Chapter 4 Flashcards
Social Perception
the study of how we form impressions of other people and how we make inferences about them
Mirror Neurons
Humans and primates have a special kind of brain cell - these neurons respond when we perform an action AND when we see someone else perform the same action (the basis of our ability to feel empathy)
The 6 major emotions
anger, fear, disgust, happiness, surprise, sadness
Affect Blends
one part of their face registers one emotion while another part registers a different emotion
Display rules
culturally determined rules about which nonverbal behaviors are appropriate to display
Emblems
nonverbal gestures that have well-understood definitions within a given culture
Microexpressions
fleeting facial expressions that last less than a second and are difficult to suppress.
are the two major components of our impressions of other people
Exemplars and abstractions
- According to pure exemplar models, trait judgments about the self and others are accomplished by retrieving from memory trait-exemplifying behaviors and computing the similarity between the trait and the exemplars retrieved.
- By contrast, pure abstraction models argue that trait judgments are made by directly assessing abstract, summary knowledge of a person’s traits.
The slime effect
our tendency to form a negative impression of someone who attempts to ingratiate himself or herself to a superior and who also treats subordinates with disdain.
Implicit Personality Theory
a type of schema people use to group various kinds of personality traits together (e.g. we think that someone who is kind is generous as well)
Attribution Theory
a description of the way in which people explain the causes of their own and other people’s behavior
Covariation Model
to form an attribution about what caused a person’s behavior, you will examine multiple instances of behavior, occuring at different times and in different situations
Consensus Information
info about the extent to which other people behave the same way toward the same stimulus as the actor does
Distinctiveness Information
Info about the extent to which one particular actor behaves in the same way to different stimuli
Consistency Information
info about the extent to which the behavior between one actor and one stimulus is the same across time and circumstances
Perceptual Salience
the seeming importance of information that is the focus of people’s attention (we pay attention and tend to think that along caused behavior)
Two-Step Process of Attribution
- assume internal attribution and only then think about possible situational reasons for the behavior, after which one may adjust the original internal attribution
Actor/Observer Difference
the tendency to see other people’s behavior as dispositionally caused but focusing more on the role of situational factors when explaining one’s own behavior
Self-serving attributions
our tendency to take credit for our successes (internal attributions) but to blame others or the situation for our failures (external attributions)
Defensive attributions
explanations for behavior that avoid feelings of vulnerability and mortality
Belief in a just world
form of defensive attribution - the assumption that people get that they deserve and deserve what they get
