Cog Processes (Tech) SAQ

Schema theory

framework that explains how we organize and process new information based off our prior experiences, which we organize into “schema”

cognitive schema

mental reps that organize our knowledge, beliefs, and expectations; derived from prior experiences; influence memory at all stages (encoding, storage, retrieval)

three types of schema

social, self, scripts

social schema

mental reps of people groups (eg: stereotypes); influence our perception of others

self-schema

mental rep of ourselves; can link to depression if negative

scripts

mental reps of sequential events (eg: getting arrested)

top-down processing

schema acts as a lens/filter thru which we process received info

Biases in thinking and decision making

bc humans have limited computational capacity, are influenced by their emotions and their goals, their decision making can be biased

heuristics

shortcuts/simplified strategies that we use to save energy while making decisions; but can cause cog biases

illusory correlation

belief that 2 phenomena are connected/related when they aren’t

Darley and Gross

• one group believe a girl was of low socio-economic-status background

• other group thought she was of high SES.

• both groups watched the same vid of the girl taking an academic test and were asked to score her performance.

• high group gave her considerably higher ratings for academic performance.

• ambiguous info was influenced by social schema/illusory correlations when it was processed