Chapter 5: Key Terms Flashcards
(19 cards)
Social Perception
The study of how we form impressions of and make inferences about other people
Nonverbal Communication
The way in which people communicate, intentionally or unintentionally, without words; nonverbal cues include facial expressions, tone of voice, gestures, body position and movement, the use of touch, and gaze
Display Rules
Culturally determined rules about which nonverbal behaviors are
appropriate to display
Emblems
Nonverbal gestures that have well-understood definitions within a given culture; they usually have direct verbal translations, such as the “OK” sign
Implicit Personality Theory
A type of schema people use to group various kinds of personality traits together; for example, many people believe that someone who is kind is generous as well
Attribution Theory
A description of the way in which people explain the causes of their own and other people’s behavior
Internal Attribution
The inference that a person is behaving in a certain way because of something about the person, such as attitude, character, or personality
External Attribution
The inference that a person is behaving a certain way because of something about the situation he or she is in; the assumption is that most people would respond the same way in that situation
Covariation Model
A theory that states that to form an attribution about what caused a person’s behavior, we systematically note the pattern between the presence or absence of possible causal factors and whether or not the behavior occurs
Consensus Information
Information about the extent to which other people behave the same way toward the same stimulus as the actor does
Distinctiveness Information
Information about the extent to which one particular actor behaves in the same way to different stimuli
Consistency Information
Information about the extent to which the behavior between one actor and one stimulus is the same across time and circumstances
Correspondence Bias
The tendency to infer that people’s behavior corresponds to (matches) their disposition (personality)
Perceptual Salience
The seeming importance of information that is the focus of people’s attention
Two-Step Process of Attribution
Analyzing another person’s behavior first by making an automatic internal attribution and only then thinking about possible situational reasons for the behavior, after which one may adjust the original internal attribution
Actor/Observer Difference
The tendency to see other people’s behavior as
dispositionally caused but focusing more on the role of situational factors when explaining one’s own behavior
Self-Serving Attributions
Explanations for one’s successes that credit internal, dispositional factors and explanations for one’s failures that blame external, situational factors
Defensive Attributions
Explanations for behavior that avoid feelings of vulnerability and mortality
Belief in a Just World
A form of defensive attribution wherein people assume that bad things happen to bad people and that good things happen to good people
