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Definition
| The study of the ways in which thoughts, feelings, perceptions, motives, and behaviour are influenced by the interactions and transactions between people. |
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Definition
| The process by which people select, interpret and remember social information. Social Cognition concerns two aspects, 1) how we think about ourselves, others and social issues. and 2) how others influence he way we think. |
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| The process by which people come to understand and categorize the behaviors of others. |
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Definition
The process by which people come to understand and explain their own behavior and develop a self-concept.
It is important to realize that not all cognitions are conscious, and not all cognitions are rational. Two major influences on social cognitions are both our own and others emotions and behaviors. |
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Term
| Introspection (Part of self perception) |
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Definition
| we have privileged access to our own thoughts and emotions, we ‘Just know it’. Although this does not allow us to paint a full picture of ourselves. |
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Term
| Self Perception Theory (Part of self perception) |
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Definition
| Our observations of our own behaviour, we change our self-construct so to create a more rational image, we build up an image based on what others think, and what we want others to think. The reflection is purely based on social approval. |
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| Looking Glass Self (part of self perception) |
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Definition
| By reflecting and absorbing into our self image how others see us. |
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Definition
| Ray Fuller): We learn whether something is risky or not from our experience, for example in Nikki Hares children by the road experiment people assumed they didn’t drive fast around children, when really they did. This is because children usually do behave safely, this is something we have learned through our observation, and so we have adjusted our behaviour to reflect this. (Although in saying that we not believe it is true, but because not all cognitions are conscious…). Although we have observed that children are usually safe, the police statistics on road car crashes suggest otherwise. When taking part in such tests people have Self Serving Bias, this is when self-perception is distorted to protect our self-esteem, we want to portray a safe image of ourselves, Self Perception theory. |
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Term
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Definition
| When self-perceptions are distorted in ways to protect our self-esteem. We want to think of ourselves as moral, and it is not moral to endanger the lives of innocent children. We also want to think of ourselves as rational, liked by others and successful. |
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