Social Self, Social Cognition, and Social Attributions

A set of vocabulary flashcards covering key concepts in social psychology including self-concept, self-esteem, social cognition, heuristics, schemas, and attribution theories.

Physical self-concept

The aspect of self-concept consisting of physical qualities that do not imply social interaction, such as "I am tall" or "I am a female".

Social self-concept

The aspect of self-concept involving social roles, institutional memberships, or cultural groups, such as "I am a college student" or "I am a daughter".

Attributes self-concept

The aspect of self-concept comprising psychological or physiological states and traits, such as "I am intelligent" or "I am tired".

Global self-concept

The aspect of self-concept consisting of broad or vague descriptions that do not distinguish an individual from other people, such as "I am a human being".

Independent cultures

Individualistic cultures where people view the self as a distinct social entity with voluntary bonds and relatively stable personal attributes.

Interdependent cultures

Collectivistic cultures where people view the self as inextricably linked to others and consider social roles, obligations, and context-dependent attributes.

Independent view of self

A self-schema model where the individual is bounded and distinct from others, with personal attributes forming the primary self-defining aspects.

Interdependent view of self

A self-schema model where boundaries between the self and ingroup members are permeable, and social relationships overlap with self-definition.

"Better-than-average" effect

The psychological bias in which individuals overestimate their positive traits and abilities while underestimating negative ones compared to others.

Dunning-Kruger effect

A cognitive bias wherein individuals with low expertise in a domain overestimate their knowledge or competence because they lack the skill to recognize their errors.

Self-esteem

An individual's overall positive or negative evaluation of themselves, shaped by domain performances, group inclusion, and social identity.

Contingencies of self-worth

Domain-specific evaluations of success or failure that directly impact an individual's self-esteem based on what areas they personally value.

Sociometer theory

A theory proposing that self-esteem functions as an internal gauge or monitor of an individual's degree of acceptance by their social group.

Social identity theory

A theory stating that group membership forms a core part of self-concept and serves as a major source of self-esteem.

Positive distinctiveness

The act of highlighting unique, positive aspects of one's ingroup to enhance collective status and personal self-esteem.

Basking in reflected glory

Boosting one's own self-esteem by associating with the achievements or positive recognition of one's ingroup.

Social cognition

The study of how people process, store, and apply information about other people and social situations under cognitive capacity constraints.

Controlled processes

Mental operations that are conscious, effortful, intentional, and require cognitive energy.

Automatic processes

Mental operations that occur outside of conscious awareness, operating habitually and effortlessly like a "mental autopilot".

Prototype

The most representative or typical example of a given category or schema, containing key characteristics associated with that group.

Schema

An organized mental structure of knowledge that helps individuals interpret, classify, and organize incoming social information.

Person schemas

Mental structures containing knowledge and expectations regarding specific types or categories of individuals.

Event schemas (Scripts)

Mental structures containing expected sequences of behaviors and events for specific situations, such as dining at a restaurant.

Gender schemas

Socially learned mental frameworks regarding expectations, traits, interests, and roles associated with gender categories.

Priming

The process through which recent exposure to a stimulus implicitly activates specific schemas or concepts, shaping subsequent interpretations.

Decision heuristics

Mental shortcuts or rules of thumb that enable rapid decision-making, particularly when under cognitive load.

Availability heuristic

A mental shortcut where people estimate the likelihood or frequency of an event based on how easily examples come to mind.

Anchoring heuristic

A cognitive bias in which numerical estimates or judgments are overly influenced by an initial reference value or starting point.

False consensus effect

The tendency to overestimate the extent to which other people share one's own beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors.

Confirmation bias

The tendency to seek out and favor information that confirms pre-existing beliefs while ignoring or discounting opposing evidence.

Counterfactual thinking

Mentally simulating alternative scenarios or outcomes to events that have already occurred, especially when a different outcome was close to happening.

Causal attributions

The explanations or causes individuals construct to explain the behavior of themselves or others.

Internal attribution

Explaining a behavior as originating from a person's stable internal characteristics, such as personality traits, disposition, or ability.

External attribution

Explaining a behavior as originating from temporary situational or environmental factors outside the person's control.

Consensus (Kelley's covariation model)

Attributional information assessing whether other individuals behave similarly when facing the same situational stimulus.

Distinctiveness (Kelley's covariation model)

Attributional information assessing whether an individual behaves differently in a specific situation compared to other different situations.

Consistency (Kelley's covariation model)

Attributional information assessing whether an individual demonstrates the same behavior in response to the same stimulus over time.

Fundamental Attribution Error

The tendency to attribute other people's actions to internal dispositional factors while underestimating the role of situational influences.

Self-serving bias

The tendency to attribute one's own successes to internal dispositional factors and one's own failures to external situational factors.

Perceptual salience

The degree to which a stimulus or person captures visual or cognitive attention, influencing how causal explanations are assigned.

Just world hypothesis

The defensive belief that the world is fundamentally fair and people receive what they deserve, which can lead to victim-blaming.