PSYC 2120 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Construals, Parental Investment, Great Range
Document Summary
Social psychology is the scientific study of the feelings, thoughts, and behaviors of individuals in social situations, social psychology emphasizes the influence of situations on behavior. People often find it difficult to see the role that powerful situations play in producing their own and others" behavior, and they are inclined to overemphasize the importance of personal dispositions in producing behavior. The two tendencies together are called thefundamental attribution error: social psychology also focuses on the role of construal in understanding situations. People often feel that their comprehension of situations is direct, without much mediating thought. Schemas are the stored representations of numberless repetitions of highly similar stimuli and situations. They tell us how to interpret situations and how to behave in them. Stereotypes are schemas for people of various kinds police officers, hispanics, yuppies. This leads to the suspicion that we are pre-wired to engage in those practices.
