Pyc3701 Chapter 2_ppt
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Transcript of Pyc3701 Chapter 2_ppt
CHAPTER TWO: SOCIAL COGNITION
How we think about the social world
Chapter Outcomes
Chapter 2 addresses the following Issues:• The impact of schemas on social cognition and reality• How we reduce our effort in social cognition• The mistakes people make in social cognition• The influence of cognition on affect and vice versa
This chapter consists of 5 major sections: SCHEMAS
Impact on cognition Priming The persistence of schemas
HEURISTICS AUTOMATIC AND CONTROLLED PROCESSING POTENTIAL SOURCES OF ERROR IN SOCIAL COGNITION THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EFFECT AND COGNITION
Chapter Two Summary
Social Cognition is defined as the manner in which we interpret, analyse, remember, and use information about the social world.
Social Cognition
Heuristics are defined as simple rules for making complex decisions or drawing inferences in a rapid and ostensibly effortless manner
Heuristics
Affect points to our current feelings and moods
Affect
SCHEMAS Have strong effects on attention as well as the encoding and retrieval of
information Downside to schemas: they can distort social reality and be self-fulfilling
Impact of schemas on social cognition Schemas are mental frameworks centered on a specific theme that help us to
organise social information Schemas influence social thought by having an effect on attention, encoding, and
the retrieval of information. Attention refers to the information we notice, for which schemas act as filters. Encoding refers to the process by which information gets stored in memory. Information consistent with existing schemas gets encoded more readily Information unexpectedly inconsistent is also encoded Regarding the retrieval of information from memory, people generally report
information consistent with their schemas. Information inconsistent with schemas is also present in memory The eventual effect that schemas have on social cognition is strongly influenced by
the schemas themselves and by a high cognitive load.
Schemas
Priming Is when specific stimuli ore events increase the availability of
specific types of information held in memory The eventual effect of priming is that conspicuous recent
experiences make some schemas more active than they would otherwise be.
Priming tends to have very long-lasting effects Unpriming might occur if a schema is somehow expressed in
thought or behaviour The impact of the schema may subside if unpriming occurs Priming tends to have long lasting effects
(Refer to Sparrow and Wegner’s (2006) research, illustrated in Figure 2.3 in the textbook)
Priming
When schemas are primed, activated by experience, events or stimuli – their effects tend to persist. In fact, they have been observed over months, even years.
If the schema is somehow expressed in thought or behaviour , however, unpriming may occur, and the impact of the schema may decrease or even disappear.
Fig 2.3 Unpriming of SchemasBringing the effects of Priming to an End
Schema is primed activated by some experience, event or stimulus
Schema is not expressed in thought or behaviour
Effects persist – schemas influence social thought/and or behaviour
Unpriming – schema is expressed somehow in behaviour or thoughts
Effects of schema dissipate – the schemas no longer influence social thought or behaviour
Schema Persistence The perseverance effect
Although schemas help us to make sense of intricate social information, they have a downside in that even discredited information can sometimes influence our thoughts and behaviour
We place new information in a special category rather than adapting the schema
Schemas can also be self-fulfilling
The research by Rosenthal and Jacobsen (1968) discussed in the ‘Building the Science’ section, illustrates this point. Refer to page 44 in the textbook
Priming
Information overload occurs when our ability to process information is exceeded.
We often experience information overload The demands on our cognitive system are greater than its capacity At any given time we are capable of handling a certain amount of information Additional input beyond this level puts us into a into a state of information overload Our processing capacity can be depleted by high levels of stress or other demands on
us. To cope with information or cognitive overload we adopt simple and effective strategies
called cognitive shortcuts. One effective shortcut is our use of simple rules to make complex decisions or to draw
inferences rapidly. This is known as heuristics. We may also revert to automatic processing
Representativeness, availability and anchoring and adjustment are important types of heuristics that we use to process information.
Heuristics
Representativeness, availability and anchoring and adjustment are important types of heuristics that we use to process information.
Representativeness The representativeness heuristic is a strategy for making judgments based on the extent
to which the current stimuli or events resemble other stimuli or categories, We use this heuristic when we evaluate people If someone closely resembles a typical member of a group, we assume that the person
must belong to that group. These judgments are not always correct So called base rates or the frequency with which events or patterns occur in the total
population are often ignored.
Availability We sometimes make judgments based on how easily specific information can be brought
to mind. This is known as the availability heuristic. Relying on the availability heuristic can lead to errors. Research suggests that the ease with which something can be brought to mind as well
as the amount of information that is raised, are important factors when we use this heuristic.
It depends on the judgment we are making If our judgment involves feelings we tend to rely on the ease with which we remember
something. If our judgment involves factual information, then we tend to rely on the amount we
remember.
Heuristics
Representativeness, availability and anchoring and adjustment are important types of heuristics that we use to process information.
Anchoring and Adjustment We also use the anchoring and adjustment heuristic This is when we use a number value or personal experience as a starting
point, to which we then make adjustments The strong effect of anchoring was illustrated in the study by Englich et
al(2006) where experienced legal professionals in Germany learned about the sentences for a defendant from a journalist, an experienced prosecutor or randomly.
(Refer to Figure 2.6 in the textbook)
– The reason why anchors influence our judgments seem to be our strong tendency to avoid effortful work when making adjustments to the anchor.
Heuristics
Automatic and Controlled Processing
POTENTIAL SOURCES OF ERROR IN SOCIAL COGNITION THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EFFECT AND COGNITION
Automatic and Controlled Processing
Potential Sources of Error in Social Cognition
Potential Sources of Error in Social Cognition
The Relationship between effect and cognition
The Relationship between Effect and Cognition
Affect and Cognition
There is a continuous interplay between affect and cognition
Feelings and moods influence cognition and vice versa Being in a good mood might have a negative side to it.