chapter 6 exam revision

• Personal Perception

  The mental process we use to form impressions and draw conclusions about other people
• Information that demonstrates personal perception

  • Directly: provided from the person we are judging, for example through observing them or interacting with them
  • Indirectly: through hearing about the person, we are judging from another person or source
• Attributions


  An evaluation made about the causes of behaviour
• Internal (personal) attributions

  When we judge behaviour as the result of something occurring within (personally) an individual
• External (situation) attributions

  When we determine the cause of a behaviour as resulting from situational factors occurring outside the individual
• Fundamental Attribution Error

  Our tendency to explain other people's behavior in terms of internal factors, while ignoring possible external factors
• Attitudes

  An evaluation of something, such as a person, object, event or idea
• For something to be an established attitude

  • There must be an evaluation
  • Settled and Stable
  • Learnt through experience
• Tri-Component Model of Attitudes

  A model which illustrates the relationship between the affective, behavioural and cognitive components of our attitudes
• A limitation of the Tri-Component Model concerns the behavioural component - often the behavioural component does not align/ reflect the affective and cognitive components
• Affective component

  Our emotions and intuitive feelings towards something, reflected in our attitude
• Behavioural component

  Our outward and observable actions that reflect our point of view about something
• Cognitive component

  Our thoughts and beliefs about something
• Cognitive dissonance

  The psychological tension that occurs when our thoughts, feelings and/or behaviours do not align
• Cognitive Bias

  Conscious, systematic tendencies to interpret information in a way that is neither rational nor based on objective reality
• Confirmation bias

  The tendency to search for and accept information that supports our prior beliefs, or behaviours and ignores contradictory information
• Actor-observer bias

  The tendency to attribute our own actions to external factors and situational causes while attributing other people's actions to internal factors
• Self-serving bias

  The tendency to attribute positive success to our internal character and actions and attribute our failures to external factors or situational causes
• False-consensus bias

  The tendency to overestimate the degree to which other people share the same ideas and attitudes as we do
• Halo effect

  The tendency for the impression we form about one quality of a person to influence our overall beliefs about the person in other respects
• Prejudice

  Negative attitude towards a group of people that may lead to discrimination
• Characteristics of a majority group

  • Tendency to believe in the superiority of the majority group
  • Minority group is different from the majority group
  • more powerful and important
  • Majority group is insecure of the minority group
• Old-fashioned prejudice

  A form of prejudice in which members of the majority group openly reject members of the minority group
• Modern prejudice


  A form of prejudice which is more subtle, hidden and expressed in ways more likely to be accepted within the majority group (more likely to keep real views to themselves)
• Discrimination

  The behaviour that stems from prejudiced attitudes towards a minority group of people
• Stigma

  Feelings of shame or disgrace experienced by individuals for a characteristic that differentiates them from others
• Social stigma

  Negative stereotypes that come to define people and don't allow them to be seen as an individual
• Self-stigma

  Internalisation of negative stereotypes and can lead to low self-esteem
• Mental well-being

  An individual's current psychological state, ability to think, process information and regulate their emotions
• Reducing prejudice and discrimination

  • Education and inter-group contact
  • Social media as a powerful tool in raising awareness and calling out prejudice and discrimination
  • Laws to protect and give voice to minority groups
• Self-reports

  Can measure a large amount of people at one time
• Disadvantages of self-reports

  People can give socially desirable answers
• Ethics in attitude measurements

  • Informed consent
  • Confidentiality
• Direct discrimination

  Treating someone unfairly due to their association with a group eg. laughing at someone with disability
• Indirect discrimination

  Occurs when a practice or rule applies to all people and unfairly disadvantages a group eg. not having non - meat products available at a restaurant which disadvantages vegetarians
• Heuristics

  Information processing strategies or "mental shortcuts" that enable individuals to form judgements, make decisions and solve problems quickly and efficiently
• Heuristics

  • These judgements are intuitive, rapid and automatic processes that develop over time as a result of experience and learning
  • Therefore, can be unconscious (often)
  • May be useful and necessary in helping us make judgements
  • May also lead to biases and incorrect judgements
• Positives of heuristics

  • Time saving when making decisions and solving problems
  • Sometimes results in accurate decision making and efficient problem-solving
  • Can be adaptive and protect an individual from dangerous situations
• Negatives of heuristics

  Decisions are made quickly which makes them prone to error
• Base-rate fallacy

  A type of bias in which decisions and mental perceptions are influenced more by vivid memories and experiences than statistical fact