PSYC 395 Lecture 2: Social Cognition

• School: Chico State University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 395
• Professor: Dory A Schachner

Document Summary

Social cognition: how people think about themselves and the social world, or more specifically, how people select, interpret, remember and use social information to make judgments and decisions. Ex: police shooting black males in assumption that they have guns. Quick and automatic "without thinking," without consciously deliberately one"s own thoughts, perception, assumptions. Controlled thinking that is effortful and deliberate, pausing to think about self and environment, carefully selecting the right course of action. Imagine trying to function if we have to think about all the stimulus we are exposed to at the same time. Information overload ignore sensation: making some info automatic. Automatic thinking: thinking that is nonconscious, unintentional, involuntary, and effortless. Schemas: mental structures people use to organize their knowledge about the social world around themes or subjects and that influence the info people notice, think about, and remember (mental categories)