Psychology Chapter on Intuitive Judgments

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Questions and Answers

What does the term "priming" refer to in the context of social psychology?

A technique for training individuals to react quickly to stimuli.

Activating specific memories through subconscious influences. (correct)

Using positive reinforcement to encourage certain behaviors.

Evaluating individuals based on their initial impression.

Which of the following is NOT a limitation of intuition mentioned in the text?

The capacity for intuition is limited in complex decision-making situations.

Hindsight bias can lead to inaccurate judgments about past events.

Subliminal stimuli have a significant and lasting impact on behavior. (correct)

Intuition can be susceptible to illusions and misinterpretations.

What is the "overconfidence phenomenon" in social psychology?

A tendency to underestimate our abilities and potential.

An exaggerated belief in the accuracy of our own judgments and beliefs. (correct)

An inability to accurately assess the likelihood of future events.

An overemphasis on external factors when explaining our successes.

What are the main contributors to the overconfidence phenomenon?

Inadequate skills and a lack of understanding of situational factors. (C) Signup and view all the answers

What is "confirmatory hypothesis testing"?

Seeking out information that supports our existing beliefs while ignoring contradictory evidence. (B) Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following is NOT a remedy mentioned in the text for reducing overconfidence?

Avoiding the use of heuristics and relying solely on logical analysis. (D) Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following best describes the concept of "heuristics"?

Mental shortcuts used to simplify decision-making and make quick judgments. (D) Signup and view all the answers

In what way can heuristics lead to "attribution biases"?

By oversimplifying complex situations and making inaccurate inferences. (D) Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following is an example of the representativeness heuristic?

A student assuming that a professor who is very knowledgeable about their subject is also a good teacher (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the main focus of counterfactual thinking?

Imagining alternative scenarios that could have happened (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the key difference between illusory correlation and illusion of control?

Illusory correlation refers to the perception of a relationship between two unrelated events, while illusion of control refers to the belief that one can influence random events. (D) Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following is NOT a factor that can influence our perception and interpretation of events?

Our level of intelligence (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the term used to explain the persistence of initial beliefs even when presented with contradictory evidence?

Belief perseverance (C) Signup and view all the answers

The misinformation effect is defined as:

The incorporation of misleading information into our memory of an event. (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the term used to describe the tendency to revise our past behaviors to align with our current beliefs?

Totalitarian ego (D) Signup and view all the answers

The fundamental attribution error refers to:

The tendency to underestimate the impact of the situation on other people's behavior. (B) Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following is NOT a factor that can influence the extent to which attitudes predict behavior?

The presence of conflicting attitudes on the same behavior (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is a potential consequence of engaging in immoral acts, according to the content?

Individuals may justify their actions by blaming the victim. (B) Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following is NOT a core component of the theory of planned behavior?

Emotional regulation (C) Signup and view all the answers

How can role-playing contribute to attitude change?

By helping individuals understand the perspectives of others. (C) Signup and view all the answers

What is the main idea behind the concept of cognitive dissonance?

We tend to feel uncomfortable when holding two conflicting ideas or beliefs. (B) Signup and view all the answers

What does impression management involve?

Attempting to make a positive impression on others, regardless of real intentions. (B) Signup and view all the answers

What does the phrase “one does what one is; one becomes what one does” suggest about the relationship between behavior and attitude?

Behavior is a reflection of one’s true nature, and over time, it shapes one’s identity and attitudes. (B) Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following is an example of how public conformity can lead to private acceptance?

An individual starting to sing along to the national anthem at a sporting event. (D) Signup and view all the answers

Study Notes

Priming: Activating particular associations in memory. Can influence thoughts and actions. Subliminal priming has short-term effects, particularly if already motivated to act.

Intuitive Judgments

Priming research: Suggests much of behavior is unconscious.
Thinking: Much of our thinking is unconscious; including schemas, emotional reactions, and expertise. Intuition can be influenced by thin slices of information/impressions.

