodation

The automatic adjustment of the lens to focus on objects, providing information about distance.

Pictorial Depth Cues

Depth cues that can be represented in two-dimensional pictures.

Gestalt Principles

Principles that describe how we organize visual elements into groups.

Perceptual Set

A predisposition to perceive things in a certain way, influenced by prior experiences and expectations.

Selective Attention

Focusing on specific stimuli while ignoring others.

Divided Attention

Dividing attention between multiple tasks or stimuli.

Sustained Attention

Maintaining focus on a task or stimulus over a prolonged period.

Top-Down Processing

Processing that starts with higher-level cognitive processes and influences perception.

Bottom-Up Processing

Processing that starts with sensory input and builds up to higher-level cognitive processes.

Visual Illusions

Distortions of visual perception that misrepresent the true properties of an object or scene.

Ames Room

A visual illusion where objects appear distorted in size due to manipulated depth cues.

Müller-Lyer Illusion

A visual illusion where lines of equal length appear different due to the addition of arrowheads or fins.

Linear Perspective

Parallel lines appear to converge in the distance, providing a cue for depth.

Interposition

When one object partially blocks another, the blocked object is perceived as being further away.

Texture Gradient

Gradual change in texture density, with finer textures perceived as being further away.

Relative Size

Smaller objects are perceived as being further away than larger objects.

Height in a Visual Field

Objects higher in the visual field are perceived as being further away.

Similarity

Elements that share similar characteristics (e.g., color, shape, size) are perceived as a group

Proximity

Elements that are close together are perceived as a group, while elements that are far apart are perceived as distinct

Closure

The perceptual tendency to mentally ‘close up’, fill in or ignore gaps in a visual image and to perceive incomplete objects as complete (‘whole’)

Figure ground

When we organise visual information by perceptually dividing a visual stimulus into a ‘figure’, which stands out from the ‘ground’, which is its surroundings.

Contour

The line of separation between the figure and the ground, belongs to the figure

Social influence

Effects of others on thoughts, feelings, behaviors.

Social group

Collection of people interacting with shared purpose.

Aggregation

People in one location without social structure.

Culture

Way of life distinguishing societies or communities.

Status

Importance of an individual's position in a group.

Power

Ability to influence others despite resistance.

Social power

Power involved in social interactions.

Role

Behavior adopted in different group situations.

Reward power

Control over rewards to influence behavior.

Coercive power

Control over punishments to influence behavior.

Legitimate power

Authority derived from status or position.

Referent power

Influence through respect and admiration.

Expert power

Influence through superior knowledge or skills.

Informational power

Access to valuable information for influence.

Obedience

Following commands from authority figures.

Compliance

Following rules without authority figure presence.

Constructive obedience

Positive outcomes from following authority orders.

Destructive obedience

Negative outcomes from following authority orders.

Social proximity

Closeness between individuals affecting obedience.

Legitimacy of authority

Perceived authority increases likelihood of obedience.

Group pressure

Influence of group support on obedience.

Conformity

Adjusting behavior to align with group norms.

Group size

Larger groups can increase conformity levels.

Unanimity

Complete agreement among group members.

Informational influence

Conformity due to need for direction.

Normative influence

Conformity driven by social norms and acceptance.

Social loafing

Reduced effort in group activities compared to alone.

Cultural differences in social loafing

Variations in effort based on cultural backgrounds.

Factors impacting social loafing

Group size, importance, and member relationships affect effort.

Types of social influence

Destructive and Constructive