Chapter 4: Social Perception Flashcards
(22 cards)
What is Social Perception?
the study of how we form impressions of other ppl & make inferences about them
What is Nonverbal Communication?
the way in which ppl communicate, intentionally or unintentionally w/o words
What is Encoding?
expressing nonverbal behavior
What is Decoding?
interpreting the meaning of the nonverbal behavior other ppl express
What are the 5 characteristics of NVC?
- often unintentional
- tend to be powerful (w/ physical touch)
- overrule & enrich verbal comm
- ambiguous
- culturally based
What is Affect Blend?
facial expression where one part of the face displays one emotion & another a different emotion
What is Implicit Personality Disorder?
a type of schema ppl use to group various kinds of personality traits together
What are Microexpressions?
the truest expressions of a person; very quick & slight
What is an Attribution?
a causal explanation of behavior
What is Attribution Theory?
study of how ppl explain the causes of their own & other ppls behavior
Who is associated with Attributions?
Fritz Heider
What is an Internal Attribution?
the behavior is caused bc that’s how the person actually is
What is an External Attribution?
the behavior is caused by the situation
What is the Two-Step Process of Making Attributions
- make an internal attribution about someone
- (with effort) taking time, motivation, & energy to consider other explanations for behavior then making an attribution
What is the Covariation Model?
suggests that in order to form an attribution about what caused a person’s behavior, we systematically note the pattern btwn the presence (or absence) of possible causal factors & whether or not the behavior occurs
What are the 3 factors in the Covariation Model? What do each of them mean?
- Consensus - how similarly other ppl act, given the same stimulus
- Distinctiveness - how similarly the person acts in different situations, towards other stimuli
- Consistency - the extent to which the behavior btwn the person & the same stimulus is same across time & circumstances
What is Fundamental Attribution Error?
underestimate external factors & overestimate internal factors when assessing the behavior of others
What is Perceptual Salience?
information that’s the focus of ppl’s attention; we tend to overestimate the causal role
What is the Actor-Observer Difference?
attribute the behavior of others to internal or dispositional causes & attribute your own behavior to external factors
What is Self-serving Bias?
explanation for one’s success that credit is internal, dispositional factors & explanations for one’s failures that blame external situational factors
What are Defensive Attributions?
explanations for behavior that avoid feelings of vulnerability & mortality
What is Optimism Bias?
when a person believes positive things happen to them more frequently than others & negative things happen less frequently
