Problem
"We have seen that social cognition is efficient, frequently operating quickly and even out of our awareness, and generally accurate. However, although we are pretty good at sizing up other people and in creating effective social interactions, we are not perfect. The errors we make frequently occur because of our reliance on our mental knowledge (our schemas and attitudes) as well our tendency to take shortcuts through the use of cognitive heuristics. We use schemas and heuristics as energy savers, because we are often overwhelmed by the amount of information we need to process."
Think back through the last few weeks and think of a time you used a schema or heuristic as an energy saver in a social situation. Do you think the schema or heuristic you used was helpful? Was it positive or negative? How do you feel about the use of that schema or heuristic now?