Social Cognition - Part 2

Accessibility

schemas/concepts at the forefront of your mind.

Priming

A process where recent experiences or stimuli in the environment increase the accessibility of a schema/concept.

When something you recently saw or experienced makes it easier for you to think about a related idea.

Dependent Variable (DV)

The variable that the researcher measures to see if it is influenced by changes in the independent variable.

Illusory Correlations

The tendency to overestimate the link between variables that are related only slightly or not at all.

Confirmation Bias

The tendency to notice and search for information that confirms one’s beliefs while ignoring information that disconfirms it.

Motivated Skepticism

A form of bias resulting from having a directional goal, causing skepticism of evidence that contradicts one's beliefs.

Heuristics

Mental shortcuts that people use to make judgments quickly, though sometimes inaccurately.

Gambler’s Fallacy

The belief that a chance event is affected by previous events.

Conjunction Fallacy

The tendency to perceive two specific conditions as more probable than a single general one.

Error Predictability

The notion that we make errors, but these errors can be predicted.

Controlled Thinking

Deliberate and effortful cognitive process that requires intention and resources.

Automatic Thinking

Fast and efficient thought processes that are not guided by intention or control.