5- Week 5 Perceiving Others

Question 1

What are the psychological processes that underlie observation of other people?

Answer 1

Physical appearance -
First impressions take a fraction of a second to unconsciously form based on physical attributes of a person and our preconceived ideas of those looks.

Situations -
‘Scripts’ help to anticipate goals, behaviours and outcomes likely to occur.

Behavioural evidence -
We are able to deduce familiar people based on patterns of physical movement.

Question 2

How does correspondent inference theory explain attributional processes?

Answer 2

Predicts that people try and infer from an action whether the act corresponds to a personal trait of the individual (Choice, expectedness and effects)

Question 3

How does covariation theory explain attributional processes?

Answer 3

Like in an experiment people attribute behaviours to causes that are present (and when they are absent, the behaviour is absent) (Consensus- what do others think?, distinctiveness- behaviour genuine and consistent?, and consistency)

Question 4

What is attribution?

Answer 4

Ascribing peoples actions to certain causes; explaining away behaviour.

Question 5

What are the common biases that impact processes of attribution?

Answer 5

Cognitive heuristics - mental shortcuts

False consensus - overestimations of others shared opinion

Base rate fallacy - people are relatively insensitive to consensus information

Counter factual thinking - The power of ;what if?’ Imagining alternative events or outcomes that may have occurred but did not.

Fundamental attribution error - focusing on the role of personal causes and underestimating the impact on peoples behaviour. (I caused this to happen)

Question 6

Explain the ‘arithmetic’ approach to explaining attribution (also deviations)

Answer 6

The mental process of garnering information about a person to form a cohesive impression (reserving judgement)

Information integration theory -
Impressions are based on
1 - personal dispositions and the current state of the perceiver
2 - a weighted average of a target persons characteristics

Deviations - We are human (not computers) and emotions etc. get in the way

Question 7

What

• aspects of the perceiver,
• characteristics of the target and
• situational cues (priming) impact attribution?

Answer 7

Perceiver -
How we perceive ourselves is how we tend to perceive others. Also current mood.

Target -
More extroverted personality traits and negative traits are judged quicker. and with more conviction.

Situational -
Embodied perception - how we view others is interpreted through the physical position, orientation, sensations and movements of our bodies.

Social priming- Recently used words or situations colour the next situation and our impressions.

Question 8

Describe the 3 ways in which impressions of others can become reality

Answer 8

Belief perseverance - “1st impressions last” the tendency to maintain beliefs even after they have been discredited.

Confirmation hypothesis testing - When you think someone has a certain trait you query in a way to confirm that assumption.

Self-fulfilling prophecy - A persons expectation about another eventually leads them to behave in ways that confirm that expectation.