Observing and systematically recording measurments

• What is visually attractive is good, what is ugly is not.

• The idea that people naturally assume that because a person is attractive and likeable, s/he is also intelligent, friendly, has good judgment, etc.

• The uncomfort a person feels when s/he hold opposing cognitions.
• Ex: Smoking is bad, people shouldn't do it.  And yet, that person smokes.  OR If a club is average, but was exeptionally difficult to get into, a person would convince himself that the club is fantastic.
• The person will try to change beliefs/values to fit behavior.

Sherif's Cave Experiment

(Superordinate Goals)

• People will automatically group themselves, and the groups develop their own cultures, status structures, and boundaries.  People quickly and readily believe that their group is superior.
• When given a "superordinate goal" (when both groups are faced by a threat bigger than the opposing group), they groups will temporarily set aside conflicts to defeat threat/reach goal.

• The idea that people think others think like them, when in reality, they don't.

• We overestimate the level to which others agree with us

• Kitty Genovese Case

• We prefer others to handle difficult situations as long as we're not called out on it.

• The more anonymous we are, or the more people that are around, the less likely we are to act.  We become more apathetic.

• 76% of the time, people will agree with the group's decision or statements, even when they know the group is wrong.

• If in a room with 9 other people, and experimentor goes down the row asking "what color is the wall?"  You know the wall is white, yet all 9 others say "blue."  You start to question yourself and also answer "blue," though the wall is definitely white.

• Mental structures people use to organize their knowledge about the social world.

• When applied to social groups, they are called "sterotypes."

• Help us organize world and fill in gaps of info quickly
• Allows prior learning to be used to handle new situations
• world would be chaotic and frightening without them

• We judge quickly and make wrong assumptions

• We use info from past experiences that might not be relevant

• Distortions and presumptions can be harmful

Judgment Heuristics

(Availability/Representativeness)

• Shortcuts people use to make judgments quickly and efficiently

• Availability- ease with which we bring something to mind

• Representativeness- classifying something according to how similar it is to a typical case.

Mentally changing some aspect of a past event as a way of imagining what might have been. Imagining alternatives (better or worse) different from reality.

If only I had done..  If only I hadn't.. If only this had been..

Culturally determined rules about which nonverbal behaviors are appropriate to display in social settings.

i.e. men don't cry in public, etc.

A type of schema people use to group various kinds of personality traits together.

i.e. artist also equals eccentric, financially "starving," creative, etc.

The belief that a person is behaving in a certain way because of who they are.

i.e. Someone cuts you off in traffic, so he is simply a rude person.  however, maybe he was late to his child's graduation or had to get to the hospital for a loved one.

The belief that a person's behavior is driven by an external situation.

i.e. All people would behave the same in that situation.

Studying how one person behaves in different situations.

i.e. boss yelling at everyone, or just one person?

When we evaluate and compare our current behavior to our internal standards and values.

We become self-conscious in that we cecome objective, judgmental observers of ourselves, seeing ourselves as though looking through a mirror at another.

• being truly self aware is too painful
• sometimes we lack the discipline to do the things we need to be doing as opposed to what we want to be doing
• instead, we use defense mechanisms to justify actions

The process whereby people make mistaken inferences about what is causing them to feel the way they do.

(i.e. Going to a theme park for a first date.  thinking the person is making you feel excited, when it's actually the environment of the theme park)

People have the idea that they have a set amount of a certain ability and that they cannot change it.

These people are likely to give up after setbacks

The idea that a person's abilities are malleable qualities that they can cultivate and grow.

These people view setbacks as an opportunity to improve through hard work.

People try to get others to see them as they want to be seen.

This desire is present in all cultures, though the image we want to present depends upon the culture.

The tendency to enhance the value of the thing we chose and de-value the rejected alternative.

The dissonance is greater with more important decisions.

Cognitive

Affective

Behavioral

Actively trying something out and then creating a belief about it.

(whether or not we liked it affects our attitude towards it)

The idea that we are most tempted by the things we are told not to do

(avoiding these tactics can help resist persuasive messages)

• When the situation is ambiguous
• When the situation presents a crisis
• When other people are experts

• Need to be accepted

• Need to be accurate or right

• To diffuse responsibility for actions

• Fear of authority

• Avoidance of punishment