Chapter 4 - Social Perception

Question 1

What is Nonverbal communication?

Answer 1

-The way in which people communicate, intentionally or unintentionally, without words (often unintentionally).
-An important source of information about other people is their nonverbal communication.

Question 2

What are Non-verbal cues?

Answer 2

-Include facial expressions, tones of voice, gestures, body position and movement, the use of touch, and eye gaze.
-Little actions that we can interpret (we notice a change in tone of voice, meaning they imply different things).

Question 3

What do encode and decode mean in terms of nonverbal communication?

Answer 3

-Encode: to express or emit nonverbal communication, such as smiling or patting someone on the back. (Ex: pat on the back and saying its okay –> encoding behaviour towards you).
-Decode: to interpret the meaning of the nonverbal communication others express. (Ex: deciding that a pat on the back is an expression of condescension and not kindness - interpreted in different ways).

Question 4

What are facial expressions?

Answer 4

-Facial expressions are the most significant channel of nonverbal communication (we create these since we are babies - crying; meaning they are innate).
-Ekman’s six universal emotions: anger, happiness, surprise, fear, disgust, and sadness.
-Theses are recognized through eyebrows, crying, staring, wrinkly face, lips, etc.

Question 5

What are affect blends?

Answer 5

-Where one part of a person’s face registers one emotion while another part registers a different emotion.
-One part of the face is saying something, and the other part of the face is saying something else.

Question 6

What are display rules?

Answer 6

-They are culturally determined rules about which nonverbal behaviours are appropriate to display.
-The more individualistic a culture, the more likely that the expression of emotions is encouraged.
-In collectivist cultures, the expression of strong negative emotions is discouraged because it can disrupt group harmony (should keep shame/anger/pride in).

Question 7

What are other forms also influenced by culture?

Answer 7

-Eye contact and gaze
-Personal space and touching
-Hand and head gestures (ex: ok sign, thumbs up, hand-purse, nodding the head)

Question 8

What are emblems?

Answer 8

-Nonverbal gestures that have well-understood definitions within a given culture. They usually have direct verbal translations (ex: ok sign). They are not universal; each culture has devised its own emblems (ex: V - peace sign in US = middle finger in UK).

Question 9

What is Implicit Personality theory?

Answer 9

-It is a type of schema people use to group various kinds of personality traits; we tend to fill in the blanks (ex: someone who is kind must also be generous).
-Research shows that people tend to attribute less positive characteristics to individuals described as having low self-esteem.

Question 10

What is the Halo Effect?

Answer 10

-A form of sociocognitive bias where we assign positive attributes to a person based on a single trait or traits that we deem positive or attracted to.
-Look at 1 positive characteristic, we admire that characteristic which means we are more likely to attribute positive attributes. (ex: being pretty or tall = more likely to be helped and considered successful)

Question 11

What is the Attribution Theory?

Answer 11

-A description of the way in which people explain the causes of their own and other people’s behaviour. (ex: car accident because the other driver cut you off, its their fault)

Question 12

What are the two kinds of causal attributions determined by Heider?

Answer 12

-Internal attribution (or dispositional): an inference/assumption that a person’s behaviour is due to something about them, such as their attitude, character, or personality.
-External attribution (or situational): an inference that a person’s behaviour is because of something about the situation/context they are in. (the assumption is that most people would respond the same way in that situation)

Question 13

What is Kelley’s Covariation Model?

Answer 13

-Her model states that we choose between an internal and an external attribution by noting the pattern between the presence (or absence) of possible causal factors and whether or not the behaviour occurs.
-According to this model, we evaluate 3 types of information to form an attribution:
1. Consensus information concerns the extent to which other people behave the same way as the actor does toward the same stimulus.
2. Distinctiveness information concerns the extent to which one particular actor behaves in the same way to different stimuli.
3. Consistency information concerns the extent to which the behaviour between one actor and one stimulus is the same across time and circumstances.
-Based on this information we can make:
–Internal (dispositional) attributions about the actor
–External (situational) attributions about the object/stimulus
–External (situational attributions about the context (temporary attributions)

Question 14

What type of attribution are we likely to make about Hannah and her boss?

Answer 14

1. People are likely to make an internal attribution (it was something about the boss) if they see this behaviour as:
   -low in consensus: the boss is the only one working in the store who yells at Hannah;
   -low in distinctiveness: the boss yells at all the employees;
   -high in consistency: the boss yells at Hannah almost every time he sees her.
2. People are likely to make an external attribution (it was something about Hannah) if they see this behaviour as:
   -high in consensus: all of the employees yell at Hannah too
   -high in distinctiveness: the boss doesn’t yell at any of the other employees
   -high in consistency: the boss yells at Hannah almost every time he sees her
3. People are likely to think it was something peculiar about the particular circumstances in which the boss yelled at Hannah if they see this behaviour as:
   -low or high in consensus
   -low or high in distinctiveness
   -low in consistency: this is the first time the boss has yelled at Hannah

Question 15

What is the Fundamental Attribution Error (correspondence bias)?

Answer 15

-A tendency to overestimate the extent to which people’s behaviour is due to internal/dispositional factors and to underestimate the role of situational factors.
-Consequence is blaming the victim: The tendency to explain other people’s behaviour in dispositional terms can lead us to see those who are stigmatized or victimized as being responsible for their plight.

Question 16

What is the Two-Step Process Theory of Attribution?

Answer 16

1. We make an internal attribution, assuming the person’s behaviour is caused by something about that person.
2. We attempt to adjust this attribution by considering the situation the person was in.
   -The second step may be skipped due to a lack of time or effort, thus, resulting in mainly internal attributions.
   -We typically engage in the second step when we are motivated to be accurate or we are suspicious of a person’s behaviour.
   -Those in collectivist cultures are more inclined to make situational attributions; while those in individualist cultures tend to favour dispositional explanations.

Question 17

What is the major difference between the Covariation Model and the Two-Step Process?

Answer 17

-The covariation model suggests that making situational attributions is purposeful, but the two-step process suggest that it isn’t always purposeful and that we often skip it (2nd step).

Question 18

What is the Actor/Observer Error?

Answer 18

-The tendency to see other’s behaviour as dispositional caused, while focusing more on the role of situational factors when explaining one’s own behaviour.
-Because we see the world objectively (I can judge a situation to be more external because I was in that moment)

Question 19

What are Self-Serving Attributions?

Answer 19

-When people’s self-esteem is threatened, they make self-serving attributions:
–A tendency to take credit for one’s own successes (internal attributions) and,
–A tendency to blame others or the situation for one’s own failures (external attributions).
–Can cause a person to overestimate their contribution to a shared task.

Question 20

What are Defensive Attributions?

Answer 20

-Another way to deal with threats to self-esteem is to develop defensive attributions; explanations for behaviour that help us avoid feelings of vulnerability and mortality (ex: “everything happens for a reason”).
-Belief in a just world: the assumption that people get what they deserve and deserve what they get (bad things happen to bad people and good things happen to good people). This allows us to be optimistic about the future, BUT also creates a tendency to engage in victim blaming.