15, Social Reasoning - PSY101 Lecture Notes

A collection of flashcards covering key concepts from the lecture on social reasoning, including social influences, cognitive biases, and implicit attitudes.

Social Reasoning

The ability to analyze and reason about social situations.

Prosociality

The motivation to cooperate, collaborate with, and help others.

Social Influence

The motivation to conform to what others are doing.

Social Reasoning

Special cognitive skills that allow you to 'read' others' psychological states.

Communication Skills

Special skills that allow you to coordinate your thoughts and actions with others.

Cumulative Cultural Evolution

The process that requires unique psychology to develop cultural advancements.

Reading Minds

The ability to understand others' psychological states through various cues.

The Chameleon Effect

The tendency to unconsciously mimic others’ facial expressions, postures, gestures, and speech patterns.

Facial Feedback

Emotional responses that occur due to the act of mimicking facial expressions.

Impairment of Mimicry

The reduction of the ability to understand mental states when facial expression mimicry is not possible.

Moebius Syndrome

A disorder causing paralysis of facial muscles but not impairing the ability to infer emotions.

Theorizing

The ability to explicitly reason about what others are thinking and feeling using knowledge and logic.

Theory of Mind

An amateur theory that allows us to assign mental states to others and predict their behavior.

Dispositional Attribution

Explanations for behavior based on individual characteristics like personality or beliefs.

Situational Attribution

Explanations for behavior based on external circumstances or situational factors.

Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE)

The tendency to attribute others' actions to their disposition rather than the situation.

System 1 (Automatic)

Fast, effortless, and associative thinking process.

System 2 (Controlled)

Slow, effortful, serial, and rule-based thinking process.

Self-Serving Bias

The tendency to attribute positive events to dispositional factors and negative events to situational factors.

Cognitive Dissonance

Mental stress experienced when one's beliefs and actions are inconsistent.

Effort Justification

A dissonance reduction method that increases the liking of effortful decisions to justify the effort.

Attitudes

Evaluations of objects, people, events, or ideas, comprised of affective, behavioral, and cognitive components.

Explicit Attitudes

Slow, controlled attitudes that are more conscious and deliberative.

Implicit Attitudes

Fast, automatic attitudes that are emotional and non-conscious.

Implicit Association Test (IAT)

A measure of automatic associations by evaluating how quickly concepts are paired.

Racial Bias in IAT

A tendency to associate negative attributes more rapidly with certain racial groups in implicit testing.

The Shooter Task

A simulation assessing decision-making biases in shooting scenarios based on race.

Decision Errors

Mistaken judgments in shooting tasks, often influenced by racial bias.

Jennifer Eberhardt

A researcher known for her work on implicit bias and societal implications.

Egalitarian Policies

Policies aimed at reducing inequality and supporting disadvantaged groups.

Systematic Change

Changes in societal perceptions and attitudes that can shift implicit biases.

Cultural Associations

Links formed in society that relate certain groups to specific traits or behaviors.

Obama Effect

A noted decrease in anti-Black implicit bias corresponding with prominent African American figures.

Associative Learning

The process of forming associations between different concepts.

Media Influence

The effect that media representations have on public perceptions and attitudes.

Social Groups

Communities or categories that individuals belong to based on shared characteristics.

Flexibility in Thinking

The ability to adapt one's thought processes and views in response to new information.

Neighborhood Environment Impact

Effects of community surroundings on implicit biases and attitudes.

Roommate Policy Study

A study showing that diverse living arrangements can affect social dynamics and bias.

Attitude Change Mechanism

Methods by which systematic awareness and training can alter implicit biases.

Public Perception of Crime

How societal views can shift based on attributions of individual versus situational factors.

Implicit Bias Training

Programs aimed at increasing awareness of implicit biases and teaching ways to counteract them.

Direct Experience

First-hand exposure to diverse individuals can foster reduced biases and stereotypes.

Stereotype Activation

The unconscious triggering of stereotypes in response to certain stimuli.

Behavioral Predictions

The outcomes expected from individuals based on the biases observed in social reasoning.

Bias Mitigation Strategies

Approaches designed to lessen or eliminate implicit biases in various contexts.

Research Implications

The effects and consequences research findings on implicit bias have in policy-making and society.

Cultural Narratives

Stories that societies tell themselves that shape collective attitudes and beliefs.

Economic Inequality Perspectives

Different viewpoints on causes and solutions related to wealth disparities in society.

Advocacy for Equality

Supportive actions aimed at promoting equal rights and opportunities for all groups.

Implicit Bias Measurement

Tools and methods used to quantify levels of implicit bias in different contexts.

Prejudice Reduction Efforts

Strategies aimed at decreasing levels of prejudice in social settings.