Lesson 4 - Social Perception Flashcards
What is primary effect?
tendency to form opinions about others based on first impression -> may not be reliable
Why are first impressions so important?
- Our initial impression is often more influential than what we later learn about the other person
- Within 10 seconds
Why do we expect a lot from someone who seems to be intelligent?
Assume they will excel in other places
What are we wary of when someone strikes us as aggressive?
They will be perceived as a threat
What can we do to increase our likelihood of making a good first impression?
- look nice
- research company
- dress appropriately
- act friendly
How can first impressions become a self-fulfilling prophecy?
- The way we act towards someone else strongly influence how they will act towards us
- Rude to someone, someone will be rude to you back
Why do we develop schemas?
- They help us organize what we know about the other person so that we can respond appropriately in the future
- Schemas - preconceived ideas (like shortcuts in your brain that help perceive and respond new information → bias formed) that we have
- Stereotype is a part of a schema
What are sterotypes?
A set of assumptions about people in a given category summarizing our experience and beliefs about groups of people
What roles do stereotypes have in developing prejudice?
Stereotypical shortcut may not be an accurate picture of the other group and our hasty judgment may create a false image of what they are like
What attribution theory?
a collection of principles based on our explanations of the causes of events, other people’s behavior
What is fundamental error?
An inclination to over attribute others’ behavior to internal causes (dispositional factors) and discount the situationals factors contributing to their behavior (ignore the reason why someone is late for instance)
What is self-serving bias?
Tendency to claim success is due to our efforts, while failure is due to circumstances beyond our control
What is the difference in how we usually interpret our own behavior and others’ behavior in terms of internal and external attributions?
We usually interpret our own behavior in terms of external attributions (when we do something wrong, we try to blame something else, like late but it was traffics fault), but the behavior of others in terms of internal attributions (but if someone else is late, they are late because they are lazy)
