PSC 151 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Availability Heuristic, Representativeness Heuristic
Document Summary
Social cognition: how we think about the social world. Social cognition: how people think about themselves & the social world; more specifically, how people select, interpret, remember, & use social info to make judgments. Automatic thinking: thinking that is nonconscious, unintentional, involuntary, & effortless. Schemas: mental structures people use to organize their knowledge about the social world around themes or subjects & that influence the info people notice, think about, & remember. Accessibility: the extent to which schemas & concepts are at the forefront of people"s minds & are therefore likely to be used when making judgments about the social world. Priming: the process by which recent experiences increase the accessibility of a schema, trait, or concept. Judgmental heuristics: mental shortcuts people use to make judgments quickly & efficiently. Availability heuristic: a mental rule of thumb whereby people base a judgment on the ease with which they can bring something to mind.
