Chapter 3: Social Perception Flashcards
3.1 determine how the five basic nonverbal channels of communication help us judge emotional states. 3.2 explain how the process of attribution helps our understanding of others behaviour 3.3 describe why initial info is important in forming perceptions of others.
What is social perception?
The process through which we seek to know and understand other people
What is nonverbal communication?
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
How do facial expressions act as clues to emotions?
Facial expressions provide useful insight in to how a person feels even though may not be universal.
What are the five basic emotions
Happiness Sadness Fear Disgust Anger
What are nonverbal cues types
Facial expressions
Eye contact
Body language movement and posture
Touching
What is paralanguage
Is a type of nonverbal communication involving vocal effects other than speech like tone and pitch.
What is the facial feedback hypothesis
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.
What is attribution
The process through which we seek to identify the
causes of others’ behavior and so gain knowledge of their stable
traits and dispositions.
What is the correspondent inferences
A theory describing how we use others’
behavior as a basis for inferring their stable dispositions
What are non-common effects
Effects produced by a particular cause that could not be produced by any other apparent cause
According to Kelley’s covariation theory which three types of info as to why behaviour occurs is the focus
- 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
According to Kelley’s covariation theory we are most likely to attribute another behaviour to ….
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.
What other 2 dimensions aside from internal and external causes are there?
Stable and controllable
What is action identification
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
What is the actor observer effect
The tendency to attribute our own behavior mainly to situational causes but the behavior of others mainly to
internal (dispositional) causes
What is the self serving bias
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
What is hubris
The tendency to hold exaggerated self-confidence and overly
positive views about oneself
What is meant by salience
When someone or some object stands out from its background or is the focus of attention
What is impression formation
The process through which we form
impressions of others.
What does thin slices refer
Refers to small amounts of information about others we use to form first impressions of them
What are first impressions
A mental representation that’s the basis for our reactions to others.
What is the primary principle held by gestalt psychology?
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Based on Gestalt psychology principles what suggestion did Asch make regarding impression formation?
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.
Can first impressions be changed
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.
What is impression management
Efforts by individuals
to produce favorable first impressions on others.
What is self enhancement
The goal of increasing the positivity of one’s
self-image
What is other enhancement
Efforts to make the target person feel good.
