Chapter 4

Question 1

Social Perception

Answer 1

The study of how we form impressions of and

make inferences about other people

Question 2

Nonverbal Communication

Answer 2

How people communicate, intentionally or
unintentionally, without words
Examples:
 Facial expressions
 Tone of voice
 Gestures
 Body position
 Movement
 Use of touch
 Gaze

Question 3

Encode

Answer 3

Express or emit nonverbal behavior

Question 4

Decode

Answer 4

Interpret the meaning of nonverbal behavior

Question 5

Darwin

Answer 5

Nonverbal forms of communication is species, not

culture, specific

Question 6

Are facial expressions of emotion universal

Answer 6

Yes, for the six major emotional expressions

– Anger, happiness, surprise, fear, disgust, and sadness

Question 7

Affect blends

Answer 7

Facial expressions in which one part of the face
registers one emotion while another part of the face
registers a different emotion

Question 8

Display rules

Answer 8

– Dictate what kinds of emotional expressions people are
supposed to show
– Are culture-specific

Question 9

Examples of Display Rule Differences

Answer 9

• Display of emotion
• Eye contact/gaze
• Personal space

Question 10

Emblems

Answer 10

– Nonverbal gestures that have well-understood
definitions within a given culture
– Usually have direct verbal translations, like the “OK”
sign.
• Emblems are not universal!

Question 11

Judging a book by its cover

Answer 11

– Easily observable things we can see and hear

– Crucial to first impression

Question 12

How quickly do first impressions form

Answer 12

Form initial impressions based on facial appearance in

less than 100 milliseconds

Question 13

Limited exposure can

Answer 13

lead to meaningful first

impressions of abilities and personalities

Question 14

Thin-slicing

Answer 14

– Drawing meaningful conclusions about another
person’s personality or skills based on an extremely
brief sample of behavior

Question 15

Primacy Effect

Answer 15

When it comes to forming impressions, the first traits
we perceive in others influence how we view
information that we learn about them later

Question 16

Belief Perseverance

Answer 16

The tendency to stick with an initial judgment even in
the face of new information that should prompt us to
reconsider

Question 17

Using First Impressions and Nonverbal

Communication to Our Advantage

Answer 17

• Public speaking
• Job interview
• Hand shake quality
• Body language

Question 18

Causal Attribution

Answer 18

– Attribution Theory (Fritz Heider)

– Covariation Model (Harold Kelley)

Question 19

Heider

Answer 19

– “Father” of attribution theory
– “Naïve” or “commonsense” psychology
 Viewed people as amateur scientists
– Piece together information to figure out cause

Question 20

Attribution theory

Answer 20

The way in which people explain the causes of their

own and other people’s behavior

Question 21

When deciding about causes of behavior, we can

make one of two attributions

Answer 21

– Internal, dispositional attribution

– External, situational attribution

Question 22

Internal Attribution

Answer 22

Infer a person is behaving in a certain way
because of something about the person (e.g.,
attitude, character, personality)

Question 23

External Attribution

Answer 23

• Infer a person is behaving a certain way because
of something about the situation
• Assume most people would respond the same
way in that situation

Question 24

The Covariation Model

Answer 24

A theory that states that to form an attribution
about what caused a person’s behavior, we
systematically note the pattern between the
presence or absence of possible causal factors
and whether or not the behavior occurs

Question 25

about The Covariation Model

Answer 25

• Focuses on how behavior “covaries”
– Across time, place, actors, and targets
• Examines how perceiver chooses an internal or
an external attribution

Question 26

We make choices about internal versus external

attributions by using three pieces of information

Answer 26

– Consensus
– Distinctiveness
– Consistency

Question 27

Consensus Information

Answer 27

The extent to which other people behave the
same way toward the same stimulus as the actor
does

Question 28

Distinctiveness Information

Answer 28

The extent to which one particular actor behaves

in the same way to different stimuli

Question 29

Consistency Information

Answer 29

The extent to which the behavior between one
actor and one stimulus is the same across time
and circumstances

Question 30

Internal attribution occurs when

Answer 30

– Consensus = Low
 Behavior is unique to the person
– Distinctiveness = Low
 Person displays same behavior with different targets and in
different situations
– Consistency = High
 The person’s behavior occurs reliably across occasions

Question 31

External attribution occurs when

Answer 31

– Consensus = High
 Other people behave similarly in the same situation
– Distinctiveness = High
 The person’s behavior is specific to that situation or target
– Consistency = High
 The person’s behavior occurs reliably across occasions

Question 32

Evaluation of the Covariation Model

Answer 32

• Information about all three dimensions may not be
available
– People still make attributions
• Consistency and distinctiveness used more than
consensus

Question 33

The Fundamental Attribution Error

Answer 33

Tend to make internal attributions for other
people’s behavior and underestimate the role of
situational factors

Question 34

Why does the fundamental attribution error occur

Answer 34

– Tend to focus attention on person, not the surrounding
situation
 The person is “perceptually salient”
– Use the focus of attention as a starting point

Question 35

Perceptual Salience

Answer 35

The seeming importance of information that is the focus of

people’s attention

Question 36

The Two-Step Attribution Process

Answer 36

1. Make an internal attribution
   – Assume that a person’s behavior was due to
   something about that person
   – Occurs quickly, spontaneously
2. Adjust attribution by considering the situation
   – May fail to make enough adjustment in second step
   – Requires effort, conscious attention

Question 37

about The Two-Step Attribution Process

Answer 37

• Engage in the second step if:
– You consciously slow down, think carefully before
reaching a judgment
– You are motivated to reach an accurate judgment
– You are suspicious about the behavior (e.g., we
suspect lying)
• Two-step model less applicable in cultures where
internal attributions not the default

Question 38

Self-Serving Attributions

Answer 38

Explanations for one’s successes that credit
internal, dispositional factors, and explanations for
one’s failures that blame external, situational
factors

Question 39

Why do we make self-serving attributions?

Answer 39

1. We want to maintain self-esteem.
2. We want other people to think well of us and to
   admire us.
3. We know more about the situational factors that affect
   our own behavior than we do about other people’s

Question 40

The Burden of Solo Athletes

Answer 40

One domain in which self-serving biases may be particularly common is the world
of sports, especially among solo athletes, for whom the entire weight of winning
or losing rests on their shoulders

Question 41

Belief in a just world

Answer 41

– The assumption that people get what they deserve and
deserve what they get
– Type of defensive attribution

Question 42

Advantage and Disadvantage to Belief in a Just World

Answer 42

• Advantage
– Allows people to deal with feelings of vulnerability,
mortality
• Disadvantage
– Blaming the victim
 Rape victims
 Battered wives

Question 43

The “Bias Blind Spot”

Answer 43

• People realize biases in attribution can occur
• Believe other people more susceptible to
attributional biases compared to self

Question 44

Members of individualistic cultures

Answer 44

– Prefer dispositional attributions

– Think like personality psychologists

Question 45

Members of collectivistic cultures

Answer 45

– Prefer situational explanations
– Think like social psychologists
– Greater situational focus is matter of degree
 Do they make dispositional attributions?
 Are they more likely to go on to the “second step”?

Question 46

How might you use what you have learned about
the power of nonverbal cues in social perception
to be more effective in daily interactions?

Answer 46

I am now able to better understand a person with out jumping to conclusions