Lecture 5 Flashcards
Can we always perceive the actual reality?
No, there is so much stimulus in the world that we can’t take it all in
May not be completely accurate
What is Perception?
The process in which we attend to info and assign meaning to it
What are the three stages of perception?
Selection - use perceptual filters to screen out unimportant info
Organisation - organise info into a familiar, efficient, understandable pattern
Interpretation - assign meaning
What is an example of interpretation?
Seeing a style of number (4191 4667) and immediately seeing it as a phone number
What is perception guided by?
Needs (Thirst)
Interests (Movies)
Expectations (Going to a lion exhibit and seeing a lion)
What is self-concept?
The idea/mental image we have of our selves.
The sense of identity
What is self-esteem?
Our overall evaluation of our self-concept
What is the Impression Formation Theory?
The act of quickly forming enduring impressions (First impressions count)
What is the Primacy-recency Effect?
It’s the act of people remembering the first and last impressions of an interaction
Primary and recency memory
Why do we pre-evaluate others?
Regarding fight or flight mechanism.
Sensing dangerous people
What is the Uncertainty Reduction Theory?
Since uncertainty is uncomfortable, we try to predict other people’s behaviour
How do we base our evaluations of people?
We usually base our evaluations on stereotypes (Race, gender, appearance)
What are cultural level predictions?
Predictions based on race, religion
What are sociological level predictions?
Predictions based on age, gender, social standing
What are psychological level predictions?
Predictions based on all areas of information that can be taken before interaction
What are stereotypes?
Widely shared judgements about members of a social group (Christians are against homosexuality)
Not always accurate
What is the Implicit Personality Theory?
Making assumptions on physical characteristics with personality traits and behaviours (The `Dumb Blonde’ theory)
What is the Halo Effect?
Perceiving a whole set of personality characteristics based on only one
What is Selective Perception?
The tendency to pay attention to what we expect to see/hear and ignore what we don’t expect
What is Self-fulfilling Prophecy?
When a prediction comes true because you acted that it was true
What are attributions?
Process by which we assign motives and causes of behaviour
What is the dispositional attribution?
Cause as due to the person (Internal) (They don’t care about being here and that is why they are late)
What are situational attributions?
Attribute cause to aspects of the situation (External) (The questions on the test were too hard and that is why I failed)
What is the Fundamental Attribution Error?
More likely to blame others when things go wrong (Dispositional)
than believe it was beyond their control (situational)
