Chapter 3: Social Perception

Question 1

What is social perception?

Answer 1

The process through which we seek to know and understand other people

Question 2

What is nonverbal communication?

Answer 2

Communication between individuals that does not involve the content of spoken language. It relies
instead on an unspoken language of facial expressions, eye contact,
and body language

Question 3

How do facial expressions act as clues to emotions?

Answer 3

Facial expressions provide useful insight in to how a person feels even though may not be universal.

Question 4

What are the five basic emotions

Answer 4

Happiness
Sadness
Fear
Disgust 
Anger

Question 5

What are nonverbal cues types

Answer 5

Facial expressions
Eye contact
Body language movement and posture
Touching

Question 6

What is paralanguage

Answer 6

Is a type of nonverbal communication involving vocal effects other than speech like tone and pitch.

Question 7

What is the facial feedback hypothesis

Answer 7

States that our actions especially non verbal behaviour influence our feelings. Not only do our emotions influence our nonverbal cues the cues themselves influence our internal feeling.

Question 8

What is attribution

Answer 8

The process through which we seek to identify the
causes of others’ behavior and so gain knowledge of their stable
traits and dispositions.

Question 9

What is the correspondent inferences

Answer 9

A theory describing how we use others’

behavior as a basis for inferring their stable dispositions

Question 10

What are non-common effects

Answer 10

Effects produced by a particular cause that could not be produced by any other apparent cause

Question 11

According to Kelley’s covariation theory which three types of info as to why behaviour occurs is the focus

Answer 11

1. Consensus:The extent to which other people react to some stimulus,
   or even in the same manner as the person we are considering

2.consisttency:The extent to which an individual responds to a given
stimulus, or situation in the same way on different occasions
(i.e.,across time

3.Distinctiveness:The extent to which an individual responds in the
same manner to different stimuli or event

Question 12

According to Kelley’s covariation theory we are most likely to attribute another behaviour to ….

Answer 12

We are likely to attribute another behaviour to internal causes under conditions in which consensus and distinctiveness are low but consistency is high.

We’re likely to attribute another behaviour to external causes when consensus consistency and directiveness are high.

We attribute another behaviour to a combination of internal and external causes when consensus is low but consistency and directiveness are high.

Question 13

What other 2 dimensions aside from internal and external causes are there?

Answer 13

Stable and controllable

Question 14

What is action identification

Answer 14

The level of interpretation we place on an action; low-level interpretations focus on the action itself, whereas higher-level interpretations focus on its ultimate goals

Question 15

What is the actor observer effect

Answer 15

The tendency to attribute our own behavior mainly to situational causes but the behavior of others mainly to
internal (dispositional) causes

Question 16

What is the self serving bias

Answer 16

The tendency to attribute positive outcomes to 
internal causes (e.g., one’s own traits or characteristics) but negative 
outcomes or events to external causes (e.g., chance, task difficulty

Question 17

What is hubris

Answer 17

The tendency to hold exaggerated self-confidence and overly

positive views about oneself

Question 18

What is meant by salience

Answer 18

When someone or some object stands out from its background or is the focus of attention

Question 19

What is impression formation

Answer 19

The process through which we form

impressions of others.

Question 20

What does thin slices refer

Answer 20

Refers to small amounts of information about others we use to form first impressions of them

Question 21

What are first impressions

Answer 21

A mental representation that’s the basis for our reactions to others.

Question 22

What is the primary principle held by gestalt psychology?

Answer 22

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Question 23

Based on Gestalt psychology principles what suggestion did Asch make regarding impression formation?

Answer 23

He stated that by adding together all the traits we observe in other people we perceive these in relation to one another so that the traits cease to exist individually and become part of an integrated dynamic whole.

Question 24

Can first impressions be changed

Answer 24

First impressions can be changed in instances whereby we acquire new info rejecting previous info and most effective reinterpreting info that produced the initial impression.

Question 25

What is impression management

Answer 25

Efforts by individuals

to produce favorable first impressions on others.

Question 26

What is self enhancement

Answer 26

The goal of increasing the positivity of one’s
self-image

Question 27

What is other enhancement

Answer 27

Efforts to make the target person feel good.