3: Social perception Flashcards
What is social perception?
How we come to understand other people.
What is the speed of social perception?
People decide quickly what others are like, based on minimal information.
What are the 3 types of information we use in social perception? (Hing: RPS)
- Roles
- Physical cues
- Salience
Define the purpose of roles as a source of info in social perception.
People think of others within a role first, and later according to traits.
Define the purpose of physical cues as a source of info in social perception.
Appearance and behaviour are determinants of first impressions.
Define the purpose of salience as a source of info in social perception.
People pay attention to the figure rather than ground.
What are the 4 most common salient cues as a source of info in social perception?
(Hint: BNNM)
- Brightness
- Noise
- Novelty
- Motion
What are the 4 effects of salience?
Hing: DIPP
- Draws attention.
- Influences perceptions of causality.
- Produces extreme judgments.
- Produces more consistency.
Define salience:
The quality of being particularly noticeable or important; prominence.
We move quickly form observable information to ____ _________.
We move quickly form observable information to trait inferences.
Trait inferences are __________.
Trait inferences are economical.
Trait inferences occur ___________.
Trait inferences occur automatically.
What do we use to infer traits from other traits? (Hing: IPT)
Implicit Personality Theories
What are the 2 dimensions of traits we observe? (Hint: CI)
- Competence
2. Interpersonal qualities.
When we automatically perceive stimuli as part of a category, this is called:
categorisation.
What are the 3 consequences of categorisation?
- Category-based social judgments.
- Speeds up processing time.
- Leads to errors.
Impressions ranging from category-based to individuated is a dual process. This is know as the:
(Hing: CMoIF)
Continuum Model of Impression Formation
What are the 2 main reasons we use category-based inferences in the Continuum Model of Impression Formation?
- Easy.
2. Quick.
What are the 3 main reasons we use individuated information in the Continuum Model of Impression Formation?
- We are motivated to be accurate.
- A person doesn’t fit our categories.
- We wish to know the person better.
We move quickly from observation of appearance and behaviour, to inferences about personality. This is known as:
integrating impressions.
When integrating impressions, negative traits affect impressions more than positive ones. This is knows as the:
negativity effect.
When integrating impressions, overall, we tend to evaluate others positively. This is know as:
positivity bias.
When integrating impressions, averaging is used to combine separate pieces of information about people. This is known as:
(Hint: TAP)
The Averaging Principle.
When integrating impressions, why do we use a weighted averaging model?
Because it provides the best predictions.
When integrating impressions, people tend to form evaluatively consistent impression of others. This is know as the:
halo effect.
The social perceiver uses information to arrive at causal explanations for events. It examines what information is gathered and how it is combined to form a causal judgment. This is called:
Attribution Theory.
People are naive psychologists trying to make sense of the social world. People tend to see cause and effect relationships, even where there is none out of a need to understand their environment.
Who proposed this idea?
Heider (1958)
According to Heider (1958), what are the 2 types of attributions we make under Attribution Theory?
- Internal (dispositional) attributions.
2. External (situational) attributions.
We notice and think more about more than one piece of information when we form an impression of another person.
This is known as the: ___________ ______ and was proposed by _____ (1967) (1973).
We notice and think more about more than one piece of information when we form an impression of another person.
This is known as the: Covariation Model and was proposed by Kelley (1967) (1973).
According to Kelley’s Covariation Model, we focus on how behaviour ‘covaries’ (changes) across time, place, different actors and targets. By discovering changes in peoples behaviour, this allows us to:
choose an internal or external attribution to their behaviour.
According to Kelley’s Covariation Model, what are the 3 pieces of information we use to choose internal or external attributions?
(Hint: CDC)
- Consensus
- Distinctiveness
- Consistency
According to Attribution Theory, what is the question we ask ourselves when examining consistency to choose internal or external attributions?
Is the response consistent over time?
According to Attribution Theory, what is the question we ask ourselves when examining consensus to choose internal or external attributions?
Do other people have similar responses?
According to Attribution Theory, what is the question we ask ourselves when examining distinctiveness to choose internal or external attributions?
Does the person response similarly to other similar stimuli?
According to the Covariation Model, how might the information we use lead to incorrect judgments?
Not all information about all 3 dimensions may be available, but we still make attributions anyway.
According to the Covariation Model, which 2 sources of information are used more than the third?
___________ and __________ are used more than ___________.
Consistency and distinctiveness are used more than consensus.
Research suggests there are _____ in our causal attributions.
Research suggests there are biases in our causal attributions.
We are more likely to attribute other behaviour to their dispositions rather than the situation. This is called the:
(Hint: FAE)
Fundamental Attribution Error
People make _________ attributions automatically, and then only later use ________ information to discount it. People don’t tend to consider the _______ unless the context is very compelling or ______.
People make dispositional attributions automatically, and then only later use situational information to discount it. People don’t tend to consider the situation unless the context is very compelling or salient.
What are the 3 main reasons a person may decide to consider the external attributions after initially considering the internal ones?
- Choosing to consciously slow down and think carefully before reaching a judgment.
- Being motivated to reach an accurate judgment.
- They are suspicious about another persons behaviour.
What are the 2 main cultural differences (East vs. West) in social perception?
- Western cultures stress individual autonomy.
2. Eastern cultures emphasise group autonomy.
What is individual autonomy?
A person who is self-contained and independent.
What is group autonomy?
A sense of self comes from group belongingness.