Module 8: Impression Formation READINGS Flashcards
(34 cards)
Self-Knowledge of Personality: Do people know themselves?
Vazire and Carlson, 2010
> important question because most personality research uses self-report measures, therefore by finding evidence of its inaccuracy we are calling into question the validity of a large body of research.
accuracy of self-perceptions requires more cognitive effort and brain activation in regions associated with self-control.
self-perceptions are influenced by cognitive motivations.
self-knowledge is more informative to predict internal behaviours like anxiety and least informative for predicting external behaviours like intelligence.
self-perceptions are not perfect but they provide useful information to us.
self-other comparisons highlight that the self and others provide different information that is both useful.
combining measures of personality (self-other) is the best experimental technique.
What is self-knowledge?
Accurate self-perception of how we typically think, feel and behave. Is about having an awareness of how those patterns are perceived by others (i.e., our reputation).
> emphasis on interpersonal
aspect of personality.
places emphasis on
accuracy and not bias.
The criteria problem:
> how should we assess
accuarcy?
what criterion should be
used?
other judgements are compared to self-judgements to test for accuracy (or others).
what can we do when we can not test self with self-perceptions?
what are (3) solutions to the criterion problem?
1. compare the self to
objective criteria:
> behavioural outcomes
> do you act in accordance
with your self-perception of
your own personality.
*gold standard, but very trickly
to use in an experiment.
2. Self-Other comparisons:
> compare self-ratings to
ratings made by close
friends or family.
> rests on the assumption
that your close peers have
a special insight into your
personality.
3. ask people if they know-
how others perceive them:
> If one has self-knowledge
they'll also know their
reputation.
**2 and 3 are limited by their inability to adequately convince sceptics (if they match will say that everyone is wrong) or enthusiasts (if they mismatch will say that the other is wrong).
What is meta-accuracy?
The ability to know how others perceive us- the similarity between peoples perceptions on how they are perceived by others and how they are actually perceived by others.
Two forms of meta-accuracy:
(A) Generalised Meta-
Accuracy:
> peoples awareness of
their reputation.
> same correlation as self-
other indicating that
people believe that others
view them as they view
themselves.
> we do not see ourselves
as others see us, and fail
to recognise that they do
not match.
(B) Diadic Meta-Accuracy:
> peoples awareness of the
impressions they make
on specific people.
> requires greater social
acuity and can be more
consequential than
generalised meta-
accuracy.
> because it is more
important to know who
thinks we are intelligent
than knowing people find
us intellegent.
Using Non-Conscious Behavioural Mimicry to Create Affiliation and Rapport.
(Clarkin and Chartrand, 2003)
Key Points:
> Non-conscious behavioural mimicry occurs when a person unwittingly imitates the behavior of others.
> This form of mimicry has been directly linked to the relationship between perceptiving a behavior and mirroring that behaviour.
> This study demonstrates that having a goal to affiliate increases non-conscious mimicry.
> People who fail to meet their goal to affliate exhibit more non-conscious mimicry than those whose goal was satiated.
> Thus, non-conscious mimicry is a tool we have that we can implicitly use in order to build rapport with a conspecific.
Experiment 1: Notes-
> explicit goal, non-conscious goal or no goal (IV)
> time spent touching face (DV)
> people in the conscious goal group exhibited in the more face touching than the no goal group.
> people in the non-conscious goal group did slightly more mimicing than the no goal group.
> non-conscious and conscious goal groups did similar levels of face touching.
*goal affiliation, implict or explicit, increases mimicry
Experiment 2: Notes-
> non-conscious goal and no goal (IV)
foot shaking (DV)
> creating a situation in which the pressure/motivation to affiliate is higher. This is done by priming the goal to affliate and either fufilling it or leaving it unfufilled.
> those in the unfufilled goal condition showed an increase in mimicry in the second interaction.
> those with a fufilled goal showed a decrease in mimicry in the second interaction.
> replicated effect with likability ratings (for both confederate and participant).
*the nonconscious activation and pursit of goal affiliation and non-conscious use of mimicry to fufill a this goal by increasing rapport and likability.
Accurate Personality Judgement:
Funder, 2012
> judging others traits in a ubiquitous task and consequential activity of daily life.
HOW are accurate personality judgments made?
- RAM indicates that if behavioural is relevant, available, detected by the perceiver and utilised by the perceiver an accurate judgement is made.
WHEN are accurate personality judgements made?
- RAM identifies (4) moderators that influence the accuracy of personality judgements (the properties of the target judgement, the trait being judged, the information the judgement is based on (quality and quantity) and the individual making the judgement.
people generally make accurate personality judgements that help navigate the complex and vast amounts of social information in our world.
What are personality traits?
Are patterns of thought, emotion and behaviour that are relatively consistent over time and across situations.
What is the Realistic Accuracy Model?
1. the person being judged
must do something
RELEVANT to the trait
2. the trait-relevant behaviour
must be AVAILABLE to the
perceiver
3. the available, trait-relevant
behaviour must be
DETECTED by the perceiver
4. the available and detected
trait-relevant behaviour
must be utilized by the
perceiver correctly
*all 4 steps need to be met in order for an accurate personality judgement to be made. *accurate judgements are hard, and RAM does not describe how most judgements are made i.e accuratley.
Does accuracy = truth
No. we use multiple criteria to empirically test is personality judgements are accurate.
Are the consequences of personality judgements limited to the perceiver?
No.
> consequential to the perceiver if they make a false judgement (someone is nice but their not).
> to the target by being excluded from certain social activities.
(3) forms of personality judgement criteria for accuracy:
1. self-other agreement:
> self-perceptions compared
to close family or friends
perceptions of us.
