PSY 301 1st Edition Lecture 2 Outline of Last Lecture I. IntroductionII. Types of Scientific StudiesOutline of Current LectureI. First Impressions(a) Attributions(b) Internal and External AttributionsCurrent LectureDefinition of Social Psychology:- Social Psychology examines the influence of social processes on the ways in which people think, feel, and behave- It is the scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another- Social cognition is the processes by which people make sense of themselves, others, social interactions, and friendshipsFirst Impressions:- The initial perceptions of someone which affect future beliefs about that person- This develops initial schemas which then effect all subsequent perception and memory1. Stereotypes: characteristics attributed to people based on their membership in specific groups- Developed from rigid and or automatic schemas- Often overgeneralized and inaccurate- Saves cognitive energy2. Prejudice: judging people based on stereotypes- Involves a distinction between in groups and out groups- Particularly powerful in naturally occurring groups- Attributions: The processes of inferring the causes of one’s own and others mental statesand behaviors- The process of making an attribution is:o Is the behavior due to an internal or external cause? Internal attributions are attributes of a person caused the behavior like his or her character, their motives, etc.; also known as dispositional Internal attributions are more common in individualistic cultures External attributions are situational factors that caused the behavior; also known as situational External attributions are more common in collectivist cultureso To decide between whether or not an attribution is internal or external, three factors are involved: Consistency (Does this person perform this action regularly?) Distinctiveness (Does this person perform similar actions?) Consensus (Do most people perform this action?)- After determining whether or not the behavior is internal or external, we categorize the personalityo If the attribution is external, the process stops right here- After categorizing the personality, we adjust for the situationo Confirmation bias: Giving more weight to ideas that support your viewo Discounting: Ignoring behaviors that have several possible causeso Augmentation: Internal factors are weighted more heavily when the situation makes the behavior unlikelyo Unexpected behaviors are given more
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