In psychology,attitude is a psychological construct that is a mental and emotional entity that inheres or characterizes a person,their attitude to approach to something,or their personal view on it. Attitude involves their mindset,outlook and feelings. Attitudes are complex and are an acquired state through life experience. Attitude is an individual's predisposed state of mind regarding a value and it is precipitated through a responsive expression towards oneself,a person,place,thing,or event which in turn influences the individual's thought and action.
Self-perception theory (SPT) is an account of attitude formation developed by psychologist Daryl Bem. It asserts that people develop their attitudes by observing their own behavior and concluding what attitudes must have caused it. The theory is counterintuitive in nature,as the conventional wisdom is that attitudes determine behaviors. Furthermore,the theory suggests that people induce attitudes without accessing internal cognition and mood states. The person interprets their own overt behaviors rationally in the same way they attempt to explain others' behaviors.
In the psychology of self,one's self-concept is a collection of beliefs about oneself. Generally,self-concept embodies the answer to the question "Who am I?".
Thomas Dashiff Gilovich an American psychologist who is the Irene Blecker Rosenfeld Professor of Psychology at Cornell University. He has conducted research in social psychology,decision making,behavioral economics,and has written popular books on these subjects. Gilovich has collaborated with Daniel Kahneman,Richard Nisbett,Lee Ross and Amos Tversky. His articles in peer-reviewed journals on subjects such as cognitive biases have been widely cited. In addition,Gilovich has been quoted in the media on subjects ranging from the effect of purchases on happiness to perception of judgment in social situations. Gilovich is a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.
Similarity refers to the psychological degree of identity of two mental representations. It is fundamental to human cognition since it provides the basis for categorization of entities into kinds and for various other cognitive processes. It underpins our ability to interact with unknown entities by predicting how they will behave based on their similarity to entities we are familiar with. Research in cognitive psychology has taken a number of approaches to the concept of similarity. Each of them is related to a particular set of assumptions about knowledge representation.
The implicit-association test (IAT) is an assessment intended to detect subconscious associations between mental representations of objects (concepts) in memory. Its best-known application is the assessment of implicit stereotypes held by test subjects,such as associations between particular racial categories and stereotypes about those groups. The test has been applied to a variety of belief associations,such as those involving racial groups,gender,sexuality,age,and religion but also the self-esteem,political views,and predictions of the test taker. The implicit-association test is the subject of significant academic and popular debate regarding its validity,reliability,and usefulness in assessing implicit bias.
Confidence is the state of being clear-headed:either that a hypothesis or prediction is correct,or that a chosen course of action is the best or most effective. Confidence comes from the Latin word fidere which means "to trust". In contrast,arrogance or hubris is a state of unmerited confidence—belief lacking evidence and/or a reason. Overconfidence or presumptuousness is excessive belief in success without regard for potential failure. Confidence can be a self-fulfilling prophecy,as those without it may fail because they lack it,and those with it may succeed because they have it rather than because of an innate ability or skill.
William B. Swann is a professor of social and personality psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. He is primarily known for his work on identity,self and self-esteem,but has also done research on relationships,social cognition,group processes,accuracy in person perception and interpersonal expectancy effects. He received his Ph.D. in 1978 from the University of Minnesota and undergraduate degree from Gettysburg College.
Susan Tufts Fiske is an American psychologist who serves as the Eugene Higgins Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs in the Department of Psychology at Princeton University. She is a social psychologist known for her work on social cognition,stereotypes,and prejudice. Fiske leads the Intergroup Relations,Social Cognition,and Social Neuroscience Lab at Princeton University. Her theoretical contributions include the development of the stereotype content model,ambivalent sexism theory,power as control theory,and the continuum model of impression formation.
John A. Bargh is a social psychologist currently working at Yale University,where he has formed the Automaticity in Cognition,Motivation,and Evaluation (ACME) Laboratory. Bargh's work focuses on automaticity and unconscious processing as a method to better understand social behavior,as well as philosophical topics such as free will. Much of Bargh's work investigates whether behaviors thought to be under volitional control may result from automatic interpretations of and reactions to external stimuli,such as words.
Self-enhancement is a type of motivation that works to make people feel good about themselves and to maintain self-esteem. This motive becomes especially prominent in situations of threat,failure or blows to one's self-esteem. Self-enhancement involves a preference for positive over negative self-views. It is one of the three self-evaluation motives along with self-assessment and self-verification . Self-evaluation motives drive the process of self-regulation,that is,how people control and direct their own actions.
Impression formation in social psychology refers to the processes by which different pieces of knowledge about another are combined into a global or summary impression. Social psychologist Solomon Asch is credited with the seminal research on impression formation and conducted research on how individuals integrate information about personality traits. Two major theories have been proposed to explain how this process of integration takes place. The Gestalt approach views the formation of a general impression as the sum of several interrelated impressions. As an individual seeks to form a coherent and meaningful impression of another individual,previous impressions significantly influence the interpretation of subsequent information. In contrast to the Gestalt approach,the cognitive algebra approach asserts that individuals' experiences are combined with previous evaluations to form a constantly changing impression of a person. A related area to impression formation is the study of person perception,making dispositional attributions,and then adjusting those inferences based on the information available.
Heuristics is the process by which humans use mental shortcuts to arrive at decisions. Heuristics are simple strategies that humans,animals,organizations,and even machines use to quickly form judgments,make decisions,and find solutions to complex problems. Often this involves focusing on the most relevant aspects of a problem or situation to formulate a solution. While heuristic processes are used to find the answers and solutions that are most likely to work or be correct,they are not always right or the most accurate. Judgments and decisions based on heuristics are simply good enough to satisfy a pressing need in situations of uncertainty,where information is incomplete. In that sense they can differ from answers given by logic and probability.
Darcia Narvaez is a Professor of Psychology Emerita at the University of Notre Dame who has written extensively on issues of character,moral development,and human flourishing.
Social heuristics are simple decision making strategies that guide people's behavior and decisions in the social environment when time,information,or cognitive resources are scarce. Social environments tend to be characterised by complexity and uncertainty,and in order to simplify the decision-making process,people may use heuristics,which are decision making strategies that involve ignoring some information or relying on simple rules of thumb.
Intergroup relations refers to interactions between individuals in different social groups,and to interactions taking place between the groups themselves collectively. It has long been a subject of research in social psychology,political psychology,and organizational behavior.
Monica Rose Biernat is a social psychologist known for her research on social judgment,stereotyping,prejudice,and discrimination. She is a University Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of Kansas.
The liking gap is the disparity between how much a person believes that another person likes them,and that other person's actual opinion. Studies have found that most people underestimate how much other people like them and enjoy their company.
Ozlem Nefise Ayduk is an American social psychologist at U.C. Berkeley researching close relationships,emotion regulation,and the development of self-regulation in children. She is a fellow at the Society of Experimental Social Psychology and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. She has contributed content to several psychology handbooks,dictionaries,and encyclopedias.
