Social Cognition and Attitudes
What best describes social cognition?
Social cognition refers to how people process, store, and apply information about others and social situations.
What is the difference between top-down and bottom-up processing?
What is a heuristic?
A heuristic is a mental shortcut or rule of thumb used to make quick decisions.
Define 'conformity' and give an example.
Conformity is the tendency to adjust behavior or attitudes to align with group norms, like dressing similarly to peers.
What is a mixed design controlled experiment?
It’s an experimental design that includes both between-groups and within-groups comparisons.
Define the three components of the tri-component model of attitudes.
The three components are:
Describe a visual illusion.
A visual illusion is a misinterpretation of visual stimuli, like seeing movement in a still image.
What is the availability heuristic? Provide an example.
The availability heuristic is judging the likelihood of events based on how easily examples come to mind. For example, thinking plane crashes are common after hearing about one in the news.
What is a social group? Provide an example.
A social group is a collection of individuals who interact and share a sense of unity, e.g., a sports team.
What is random allocation?
Random allocation involves assigning participants to different groups by chance to avoid biases.
"All tall people are good basketball players" is an example of what cognitive bias?
This is an example of a stereotype, which is a generalized belief about a group.
What is agnosia?
Agnosia is a disorder where a person cannot recognize objects, people, or sounds despite normal sensory function.
What is the anchoring bias?
Anchoring bias is the tendency to rely too heavily on the first piece of information encountered when making decisions.
What is the difference between a social group and a collective?
A social group has regular interactions and shared goals, whereas a collective is a large, loosely connected gathering, like an audience at a concert.
What is meant by 'robustness' in research?
Robustness refers to the reliability and validity of research findings under different conditions or samples.
Explain the difference between prejudice, stigma, and discrimination with examples.
Explain the concept of perceptual set with an example.
Perceptual set is the tendency to perceive something based on expectations or prior experiences, like seeing shapes in clouds because we’re primed to look for familiar forms.
Explain the false-consensus bias.
False-consensus bias is the tendency to overestimate how much others agree with our beliefs or behaviours.
What is the difference between indirect and direct discrimination? Give an example of each.
What does informed consent entail in psychological research?
Informed consent: Participants must be fully informed about the study's purpose, procedures, risks, and benefits, and provide voluntary consent before participating.
Which two components of the tri-component model of attitudes are inconsistent in James's scenario if he believes cheating is wrong but still helps his friend cheat on a test?
The cognitive (believing cheating is wrong) and behavioral (helping a friend cheat) components of James's attitude are inconsistent in this scenario.
Describe one binocular and one monocular depth cue.
What are the benefits of heuristics?
Heuristics allow for quick decision-making, save cognitive resources, and are usually efficient for everyday tasks.
What are the different types of power (e.g., expert, informational, legitimate, referent) and examples of each?
What do researchers need to ensure findings are reliable and valid?
They need to control variables, use accurate measures, follow ethical guidelines, and conduct repeated trials to confirm results.