Social Thinking

Section

Question	Answer
Attribution Theory	Describes how we attach meanings to our own and other’s behavior. Also it explains how we interpret events around us, which relates to our own thought process and behavior
Two types of attributions	Internal attribution and External attribution
Internal attribution	Dispositional. The attitude, characteristics, motivation, emotions, personality, beliefs and etc. about a person explains why that person behave certain way
External attribution	Situational. The way that person behaves is because of a particular situation
Three stage process of attribution	Behavior is observed, Behavior is determined to be deliberate, Behavior is attributed to internal or external causes
Achievement can be attributed to	Effort, Ability, Level difficult in task, Luck
Attribution is classified along three casual dimensions	Locus of control, Stability, Controllability
Fundamental attribution error	Also known as correspondence bias or attribution effect. Describes that people tend to judge others based on their dispositional factors (internal attributions) rather than situational factors (external attributions). We often make unethical decisions and judgments because of such tendency
How to avoid fundamental attribution error	“Put yourself in the other person’s shoes”
How culture affects attributions	Individualist cultures & Collectivist cultures
Individualist cultures	Include northern America and western Europe, People from such cultures have high value on uniqueness and independence, This culture emphasizes on individual goals, People define themselves in terms of personal attributes
Collectivist cultures	Include Asia, Latin America, and Africa, People from such cultures have high value on conformity and interdependence, This culture emphasizes on group goals, People define themselves in terms of their membership in groups, People in this culture are less susceptible to the fundamental attribution error than those in individualist culture
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Question	Answer
Self-perceptions	The way we see our self. Our beliefs, past experiences, gender, age, culture and etc. affect our perception of self
Self-perception theory	says that people develop their own perception by observing themselves, interacting with others, and behaving in different circumstances
The way we perceive ourselves	affect how we perceive others
Our own self-perceptions work as a foundation to form impression of others	Depending on how you perceive your own roles, social norms, physical cues, and class, you perceive others differently. Let say one perceives oneself to be not very successful because of poor pay at work. Thus this person may perceive others who have a better pay at work more successful.
Perceptions of the Environment	Involves more complex, large-scale scenes. Perception of the environment
Perception of the environment includes	Social situation, Work, Time, Settings,These influence how one perceives others
The time one observes a situation can change one’s attention	For example, a guy sees a bunch of girls dressed in gold dresses as beautiful and sexy on Saturday night at a club. However, when the same guy sees a bunch of girls dressed in gold dresses at his work, he would perceive them differently.
Prejudice	Negative belief and unjustified attitude toward people in a specific social group. Some defines it as prejudgment of members of a group. Involves stereotyped beliefs, negative feelings, and tendency to discriminate against others
Different types of prejudices include	Racism, Classicism, Sexism, Nationalism, Agism , Religious prejudice, Homophobia
Processes that Contribute to Prejudice	Power, prestige and class
Power	Ability to control other people’s behavior
Political power	the power held by a political group. Favoring a certain political view and enforcing laws to support certain groups of people. Bribes, vetting candidates, etc.
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Question	Answer
Economical power	the power held by wealth. Ability to take control over in organizations, properties, etc. Low wage jobs for minority groups
Personal power	the power held by an individual. Variety of power can be held by a person including economic, defensive, and destructive power
Prestige	Refers to a good reputation, People with different occupations: Lawyers, doctors vs. service works
Class	Lower, middle, and upper class, Lower class is poor because they are lazy, Upper class is rich because they work hard
The role of emotion in prejudice	Aroused by expression or thoughts
The role of cognition in prejudice	What people believe is true and Faulty memory processes
Stereotypes	A shared belief about people into a specific categories
Psychologist Gordon Allport	proposed as a result of human thinking and categorizing information and knowledge, prejudice and stereotypes emerge.
Advantages of stereotypes	Allow us to process new information rapidly because we have had similar experiences in the past. Enable us to predict other people’s behavior
Disadvantage of stereotypes	Make us generalize others (ignore/acknowledge the differences). Drive people to exaggerate differences among groups
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Question	Answer
Types of stereotypes (Based on race, nationality, culture, gender, social class, and etc.)	Positive and Negative
Positive	Good characteristics of a group
Positive Examples include	Asians are smart, Blacks are good at basketball, Indians are spiritual, Latinos can dance well
Negative	Overly simplified group
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Negative Examples include: Girls are not good at sports, Guys are messy, All teenagers are rebels

Question	Answer
Ethnocentrism	The view that believes one culture/ethnic group is superior than the others. Judgment based on other’s language, religion, behavior, and customs relative to one’s own. Can lead to misjudgment of others and discrimination
In-group	Social group that one identifies his or herself as a member. Associated with in-group favoritism, people prefer in-group over the out-group
Out-group	Social group that one does not identify as a member. Associated with out-group derogation, people from out-group is observed as a threat to the in-group
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Question	Answer
Cultural relativism	No culture is superior than the other. No one can judge other’s culture, one’s language, religion, behavior and customs are relative to the individual within a cultural identity
Self-fulfilling Prophecy	Also known as Pygmalion effect. An expectation about circumstances, events, or people that affect person’s behavior toward them eventually confirms that expectation
Studies done by Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson	An elementary school teacher told students that they were very clever although they were actually around average. The next day when those students were tested, they scored better than those who were not ‘expected’ or told to do well
Steps to self-fulfilling prophecy	Person A expects a certain behavior from person B, Person A behaves in such a way to elicit the expected behavior from person B, Person B behaves as person A expected, Person A observes expected behavior ➙ person A is self-fulfilled. For example, stereotype threat about one’s race or gender before taking a test result in poor score
Stereotype Threat	A psychological phenomenon of one feeling at risk of confirming negative stereotypes. Causes anxiety and result in poor performances in people
Steven Spencer’s studies have shown that	Women performed worse on a math test than did man with similar intelligence level, although women were equally intelligent as men, they performed not as well because of stereotype threat. There is negative stereotype about women that they are not as intelligent as men. Women performed similar to men when they were led to believe that women perform similar to men before the test. Women performed better when tested within all women group than in mixed-gender group
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