Social Psychology 330
Chapter 4 Study Guide. Write out and submit your response to Terms and Concepts, Discussion Questions and Questions to Ponder.
Terms & Concepts: define and give a clear example of each concept or idea.
* Felicific calculus * representative heuristic
* naive scientist * attitude heuristic
* consistency * halo effect
* consensus * false consensus effect
* distinctiveness * categorization
* cognitive misers * illusory correlation
* contrast effects * in-group/outgroup effects
* priming * minimum group paradigm
* construct accessibility * reconstructive memory
* decision framing * confirmation bias
* primacy effect * hindsight bias
* recency effect * cognitive conservatism
* attention decrement * attitude accessibility
* interpretive set * fundamental attribution error
* dilation effect * actor-observer bias
* heuristics * dispositional factors
* situational factors
* self-serving bias
* illusion of control
* Barnum statement
* depressive realism
Questions to Ponder:
- Some theorists have proposed that people are rational thinkers and decision-makers, while others believe social cognition is often subject to biases and other distorting influences. Compare and contrast some of the central ideas that characterize these two perspectives, indicating which you find more convincing. What conditions are necessary for human cognition to operate on a thoroughly rational basis? How common are these conditions in everyday life?
- In general, how does the “social context” – the way things are presented and described – influence our social judgment and cognition? Discuss the significance of TWO of the following contextual factors: a) contrast effects, b) priming, c) decision-framing, d) the order in which information is presented. Describe how these factors influence social judgments in everyday life and provide research evidence to support your answer.
- What is the “primacy effect” and how does it influence the impressions we form of other people? Describe one piece of research that demonstrates this phenomenon. What two explanations have social psychologists offered in an effort to account for the existence of this effect?
- What are heuristics? Under what circumstances are we likely to rely on them when making social judgments? Select two heuristics and discuss how they influence our thinking in daily life. Support your answer with examples of relevant research.
- “Human memory is primarily reconstructive in nature.” What does this statement mean? What are its implications for social cognition? How does research on eyewitness testimony demonstrate this point?
- It’s New Year’s Eve, and you have been invited to a large party where there will be many people you have never met before. When you arrive the person hosting the party hands you a blue party hat to wear and you put it on. As you mingle through the crowd, you notice that some people are wearing blue hats like yours, and other people are wearing green party hats. Be the end of the evening, you realize you have spent most of your time with the people wearing blue hats. Somehow, they just seemed to be nicer people, they even dance better than those other people wearing green hats. Moreover, a guy with a green hat bumped into you at one pint during the evening and spilled your drink! Given your knowledge of social cognition (and despite the somewhat far-fetched nature of this scenario), how could you explain your perceptions and judgments? If this were a costume party, how might you act if you were in change of awarding prizes for the best costume. Be sure to support your answer with examples of relevant research.
