PS270 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Availability Heuristic, Social Desirability Bias, Basking In Reflected Glory
Document Summary
Ps270- lecture notes- chapter readings- midterm review 1. The scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate to one another. Tries to establish a scientific basis for understanding social behavior. Important themes (1) the power of the situation (2) the role of the construal. Reactions to a situation depend on interpretation and inference (which we may be unaware of) (3) interplay of motivational and cognitive factors. Cognition=how the mind works (4) applicable to important social issues. Subcultures can emerge (1) material culture (2) subjective culture- unquestioned assumptions, standard operating procedures. Shared elements of subjective culture organized around a theme (1) cultural complexity (2) tightness (3) vertical and horizontal cultures (4) individualism and collectivism. Individualists (relative to collectivists); attend social groups less, proud of personal accomplishments, define status by accomplishments, competitive, believe in autonomy and self-reliance. Day after day social scientists go into the world and discover that people"s behavior is pretty much what you"d expect".
