CHAPTER 3- Social Psychology
deliberate, and conscious; “explicit”
How we construct social perceptions as we:
Judge events, informed by implicit
rules that guide our snap
judgements, and by our moods;
Perceive and recall events through
the filters of our own assumptions
Explain events by sometimes
attributing then to the situation,
sometimes to the person;
Expect certain events, thereby
sometimes helping bring them
about.
System 1- functions automatically and out
of our awareness; intuitive, automatic,
unconscious, and fast way of thinking; also
called “intuition” or “gut feeling”.
Influences more of our actions than we
realize.
System 2- our conscious attention and
effort; deliberate, controlled, conscious,
and slower way of thinking.
Priming- is the awakening or activating of
certain associations; activating particular
associations in memory. Effects surface
when stimuli is presented subliminally.
Memory system- web of associations
Embodied cognition- the mutual influence
of bodily sensations on cognitive
preferences and social jugements.
Intuitive management- we should tune into
our hunches
Automatic processing- impulsive, effortless,
and without awareness- System 1;
“implicit” thinking that is effortless,
habitual, and without awareness; roughly
corresponds to intuition.
Controlled processing- reflective,
thinking- System 2
Schemas- mental concepts or templates
that intuitively guide our perceptions and
interpretations
Emotional reactions- instantaneous,
happening before there is time for
deliberate thinking. Eye/ear -> Thalamus
(brain’s sensory switchboard) -> Amygdala
(emotional control center) -> Thinking
cortex.
Expertise- people may know intuitively the
answer to a problem
Snap judgement- can beat a chance at
guessing when given but a very thin slice of
someone.
Blindsight- having lost a portion of the
visual cortex to surgery or stroke, people
may be functionally blind in part of their
field of vision.
Overconfidence phenomenon- the
tendency to be more confident than
correct; to overestimate the accuracy of
one’s beliefs
Confirmation Bias- we are eager to verify
our beliefs but less inclined to seek
evidence that might disprove them;
tendency to search for information that
confirms one’s preconceptions
Three techniques to reduce overconfidence
bias:
Prompt feedback
Estimating probable accuracy
Get people to think why their
judgements might be wrong
Heuristics- simple efficient thinking
strategies; a thinking strategy that enables
quick efficient judgments; enable us to
make routine decisions with minimal effort
Representative Heuristic- to judge
something by intuitively comparing it to our
mental representation of a category to use;
the tendency to presume, sometimes
despite contrary odds, that somone or
something belongs to a particular group if
resampling (representing) a typical
member. Representativeness (typicalness)
usually reflects reality. Snap judgement of
whether someone or something fits a
category.
Availability heuristics- a cognitive rule that
judges the likelihood of things in terms of
their availability in memory. If instances of
something come readily in mind, we
presume it to be a commonplace. Quick
judgements of likelihood of events (how
available in memory)
Probability neglect- we worry about remote
possibilities while ignoring higher
probabilities
Counterfactual thinking- mentally
simulating what might have been; imagining
alternative scenarios and outcomes that
might have happened, but didn’t. Underlies
our feelings of luck.
Illusory correlation- perception of a
relationship where none exists, or
perception of a stronger relationship than
actually exists.
Regression toward the average- the
statistical tendency for extreme scoresor
extreme behavior to return toward one’s
average
Belief perseverance- persistence of one’s
initial conceptions, such as when the basis
of one’s belief is discredited but an
explanation of why the belief might be true
survives
Misinformation effect- Incorporating
“misinformation” into one’s memory of the
event, after witnessing an event and
receiving misleading information about it.
Rosy retrospection- they recall mildly
pleasant events more favorably than they
experienced them
Misattribution- mistakenly attributing a
behavior to the wrong source
Attribution theory- the theory of how
people explain others’ behavior; attributing
to internal dispositions (enduring traits,
motives, and attitudes) or external
situations
Dispositional attribution- attributing
behavior to the person’s disposition and
traits (stable personality)
Situational attribution- attributing behavior
to the environment (situations)
Spontaneous trait inference- an effortless,
automatic inference of a trait after
exposure to someone’s behavior.
Fundamental attribution error- the
tendency for observers to underestimate
situational influences and overestimate
dispositional influences upon others’
behavior. Fundamental because it colors
our explanations in basic and important
ways.
Camera perspective bias
Self-fulfilling prophecies- a belief that leads
to its own fulfillment. Have less than
extraordinary power.
Experimenter bias- participants sometimes
live up to what they believe experimenters
expect of them
 Behavioral confirmation- a type of self-
fulfilling prophecy whereby people’s social
expectations lead them to behave in ways
Chapter 4
 Attitudes- beliefs and feelings related
to a person or an event (often rooted in
one’s beliefs, and exhibited in one’s
feelings and intended behavior)
 ABCs of attitudes:
o Affect (feelings)
o Behavior tendency
o Cognition (thoughts)
 Moral hypocrisy- disjuncture between
attitudes and actions
 Implicit association test (IAT)-
computer-driven assessment of implicit
attitudes. The test uses reaction times
to measure people's automatic
associations between attitude objects
and evaluative words. Easier pairings
(and faster responses) are taken to
indicate stronger unconscious
associations. Most widely used attitude
measure.
 Principle of aggregation- The effects of
an attitude become more apparent
when we look at a person's aggregate
or average behavior.
 Theory of planned behavior- knowing
people’s intended behaviors and their
perceived self-efficacy and control
 Role- refers to actions expected of
those who occupy a particular social
position; a set of norms that defines
how people in a given wocial position
ought to behave
that cause others to confirm their
expectations
 Self-presentation theory- strategic
reasons we express attitudes that make
us appear consistent
 Cognitive dissonance theory- to reduce
discomfort, we justify our actions to
ourselves. Tension that arises when one
is simultaneously aware of two
inconsistent cognitions.
 Self-perception theory- our actions are
self-revealing: when uncertain about
our feelings or beliefs, we look to our
behavior, much as anyone else would
 Selective exposure- The tendency to
seek information and media that agree
with one’s views and you avoid
dissonant information
 Insufficient justification- Reduction of
dissonance by Reduction of behavior by
internally justifying one’s
behavior when external justification is
“insufficient”
 Self-perception theory- Assumes that
we we make similar inferences when
we observe our own behavior. When
we are unsure of our attitudes, we infer
them much as would someone
observing us- by looking at our behavior
and the circumstances under which it
occurs.
 Facial Feedback Effect- The tendency of
facial expressions to trigger
corresponding feelings such as fear,
anger, or happiness
 Emotional contagion- Explain why it's
fun to be around happy people and
 depressing to be around depressed often experience a self-image
people. threat after engaging in an undesirable
behavior; and (b) They can compensate
 Overjustification effect- The result of
by affirming another aspect of the self.
bribing people to do what they already
Threaten people’s self-concept in one
like doing; they may then see their
domain, and they will compensate
actions as externally controlled rather
either by refocusing or by doing doing
than intrinsically appealing.
good deeds in some other domain.
 Self-affirmation theory- Acts are
 Self-affirming- it or supports our sense
embarrassing. A theory that (a) people
of integrity and self-worth