Psy-P304- Social Psychology and Individual Differences

Jones and Davis' Correspondent Inference Theory

- The challenge of attribution is to determine whether a person's behaviour corresponds to underlying, stable qualities in the person. - People use various cues to draw correspondent inferences

Construal

the way an individual makes sense of the world around him

Gestalt Psychology

the whole is greater than the sum of its parts

hindsight bias

"I knew it all along"

Forms of nonverbal communication

- Eye Contact. - Facial Expressions. - Posture and Gestures. - vocal Cues - Distance from others - Appearance of People.

The Six Identified Emotions

1. Anger 2. Sadness 3. Happiness 4. Surprise 5. Fear 6. Disgust

Gilbert's Two Stage Model

1. Characterization 2. correction (taking account of enviro and situational aspects.)

Norman Anderson's information integration theory

A mathematical equation that weighs the importance of factors in impression formation. They are multiplied by they weight (value) and then all aspects are averaged.

motivated tactician

A model of social cognition that characterises people as having multiple cognitive strategies available, which they choose among on the basis of personal goals, motives and needs.

construal level theory

A theory that outlines the relationship between psychological distance and the concreteness versus abstraction of thought. Psychologically distant actions and events are thought about in abstract terms; actions and events that are close at hand are thought about in concrete terms.

decoding nonverbal messages

Ability to understand nonverbal cues

Schemas

Concepts or mental frameworks that organize and interpret information.

consistency dimension

Context of the event

Distinctiveness dimension

Has this person done this prior?

facial feedback hypothesis

The hypothesis that emotional expressions can cause the emotional experiences they signify

Operationalization of variables

How variables are defined and measured

Asch's configural model of impression formation

Primacy effect shows that traits understood first hold a higher value. Central traits are those that could be classified as either cold or warm. Negative info receives greater weight.

biased assimilation

The tendency to interpret what evidence we do get in a way that supports our own beliefs and values.

Three worlds of science

Theory, research, and real world application

individualistic culture

a culture that emphasizes individuality and responsibility to oneself

collectivistic culture

a culture that places a high value on collaboration, teamwork, and group achievement

self-selection

a form of sampling bias that occurs when a sample contains only people who volunteer to participate

naive scientist

a model of how people uncover the causes of behavior

top-down processing

a progression from the whole to the elements

cognitive misers

a term that conveys the human tendency to avoid expending effort and cognitive resources when thinking and to prefer seizing on quick and easy answers to questions

moral foundations theory

a theory proposing that there are five evolved, universal moral domains in which specific emotions guide moral judgments

anchoring and adjustment heuristic

adjusts a previously existing value or starting point to make a decision. (think priming)

bottom-up processing

analysis that begins with the sense receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information

Kelley's Covariation Model

consistency, distinctiveness, consensus

demand characteristics

cues in an experiment that tell the participant what behavior is expected

schadenfreude

delight in another person's misfortune

priming effect

exposure to a stimulus influences a response to a later stimulus

evaluation apprehension

fear of what others will think of your ideas

encoding nonverbal messages

how do you manifest emotions?

counterfactual thinking

imagining alternative scenarios and outcomes that might have happened, but didn't

simulation heuristic

judging the likelihood of an outcome based on how easy it is to imagine a plausible series of events leading to that outcome.

availability heuristic

making a decision based on the answer that most easily comes to mind

representitiveness heuristic

occurs when we estimate likelihood of event by comparing it to an existing prototype that already exists in our minds.

Assimilation vs contrast effects

positive vs negative effects of priming. Think of Bargh and Dijksterhuis's studies.

cognitive heuristics

rules of thumb or short-cuts that individuals use to save time when making complex decisions

Focalism

tendency to focus on only one aspect of an experience or event when trying to predict future emotions

immune neglect

tendency to underestimate our resilience during negative life events

just-world hypothesis

the belief that people get what they deserve in life and deserve what they get

impression formation

the forming of the first knowledge that a person has concerning another person

experimenter bias

the influence of the experimenter's expectations on the outcome of research

fundamental attribution error

the tendency for observers, when analyzing another's behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition

affective forecasting

the tendency for people to overestimate how events will make them feel in the future

framing effect

the tendency for people's choices to be affected by how a choice is presented, or framed, such as whether it is worded in terms of potential losses or gains

self-serving bias

the tendency to perceive oneself favorably

planning fallacy

the tendency to underestimate how long it will take to complete a task

attribution theory

the theory that we explain someone's behavior by crediting either the situation or the person's disposition

consensus dimension

would others have done the same thing?