Introduction to Social Cognition
Study Guide, Definitions and Notes
Cognition: perceiving, interpreting, remembering and using info [aka our thoughts]
Social: related to or about people
Social Cognition
o Social cognition: how people perceive, interpret, remember and use info about
themselves and others
Influenced by needs, wants, and expectations
Active construction of meaning
The New Look Movement
o Perception is a decision process
o Perceiver decides whether a thing is A and not B
o Process could be conscious or not conscious
o Also influenced by our expectations, needs and wants
Framing Effects
o People make decisions based on how info is presented
Steak is 80% lean
Steak is 20% fat
More likely to want steak when it says 80% lean
Confirmation Bias
o We tend to seek info that confirms our ideas and neglect info that disconfirms an
idea
o We tend to interpret ambiguous info as confirmatory info
Horoscopes, psychic readings
, Processing
o Bottom-up processing: what you see is what you think
Data-driven [color, shape, smell, sound]
Guided by the immediately presented stimulus
Stimulus Info first Cognition follows
Guys think with their dick—look at attraction first
o Top-down processing: what you think is what you see
Concept-driven
Guided by prior thoughts and knowledge
Cognition first stimulus info follows
Girls think first before judging attractiveness
Schemas
o Schemas: mental frameworks that we use to make sense of social situations
and organize our world
Help us go beyond info that is given [make inferences!]
Guide processing of info
o Schemas reside primarily in the prefrontal cortex of the brain (social part of the
brain)
o Think categories
o Advantages
Increase ability to understand remember events
Provide structure in an ambiguous setting
o Disadvantages
Biased perceptions
Confirmation bias—seek schema-confirming info
Self-fulfilling prophecies
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
o Self-fulfilling prophecy: schemas lead to expectations about other people and
these expectations influence how we behave around them
Example: We have a stereotype that Italians are friendly. Bianca is Italian
Study Guide, Definitions and Notes
Cognition: perceiving, interpreting, remembering and using info [aka our thoughts]
Social: related to or about people
Social Cognition
o Social cognition: how people perceive, interpret, remember and use info about
themselves and others
Influenced by needs, wants, and expectations
Active construction of meaning
The New Look Movement
o Perception is a decision process
o Perceiver decides whether a thing is A and not B
o Process could be conscious or not conscious
o Also influenced by our expectations, needs and wants
Framing Effects
o People make decisions based on how info is presented
Steak is 80% lean
Steak is 20% fat
More likely to want steak when it says 80% lean
Confirmation Bias
o We tend to seek info that confirms our ideas and neglect info that disconfirms an
idea
o We tend to interpret ambiguous info as confirmatory info
Horoscopes, psychic readings
, Processing
o Bottom-up processing: what you see is what you think
Data-driven [color, shape, smell, sound]
Guided by the immediately presented stimulus
Stimulus Info first Cognition follows
Guys think with their dick—look at attraction first
o Top-down processing: what you think is what you see
Concept-driven
Guided by prior thoughts and knowledge
Cognition first stimulus info follows
Girls think first before judging attractiveness
Schemas
o Schemas: mental frameworks that we use to make sense of social situations
and organize our world
Help us go beyond info that is given [make inferences!]
Guide processing of info
o Schemas reside primarily in the prefrontal cortex of the brain (social part of the
brain)
o Think categories
o Advantages
Increase ability to understand remember events
Provide structure in an ambiguous setting
o Disadvantages
Biased perceptions
Confirmation bias—seek schema-confirming info
Self-fulfilling prophecies
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
o Self-fulfilling prophecy: schemas lead to expectations about other people and
these expectations influence how we behave around them
Example: We have a stereotype that Italians are friendly. Bianca is Italian
