Chapter 3: Perceiving individuals

Question 1

mental representations

Answer 1

a body of knowledge an individual has stored in their memory

Question 2

‘What is beautiful is good’ heuristic

Answer 2

We attribute more positive qualities to attractive people.
Mainly in social and intellectual competence

Question 3

baby face - males

Answer 3

associated with being more naive, honest, kind and warm

Question 4

mature facial features - males

Answer 4

associated with leadership qualities, dominance

Question 5

Can people perceive lies well?

Answer 5

No, only a 54% of correct answers. Only a tiny bit better than chance.
Paying attention to diagnostic hints helps (quivering, high-pitched voice)

Question 6

familiarity and liking

Answer 6

people are more likely to like someone through familiarity

Question 7

environments and impressions

Answer 7

By looking at (online) environments people occupy people can form a pretty accurate impression of someone

Question 8

salience

Answer 8

The cue’s ability to attract attention in its context

Question 9

overgeneralisation emotion system

Answer 9

personality impressions of faces are drive by an oversensitive emotion detection system.
(Biggest influence in making an impression)

Question 10

Women vs men in attractiveness

Answer 10

Attractive men are seen as more competent
Attractive women are not they have been selected on appearance

Question 11

Self-fulfilling prophecy of expectations

Answer 11

By expecting something we start acting like it which in turn influences the other to act more like our expectation

Question 12

elaboration spectrum

Answer 12

-thoughtless-
associative processes
Heuristic: ‘What is beautiful is good’
systematic & analytical processing
-thoughtful-

Question 13

covariation theory on attributions

Answer 13

to determine to what you can make an attribution we look at 3 things:
- consensus
- distinctiveness
- consistency

Question 14

consensus

Answer 14

Do other people also do this in the same situation?

Question 15

distinctiveness

Answer 15

Does the person also do this in other situations?

Question 16

consistency

Answer 16

Does the person do this the whole time?

Question 17

Distinctiveness - low
consensus - low
consistency - high

Answer 17

attribution: person as a cause

Question 18

Distinctiveness - high
consensus - high
consistency - high

Answer 18

attribution: object/action/statement as a cause

Question 19

Distinctiveness - low
consensus - high
consistency - low

Answer 19

attribution: context/environment as a cause

Question 20

2 ways to interpret cues

Answer 20

through associations and through thoughts currently on our mind

Question 21

accessibility

Answer 21

the ease and speed with which information is used and comes to mind

Question 22

priming

Answer 22

the activation of a mental representation to increase its accessibility and thus the likelihood that it will be used. can be unaware and last up to 24 hours

Question 23

subliminal presentation

Answer 23

presentation of stimuli in such a way that perceivers are unaware of them

Question 24

correspondent inference

Answer 24

the process of characterizing someone as having a personality trait that corresponds to their behavior

Question 25

3 conditions for correspondent inferences to hold true:

Answer 25

- voluntary behavior - behavior has an unique effect - behavior is unexpected

Question 26

correspondence bias

Answer 26

the tendency to infer a persons personal characteristics from observed behaviors even when the inference is unjustified because other possible causes of the behavior exist

Question 27

limits correspondence bias

Answer 27

- when people pay specific attention to the situation - (collectivist) cultures

Question 28

superficial processing

Answer 28

relying on accessible information to make inferences or judgements while expending little effort in processing

Question 29

systematic processing

Answer 29

giving thorough effortful consideration to a wide range of information relevant to a judgement

Question 30

2 requirements for systematic processing:

Answer 30

- (type of) motivation - ability to process thoroughly (time, tranquility)

Question 31

causal attributions

Answer 31

judgement about the cause of a behavior or an event

Question 32

discounting

Answer 32

reducing belief in one potential cause of behavior because there is another viable cause

Question 33

systematic processing 3 steps:

Answer 33

- interpreting behavior - characterizing the person - causal reasoning to the correct impression (only this step needs conscious effort)

Question 34

conservatism principle

Answer 34

unless we use systematic processing we stick to our first impressions even when these were made in bias

Question 35

primacy effect

Answer 35

early encountered information has a greater impact than subsequent information (example: conservatism)

Question 36

perseverance bias

Answer 36

the tendency for information to have a persisting effect on our judgement even after it has been discredited

Question 37

how to reduce falling for bias:

Answer 37

consider the opposite

Question 38

limits self-fulfilling prophecy

Answer 38

- when the perceived has strong views about themselves - target is aware of perceivers expectations - target makes sure to give accurate impression instead of maintaining a smooth conversation

Question 39

why are biases handy in our life anyway?

Answer 39

- no big need for accuracy - behavior often reflects personality - correspondent inferences are often accurate ALL in attempt to understand others

Question 40

confirmation bias

Answer 40

people usually selectively look for information to confirm previous impressions

Question 41

types of motivation:

Answer 41

- motivation to form an accurate impression - motivation for connection and self-protection

Question 42

what information do we give more weight?

Answer 42

negative information, initial information