> most common method
2. other-other agreement
> consensus
> the degree to which 2 or
more raters agree on their
judgements for the same
target.
> less common
3. behavioural prediction
> hardest to do since do to
research constraints but is
the most objective method.
> does the perceived
personality traits reliably
predict trait relevant
behaviour?
What are (4) variables which moderate the degree to which personality judgments are accurate:
(A) A "Good Target"
> some people are easier to
read than others.
> people who are
conscientious, extraverted,
agreeable and emotionally
stable are more judgeable
targets.
> judgeable targets are
more transparent in their
emotions and thoughts
making their behaviour
easier to read and more
consistent overtime.
(B) A "Good Trait"
> traits such as
extraversion,
expressiveness and
talkativeness is more
visible than other traits
making them easier to
detect, available, and to
be interpreted better by
self and others.
(C) "Good Information"
> Quantity:
- more is better.
- people who we have
known for a long time, we
have more information
available to make
judgments on their
personality.
> Quality:
- situations that people are
more expressive of their
individuality and with less
structure provides more
quality information.
(D) A "Good Judge"
> most people are good
judges of character
because we have been
evolved to do so.
> women are better than
men because they have
a more accurate view of
what behaviour is
considered normative.
> people who make more
(+) judgements are more
accurate.
> having someone else who
is a good judge of
character makes others
better because they
create an expressive
environment.
SOKA: Self-Other Knowledge Asymmetry
Less visible traits are better perceived by the self and more external traits or those high or low in social desirability are better perceived by the other.
anxiety > self
intelligence > other
irritability > other
First Impressions: Making up your Mind after 100ms Exposure to a Face
(Willis and Todorov, 2006)
Aim: to examine the minimal conditions under which people make such inferences.
Measures: likability, attractiveness, trustworthiness, competence and aggression.
Results:
> judgements made after 100ms exposure correlated highly with judgements made in the absence of time constraints, suggesting that people can make personality inferences in as little as 100ms exposure to a face.
> increased exposure time did not increase the correlation between judgments under and not under time constraints.
> when exposure time increased from 100-500ms trait judgements became more negative, the response time to make a judgement decreased and confidence in judgements is increased.
> when exposure time increased from 500-1000ms trait judgements and response times did not differ only confidence in our judgements increased.
> supporting that increased exposure time only improves our confidence but does not improve the accuracy of our judgements.
other notes:
> trustworthiness was slightly higher than attractiveness judgements.
> the influence of attractiveness judgments decreased as the time exposed to the face increased.
> the correlation between constrained and non-constrained judgments decreased as the exposure to the face increased indicating that judgements became more differentiated.
Are trait inferences system 1 or system 2 processing?
system 1.
attractive people have… baby faced people are… competence is….
> attractive people have better outcomes than ugly people.
baby faced people are less likely to receive severe judicial outcomes than more mature faced people.
competence is the best predictor of election outcomes.
Seeing Others Through Rose-Coloured Gasses: An Affiliation Goal and Positivity Bias in implicit trait impressions
(Rim et al. 2013)
Main Points:
> demonstrated that the effect of affiliation goals on spontaneous trait inferences in producing a positivity bias (making more + than - STI’s)
> this positivity bias persisted when the target goal was unfulfilled vs. satiated
> therefore, STI’s are flexible to the perceiver’s social goals.
Notes:
> positivity bias is driven by the motivation to affiliate with conspecifics.
> evidence of a positivity bias in STI’s due to having a primed goal affiliation supports the functionality account for implicit impression formation to facilitate + social interactions etc.
> If an avoidance-orientation is primed there is a decrease in + STI’s and an approach-orientation leads to a decrease in - STI’s.
> Goal of affiliation activates an approach orientation and positivity bias in implicit impression formation.
Experiment 1:
> positivity bias found in the affiliation goal group but not in the semantic priming, supporting that the effect is due to motivation to meet our affiliation goal and not +’ity being primed.
Experiment 2:
> unfulfilled vs. satiated goal to affiliate with conspecific.
> positivity bias only present if the goal was primed and left unfufilled.
> unfulfilled: pos. > neg.
> fulfilled: neg. > pos.
Universal Dimensions of Social Cognition: Warmth and Competence
(Fisk, Cuddy and Glick, 2006)
Main Points:
> there are two universal dimensions of social cognition: warmth and competence.
> these dimensions tell us about competition and status.
> people who are perceived as warm and competent elicit uniform positive emotions ad behaviours.
> people who are perceived to be low in warmth and competence elicit negative emotions and behaviours.
> people classified as high on one dimension and low on the other elicit predictable, ambivalent affective and behavioural reactions.
> these universal dimensions explain both interpersonal and intergroup social cognition.
what does social cognition mean?
Social cognition refers to the unique processes that enable human beings to interpret social information and behave appropriately in a social environment. As in other domains of cognition, social information processing relies initially on attending to and perceiving relevant cues.
What are the evolutionary pressures that influence people perceptions?
When meeting a conspecific it is vital to our survival that we reliably and accurately if they’re a friend or foe.
The two dimensions of warmth and competence determine conspecifics intentions to hurt or help us and their ability to act out their intentions.
The fact that these two dimensions are primary to person perceptions and universal link to its evolutionary advantage.
what is the social cognition model:
People differentiate one another in terms of warmth (morality traits i.e., intent) and competence (ability traits).
Warmth and competence account for __ variance in perceptions of social behaviours?
82%.
what is judged first warmth or competence?
warmth than competence.
warmth judgements are faster, more reliable and more sensitive to this information.
