Social cognition by Krishnakshi Thakuria

1. Social Cognition:Thinking
categorically about others
presented by-
KrishnakshiThakuria

2. person perception
 different mental processes that we use to form
impressions of other people. This includes not just how
we form these impressions, but the different
conclusions we make about other people based upon
our impressions.
 allows us to make snap judgments and decisions, but it
can also lead to biased or stereotyped perceptions of
other people.

3.  Factors that can influence the impressions
you form of other people include the
characteristics of the person you are
observing, physical clues, your own personal
traits and your past experiences.

4. Physical clues can play an
important role

5. Salience of the information we perceive is also important.
Generally, we tend to focus on the most obvious points
rather than noting background information. The more novel
or obvious a factor is, the more likely we are to focus on
it.

6. Social Categorization
 Categorization is the classification of
persons into groups, often on basis of
common attributes

7. 2 Kinds of categorization
1. Quick and automatic “without thinking,”
2. Controlled thinking that is effortful and deliberate,
pausing to think about self and environment, carefully
selecting the right course of action.

8.  social categorization has both positive and negative
aspects. One of the strengths of social categorization is
that it allows people to make judgments very quickly.
Using social categorization allows you to make decisions
and establish expectations of how people will behave in
certain situations very quickly
 The problems with this technique include the fact that it
can lead to errors and as well as stereotyping or
even prejudice.

9. stereotypes
Sexual Stereotypes -Sexual stereotypes,
suggest that any feminine man is gay.Those
who believe gay stereotypes may also believe
that homosexuality is immoral, wrong and an
abomination.

10.  Racial Stereotypes
One of the more common stereotype examples is
stereotypes surrounding race. For example, stereotype
about north east people. “EVERYONE HERE ISTRIBAL
AND CHINKY”
If North-east is all about small eyes, then the rest of India is all about small minds.

11. Gender Stereotypes
There are also some common stereotypes of
men and women, such as:
 Men are strong both mentally and physically
 Women aren't as smart as a man.
 Girls are not good at sports.
 Guys are messy and unclean.

12. PREJUDICE

13. Negative effects
 Distancing the self from the stereotyped group
 Prejudice- as seen in earlier example-

14. Stereotype Suppression
• The automatic aspect, the monitoring process,
searches for evidence that the unwanted thought is
about to intrude on consciousness.
• Then the operating process, comes into play. This is
the effortful, conscious attempt to distract oneself by
finding something else to think about.
 trying to consciously avoid using a
stereotype.

15.  the irony is that the very thing that we
try to not think about rebounds back
into our thoughts without fail.
 Whenever we try not to think
stereotypically………..
the same stereotype rebounds back into our
thoughts without fail

16.  suppressing stereotypes about skinheads
showed greater stereotype activation and
increased distance from members of that group

17. sexual harassment policy - activating rather than
suppressing gender stereotypes.

18. conclusion
 increased categorization results in
greater intergroup bias
As social groups around the world come into
greater contact with one another, we have no
alternative but to find ways in which
differences between groups can be preserved
and intergoup
tensions and hostilities are reduced