The Limits of Intuition

Subliminal stimuli: Have minor effects
Hindsight: Is often error-prone.
Illusions: Our capacity for illusions has an impact on intuition

Confirmatory Hypothesis Testing

An example is the sequence 2, 4, 6,...

Overconfidence Phenomenon

Definition: The tendency to be more confident than warranted, overestimating the accuracy of one's beliefs.
Applications: Affects factual information, judgments of others' and own behavior
Causes: Incompetence and underestimation of situational forces. Recognizing competence requires competence.
Results: Leads to confirmation bias.

Confirmation Bias

Perseverance of Beliefs: The tendency to maintain beliefs even after they've been discredited.
Confirmatory Hypothesis Testing: Actively seeking information that reinforces existing beliefs.
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Expectations can lead to behaviors that cause others to confirm those expectations (e.g., teacher expectations influencing student performance).
Remedies for overconfidence: Prompt feedback, breaking tasks into sub-tasks, and considering disconfirming information.

Heuristics: Mental Shortcuts

Attribution Biases: Taking shortcuts due to limited cognitive processing. It can produce errors in judgment.

Representativeness Heuristic

Explanation: The tendency to assume something or someone belongs to a specific group based on resemblance to a typical member, disregarding base rates.

Availability Heuristic

Explanation: A cognitive rule that judges likelihood of an event based on its ease of recall from memory.

Counterfactual Thinking

Explanation: Imagining alternative scenarios or outcomes that could have happened but did not. It helps understand feelings of luck and regret.
Regret: Typically more regret over things not done than things done.

Illusory Thinking

Illusory Correlation: Perceiving a relationship where none exists, or a stronger relationship than actually exists.
Illusion of Control: Perceiving uncontrollable events as subject to one's control, or more controllable than they actually are

Moods and Judgment

Mood influence on judgment: A good or bad mood strongly influences people's ratings of their behavior. Those with bad moods are less likely to recognize positive aspects of their behavior.

Perceiving and Interpreting Events

Media Bias Perception: People perceive media bias against their side, and this is often inaccurate; pro-Israel and pro-Arab students viewed news descriptions of the "Beirut massacre" with bias.

Belief Perseverance

Definition: Persistence of initial conceptions, even in the face of disconfirming evidence.

Constructing Memories

Misinformation Effect: Incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event.
False Memories: Misinformation effect can create false memories, including Elizabeth Loftus' research.
Reconstructing past attitudes: Rosy retrospections (tendency to remember the past more positively than it was).
Reconstructing past behavior: Tendency to revise past behavior to conform current beliefs (e.g., recall smoking less, voting more). The "totalitarian ego" refers to this.

Attributing Causality

Attribution theory: How people explain others’ behaviors.
Misattribution: Attributing a behavior to the wrong cause.
Dispositional versus situational attributions: The distinction between attributing behavior to personal characteristics or environmental factors (e.g., why did the driver cut you off).

Fundamental Attribution Error

Definition: Tendency to underestimate the situational impact on other people's behavior. It suggests inaccurate explanations for why others act as they do.
Two-step process: (1) Identify behavior, (2) Adjust for situational factors.

Attributions and Reactions

Explanation: How we explain negative behavior affects reactions, where favorable/unfavorable reactions depend on whether we attribute the behavior to dispositional or situational factors.

Teacher Expectations and Student Performance

Self-fulfilling prophecy: Teacher expectations (e.g., expecting a student to be brilliant) can influence their behavior, which in turn affects student performance.

Getting from Others What We Expect

Behavioral Confirmation: Social expectations can lead people to act in ways that confirm those expectations.

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Description

This quiz explores key concepts from psychology related to social beliefs, intuitive judgments, and the limits of intuition. It covers topics such as priming, the overconfidence phenomenon, and how unconscious thinking influences our behavior. Test your understanding of these essential psychological principles.