Chapter 4 Social Perception Post

Question 1

Social Perception-

Answer 1

The study of how we form impressions of and make inferences about other people (Aronson et al., 2007). How do others feel? What do others mean? Who are others – what is their personality? Why do people behave the way they do?

Something to think about

Identify various channels of nonverbal communication (facial expressions of emotion, tone of voice, gestures, body position and movement, use of touch and gaze) and explain how nonverbal behavior helps us understand other people.

Question 2

Nonverbal Behavior

Answer 2

impacts our perceptions of others.

Facial expressions of emotion 
Tone of Voice 
Gestures 
Body position & movement 
Use of touch & gaze

Question 3

Encode –

Answer 3

to express or emit non-verbal behavior, such as smiling … (Aronson et al., 2007).

Question 4

Decode –

Answer 4

to interpret the meaning of non-verb

Question 5

Culturally Universal Emotional Expressions

Answer 5

anger, happiness, disgust, surprise, fear, sadness American encoding Fore encoding

Question 6

Cultural universality

Answer 6

suggests emotional encoding and decoding are innate ( inborn, naturally)

seemingly due to evolution
Certain facial expressions help us survive certain situations

Emotional expressions provide an innate form of communication that has helped humans survive as a species

Question 7

Cultural Variations in Nonverbal Behavior

Display rules –

Answer 7

norms that regulate appropriate expression of emotion. They prescribe when, how, and to whom people can show various emotions.

Question 8

Emblems-

Answer 8

Nonverbal gestures that have well-understood definitions within a given culture.

Neither display rules nor emblems are culturally universal (nonverbal behavior can be socially influenced)

Question 9

Nonverbal Mimicry

Behavioral mimicry – when one person either consciously or unconsciously imitates the behaviors, expressions, or mannerisms of another.

Answer 9

when one person either consciously or unconsciously imitates the behaviors, expressions, or mannerisms of another.

Question 10

Mimicry can occur?

Answer 10

unconsciously

Mimicking influences perception of the mimicker and enhances smoothness of the interaction Mimicking can influence behavior

Question 11

How do we form impressions? Obvious Stuff

Answer 11

By what people do and say Kelley (1950) found that an arrogant acting professor was judged negatively regardless of expectations.

Normativeness of behavior Ex. Personal space

American culture “normal” personal space is greater than in many Middle Eastern and South American culture.

Violating such norms can create a negative impression Ex. Fashion

Question 12

How do we form impressions? Less Obvious Stuff ?

Answer 12

By the face “baby faced” individuals are perceived as having childlike characteristics. How powerful and how warm a face looks influences election results.

More powerful faces win more More warm faces win less (political)

Facial-width —People with wider faces are perceived as stronger and more aggressive

Question 13

Is it useful (accurate) to form impressions based on a face

Answer 13

Impressions formed very quickly and on appearance alone are often more accurate than chance. Ex. Honesty, agreeableness, and dominance ratings based on a picture correlate with ratings given by actual acquaintances (Berry, 1990). Ex. Agreeableness, dominance, and extraversion ratings based on a picture correlate with the pictured person’s personality test results (Brockenau and Leibler, 1992, 1993). Thin slicing- drawing meaningful connections about another person’s personality or skills based on an extremely brief sample of behavior. Ratings of professors based on a 10 second silent clip correlate with end of term ratings of professors.

Question 14

The Importance of First Impressions

Answer 14

Belief perseverance- The tendency to stick with an initial judgement even in the face of new information that should prompt us to reconsider

Question 15

The Importance of First Impressions

Answer 15

First impressions set a primacy effect in motion

Question 16

Primacy effect-

Answer 16

when the first traits we perceive in others influence how we view information that we learn about them later.

Ex. Warm-cold study Ex.

Keith is intelligent, industrious, impulsive, critical, stubborn, and envious

Kevin is envious, stubborn, critical, impulsive, industrious, and intelligent

Based on the primacy effect who will be perceived more favorably?

Question 17

How Do We Explain Other’s Behavior: Attribution Theory

Internal Attribution -

Answer 17

something to do with the person (e.g., their personality made them do it)

Question 18

External Attribution –

Answer 18

something to do with the situation (e.g., the situation made them do it)

Something to think about

How would one’s reaction to negative behavior change depending on whether an internal attribution or external attribution is made?

Question 19

Kelley’s Covariation Model -

Answer 19

idea that people combine 3 pieces of information in a logical way to make attributions.

Question 20

Consistency: Does person usually behave this way in the situation?

External attribution (to the person’s situation) YES

Consensus: Do others behave similarly in this situation?

Internal attribution (to the person’s personality) NO (If yes, we seek an explanation)

Answer 20

Distinctiveness: Does target person behave differently in different situations?

Kelley’s Covariation Model -idea that people combine 3 pieces of information in a logical way to make attributions.

Consistency: Does person usually behave this way in the situation?

External attribution (to the person’s situation) YES

Consensus: Do others behave similarly in this situation? Internal attribution (to the person’s personality)

Question 21

Attributional Biases

Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE)-

Answer 21

The tendency to overestimate the extent to which behavior is due to internal, dispositional factors and to underestimate the role of situational factors Sometimes called the correspondence bias

Question 22

Perceptual salience-

Answer 22

the seeming importance of information that is the focus of people’s attention (Aronson et al., 2007).

We make internal attributions b/c we notice the person more than the situation.

Poor restaurant service

Camera angle affects voluntary confession judgments

Camera on suspect: confession judged voluntary

Camera on interrogator: confession seen as coerced

(( compel by force, intimidation, or authority, especially without regard for individual desire or volition: They coerced him into signing the document. ))

Question 23

Culture & the FAE Eastern culture emphasizes harmony and interconnectedness, an understanding of how the part fits into the whole and context (holistic thinking).

Answer 23

Western culture emphasizes individuality and objects as distinct from context (analytic thinking). Taken by a Westerner Taken by an Easterner

Question 24

Self-Serving Attributions

Answer 24

Explaining our own failures and bad deeds with external attributions and our own successes and good deeds with internal attributions. Examples?

Why? The need to feel good about ourselves.

Question 25

Belief in a Just World -

Answer 25

a form of defensive attribution where people assume that bad things happen to bad people and good things happened to good people. Contributes to blaming the victim Discourages helping the needy What benefits do we get from holding a belief in a just world?