PSYC 2120 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Stroop Effect, Belief Perseverance, Cognitive Psychology
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Social Psychology Lecture #5 Social Beliefs and Judgements
Social psychology
the scientific study of how people think (and feel about), influence and relate to one another
what is cognitive psychology
the scientific study of basic mental abilities such as perception, learning and memory
focus on basic mental abilities
social cognition
studies how people think about and make sense of other people, themselves and social
situations
stroop task
stroop effect
result: its easier to name an ink color alone than in presence of conflicting color-name
conclusion: we process the meaning of words automatically, without intention
replace with social stimuli that might also be processed automatically and interfere with the
colour naming task
race study
results: faster to read the ink colour when the colour and racial category of the person
matched than when they were mismatched
conclusion: racial categories come to mind automatically
schemas
mental structures people use to organize their knowledge about the social world around
themes or subjects
types of schemas
self schemas: beliefs about the self that organize and guide the processing of self-
relevant information
role schemas
expectations about people in particular roles and social categories (e.g, the role of a
social psychologist, student doctor)
person schemas
expectations based on personality traits. What we associate with certain type of person
(ex. shy person, warm person)
event schemas
expectations about sequences of events in social situations. What we associate with
certain situations (restaurant schemas, birthday parties).
why do we have schemas?
allow us to move easier through our social world
1. reduce the amount of information to process
2. reduce uncertainty/ ambiguity
Kelley (1950)
warm expectations led to higher instructor ratings
students with “warm” expectations also asked more questions and participated
more often
3. They guide our information processing
a. Attention and encoding
how quickly we notice
what we notice
how we interpret what we notice
b. our memory
c. our judgments
The problem with schemas…
1. Schemas can distort reality and memories
Women’s Hockey Olympic Game
with us or against us
hostile media phenomenon: opposing partisan groups both perceive neutral
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