being perceived by others

Question 1

target vs perceiver

Answer 1

target: person being perceived

perceiver: person perceiving the target

Question 2

why do we make errors in perception

Answer 2

1. perceiver is not good at assessing other’s feelings
2. target is not good at expressing feelings

Question 3

expressive accuracy

Answer 3

an individuals ability to accurately express their thoughts, emotions, and/or personality

in order to be perceived accurately by others, you need to give other people accurate cues to read

Question 4

how is expressive accuracy studied?

Answer 4

people complete a big 5 personality inventory - compare their results to what other people say about them

if they line up = good expressive accuracy

Question 5

where do we see more variability?
- in a target’s ability to accurately express themselves
- in a perceiver’s ability to accurately read targets

Answer 5

in expressive accuracy - with targets

Question 6

what does it mean when we say that expressive accuracy is a stable individual difference

Answer 6

some people’s personalities are habitually perceived more or less accurately than others

Question 7

what are some implications of expressive accuracy

Answer 7

people who express their personalities more accurately:
- have better psychological adjustment
- have higher levels of well being
- are less sensitive to social threat
- are more dominant
- have higher social status
- are more feminine/socialized to follow women’s gender roles

can also lead to better marital satisfaction and more social support

Question 8

what are some factors that lead to better expressive accuracy?

Answer 8

• individuals who were raised in a more expressive family environment have better expressive accuracy
• when people are told to “just be themselves” they actually do tend to display their personalities more accurately

Question 9

display rules

Answer 9

social norms that guide the appropriateness of displaying certain emotions
- people typically avoid displaying negative emotions in consideration of others’ thoughts/feelings

display rules can limit expressive accuracy

Question 10

what was the guest lecturer’s study

Answer 10

• do people accurately express their emotions when they interact with their friends/ in what contexts to friends perceive one another’s emotions inaccurately?

friends come into the lab and talk about a problem

watch a video of the conversation and rate how they were feeling and how they think their friend was feeling

a lot time people’s perceptions are inaccurate

then have random people rate ps - take average of rando’s accuracy and compare to friend’s accuracy

does how accurately a target expresses their emotions predict how accurately their friend perceives them?
- what does it mean when the friend performs worse/better

Question 11

what are some examples of contexts when individual’s emotions are perceived inaccurately by their friends?

Answer 11

• romantic couples tend to be less accurate at inferring each other’s feelings during conversations that provoke jealousy
• individuals may perceive their friends when talking about peer problems (hypothesis)
• individuals may perceive their friend’s emotions inaccurately when talking about (shared) academic problems

Question 12

looking glass self

Answer 12

people’s perceptions of themselves are influenced by their perceptions of what others think about them

Question 13

meta perception

Answer 13

a person’s perception of what others think of them - requires making inferences based on incomplete/ambiguous cues

Question 14

what are some factors that decrease meta perception

Answer 14

1. perceivers don’t always pick up on expressive cues
2. false consensus effect: people tend to overestimate the overlap between their self views and the views of others
3. self esteem biases meta perception

Question 15

false consensus effect

Answer 15

people tend to overestimate the overlap between their self views and the views of others - how you perceive yourself influences how you think others perceive you

Question 16

what are two ways that self esteem biases meta perception?

Answer 16

self enhancement bias: most people overestimate the positivity of other’s perceptions

looking through the looking glass darkly: some people tend to be pessimistic about other’s perceptions of them

Question 17

how accurate are people’s meta perceptions

Answer 17

we tend to be good at judging how people in general view us, but we overestimate the uniformity of other’s views because we cannot accurately distinguish the perspectives of specific other people

Question 18

why are self views so susceptible to influence from other’s perspectives?

Answer 18

we care about what others think of us - self esteem might be a measure of perceived self acceptance

Question 19

how does meta perception influence self perception?

Answer 19

1. people will automatically incorporate other’s views into their self concept, particularly if those views are positive, and consistent with their self view
2. meta perceptions can induce behaviour change which influences self perception

Question 20

self fulfilling prophecy

Answer 20

receiving information about others’ expectations causes people to behave in line with those expectations

Question 21

pygmalion study

Answer 21

self fulfilling prophecy study in schools

told some teachers kids were ‘growth spurters’ based on an intelligence test (lie)

kids who were labelled as growers actually did better - bc of teacher’s high expectations

Question 22

more support for self fulfilling prophecy

Answer 22

mother’s false beliefs about their adolescents’ educational outcomes influenced adolescents’ post secondary educational attainment

nurses’ expectations about patients’ rehabilitation outcomes influenced their recover

Question 23

stereotype threat

Answer 23

the fear of confirming negative stereotypes about one’s group often undermines one’s performance, and confirms stereotype

Question 24

why does the stereotype threat hinder performance?

Answer 24

• puts people under extra pressure to succeed
• may cause them to take actions to protect their self worth that hinder their achievement
• primed to behave in line with the stereotype

Question 25

michelangelo effect

Answer 25

close relationship partners shift each other’s behaviour and self appraisals toward desired ideals

Question 26

three ways how others perceptions of us guide our behaviour:

Answer 26

self fulfilling prophecy, stereotype threat, michelangelo effect