PSYB10H3 Lecture : Chapter 3 notes-Social Cognition
7 Aug 2010
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Chapter 3
Social Cognition
Automatic Thinking
- thought that is unconscious, unintentional, involuntary and
effortless
- Helps us understand new situation by relating them to our prior
experiences.
Schemas
- people formally use schemas, which are mental structure that
organize our knowledge about the social world.
- These mental structures influence the information we notice, think
about, and remember.
- Given a label, we fill in he blanks with all kinds of schema-
consistent information.
- Typically very useful for helping us organize and make sense of
the world and to fill in the gaps of our knowledge.
Accessibility
- the extend to which schemas and concepts are at the forefront of
our minds and therefore are likely to be used when we are
making judgments about the social world.
- Schemas are accessible for three reasons:
1) Some schemas are chronically accessible due to past
experience. This means that schemas are constantly
active and ready to use to interpret ambiguous situations.
2) Schemas can become accessible because they are
relation to a current goal. For example! if you are
studying for a test in your abnormal psych course, and
need to learn about different kinds of mental disorders,
then this concept of mental disorders might be temporarily
accessible.
3) Schemas can become temporarily accessibly because
of our recent experiences. This means that a particular
schema or traits is not always accessible but happens to
be primes by something people have been thinking our or
doing before encountering an event. For example! you
saw an ad on the bus about alcoholism, and then as soon
as you see the guy next to you sit down, you think from the
way he is behaving, he is an alcoholic. This is so because
that thought of an alcoholic was fresh in your mind and
hence readily available. (!Priming)
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Document Summary
Automatic thinking thought that is unconscious, unintentional, involuntary and effortless. Helps us understand new situation by relating them to our prior experiences. People formally use schemas, which are mental structure that organize our knowledge about the social world. These mental structures influence the information we notice, think about, and remember. Given a label, we fill in he blanks with all kinds of schema- consistent information. Typically very useful for helping us organize and make sense of the world and to fill in the gaps of our knowledge. Accessibility the extend to which schemas and concepts are at the forefront of our minds and therefore are likely to be used when we are making judgments about the social world. Schemas are accessible for three reasons: some schemas are chronically accessible due to past experience. This means that schemas are constantly active and ready to use to interpret ambiguous situations: schemas can become accessible because they are relation to a current goal.
