Nicole Cameron, Ph.D.

School of Humanities and Social Sciences

Faculty of Education and Liberal Studies
Mental tools that we
use to interpret the
world around us.
Simple rules that we use to make
decisions and draw conclusions about the
world

Heuristics are a type of mental ‘short cut’

that we use to interpret new information
when it is presented to us.

We use heuristics to reduce the metal

effort required to fully process new
information especially when we
experience information overload or
under conditions of uncertainty.
▪What profession do
you think this person
belongs to?
▪What made you
think so?
▪ When we assume that the more an
individual resemble or match a given
group, the more likely they are to
belong to that group.
▪ We see that person as a prototype –
that is a representative or example of
the larger group.
▪ So in the example, we are likely to
think that people who dress in
scrubs, carry stethoscopes are all
doctors. Of course this is not
necessary true.
▪ Judgments based on representativeness may be
true but they may also be wrong.
▪ Sometimes they ignore the base rate.
▪ This is the frequency with the event or pattern occurs in
the total population.
▪Another example…
▪ What is her profession?
▪ The availability heuristics - the easier it is to
bring information to mind, the greater its
impact on subsequent judgment or decisions.
▪ In other words, the tendency to make decisions
or draw conclusions based on how many
instances of a phenomenon we can recall.
▪ For example: If you see pick-up truck driving
recklessly on the road, more than coaster
buses, if you are asked who drives the worse,
you are likely to say pick-up truck. This is
because the instances of them driving badly
are more available to you in your memory that
instances where coaster bus drivers drive
worse. Of course, this may be true or false in
reality
▪ The tendency to make a decision based on something we know as a starting point
and then making adjustments.
▪ Example: Have you ever haggled with someone over the price of something you
wanted? Chances are the seller gave you a price that was more that she wanted
expecting you to ask for it to be reduced. That is the anchor. Adjustments are then
made consequently.
▪ Other examples of anchoring?
▪ Similar to availability heuristics, The
status quo heuristics is when people
judge that objects and options that
are more easily remembered or have
been around a while are good or
better than new or rare products.
▪ Example: Think about when you go to
buy a product, chances are you will
purchase a products that advertises
itself as being available on the
market for many years rather than a
new product. You assume that been
around for a long time means it is
better and more likely to be worthy
than a new product that is yet to be
tested.
 Information
Social Cognition Heuristics
overload

Anchoring and
Representativeness Availability Status Quo
adjustment
Mental frameworks for organizing social information

Schemas usually take time to build.

They guide or actions and processing of information

relevant to those contexts.

Due to socialization, people in different

areas/culture will tend to share the same schemas.

Schemas play a role in determining what we notice

about the world, the information we remember and
how we use and interpret such information.
▪ Schemas affect three
psychological processes
▪ Attention – Whatever we
notice in the world
▪ Encoding – Storing of the
information we pay attention
to
▪ Retrieval – The process of
recovering stored
information for use in
decision and judgment
making
▪ Schemas filter the information we notice. They also come in
handy so that we can deal with cognitive overload so that
we process information efficiently.
▪ Information consistent with our schemas is encoded. When
we encounter information that does not agree with our
schemas, it is stored separately and marked.
▪ We will remember information more readily when they are
consistent with our schemas but we also will remember
inconsistent information which remain prese nt in our
memory.
 Why do our
schemas
persist even
when we
meet
contrary
information?

SCHEMAS

Be prepared
to discuss
this in
tutorial.
▪ A disposition to overlook risks and
expect things to turn out well.
▪ We also have greater confidence in
our beliefs or judgments that is
justified – Overconfidence barrier
▪ Can you think of an example?
▪ How does the optimistic bias affect
how we plan? Think about the
planning fallacy.
▪ The ‘what might have
been’ error in social
cognition. This is a
focus on what we think
an alternative outcome
may have been.
▪ Assuming our thoughts can
influence the physical world
or that our actions may ‘tempt
fate” and increase the
likelihood of negative events.
▪ E.g. Many people do not
write wills because they think
that the act of writing a will
will make them die earlier.
How our feelings affect our thoughts and how our thoughts affect our
feelings
▪This is our mood,
feelings, emotions.
 Think about how when
you are in a good mood,
Does this happen to
you tend to perceive
you? Have you ever
the world around you,
thought about it?
including other people,
more positively.
▪ Mood congruence effect – Current moods
strongly determine which information is
noticed and stored. So a positive mood may
result in us noticing only positive things and
ignoring everything else.
▪ Mood dependent memory – Our moods
influence what information we retrieve form
memory. For example, when experiencing a
particular moods, people tend to remember
information stored from the past when they
were in a similar mood.
▪ Creativity – Research shows that we are more
creative when we are in a positive mood. How
can this be detrimental?
▪ In what other ways does affect influence
cognition?
▪ Two-factor theory of emotion – When
unsure of our feelings we rely upon
knowledge or the external world to
interpret our feelings or emotions
▪ Cognitions also influence affect by
activating schemas. For example, if we
see someone being hurt, we are more
likely to empathize if we think that the
individual is like us (race etc.)
Details in tutorial but think about the following…
 How do we perceive the world
and others?

SOCIAL Nonverbal communication

PERCEPTION Scent
Facial
Gestures Gazes
Expressions

What other ways?

 What is in a first
impression?

What is image management

SOCIAL
and what are some of the
PERCEPTION tactics people use?

Think about these for

tutorial.