Chapter 4: Perceiving

Question 1

social perception

Answer 1

a process by which people come to understand one another

Question 2

mind perception

Answer 2

a process by which people attribute humanlike mental states to various animate and inanimate objects, including other people. divided into high and low level terms

Question 3

nonverbal behaviour

Answer 3

behaviour revealing feelings without words, through facial expressions, body language, vocal cues

Question 4

6 universal emotions

Answer 4

sad, surprised, scared, anger, happy, disgust, sometimes contempt and pride

Question 5

anger superiority effect

Answer 5

effect where angry faces arouse us and cause us to frown even when presented subliminally and without our awareness. + quick to spot and slower to look away from angry faces in crowds

Question 6

eye contact effect

Answer 6

effect where look into eyes = + attention/arousal/key social areas brain, good impression

Question 7

cognitive load

Answer 7

how much is happening mentally

Question 8

attribution

Answer 8

process explain people’s behaviour

Question 9

attribution theory

Answer 9

theory describing how poeple expllain causes of behaviour. 1) personal (dispositional) 2) situational

Question 10

personal (dispositional) attribution theory

Answer 10

theory that behaviour is due to internal characteristics (ability, personality, mood, effort)

Question 11

situational attribution theory

Answer 11

theory that behaviour is due to situation (tasks, other people, luck). we are naturally bad at making this type of attribution

Question 12

correspondent inference theory

Answer 12

theory that people try to infer from an action whether the act corresponds to an enduring personal trait of the actor

Question 13

covariation principle

Answer 13

principle that in order for something to be the cause of behaviour, it must be present when the behaviour occurs and absent when it does not

Question 14

cognitive heuristics

Answer 14

mental shortcuts that enable us to think in ways that are quick and easy but that often lead to error

Question 15

false-consensus effect

Answer 15

overestimating extent to which people agree with us

Question 16

base-rate fallacy

Answer 16

when we aren’t influenced by statistical base rates, but by vivid life story

Question 17

counterfactual thinking

Answer 17

type of thinking with the tendency to imagine what could have happened but didn’t. positive/negative

Question 18

fundamental attribution error

Answer 18

tendency to focus on role of personal causes and underestimate impact of situations on other people’s behaviour

Question 19

cultural fundamental attribution error

Answer 19

tendency to have difference in attribution depending on culture

Question 20

biculturality

Answer 20

different worldviews at same time and to perceive others through either lense depending on which culture is brought to mind

Question 21

motivational biases

Answer 21

tendency to colour social perceptions with personal hopes, needs, wishes, preferences

Question 22

belief in a just world

Answer 22

belief that individuals get what they deserve in life

Question 23

impression formation

Answer 23

process of integrating information about person to form a coherent impression

Question 24

embodiment effect

Answer 24

way view self and others is affected by physical positions/orientation/sensations/movement

Question 25

priming effect

Answer 25

tendency for recently used concepts to come to mind easily and influence way interpret new information

Question 26

trait negativity bias

Answer 26

negative information has more tendency to weigh more heavily on our impressions

Question 27

innuendo effect

Answer 27

tendency to draw negative inferences about omitted dimensions in the presence of 100% positive things

Question 28

implicit personality theories

Answer 28

network of assumptions about relationships among various types of people/traits/behaviours

Question 29

primacy effect

Answer 29

tendency for information presented early in sequence to have more impact on impressions

Question 30

change-of-mean hypothesis

Answer 30

once formed impression, interpret inconsistent information in light of that impression -> malleability of a trait

Question 31

confirmation biases

Answer 31

subtle ways that our impressions create a distorted picture of reality, often setting in motion a self-fulfilling prophecy. tendency seek/interpret/create information verifying existing beliefs

Question 32

self-fulfilling prophecy

Answer 32

process by which one’s expectations about a person eventually lead them to behave in ways that confirm those expectations

Question 33

availability heuristic

Answer 33

tendency to estimate likelihood of something by how easily it comes to mind

Question 34

actor-observer effect

Answer 34

tendency to blame others’ internal factors for their behaviour while blaming external factors for own behaviour

Question 35

cognitive misers

Answer 35

humans built to save as much cognitive mental resources/energy as possible -> seek out quick solutions rather than long thoughtful ones

Question 36

information integration theory

Answer 36

impressions formed of others are based on the integration of 1) personal dispositions + current state of perceiver 2) weighted average of target person’s characteristics

Question 37

conclusion of the solomon asch study

Answer 37

presence of one trait (central trait) implies the presence of other traits

Question 38

wishful seeing

Answer 38

ppl have tendency to see what they want to see

Question 39

integration

Answer 39

how people integrate various observations into a coherent impression of other people. formation of a unified impression

Question 40

need for closure

Answer 40

desire to reduce cognitive uncertainty, which heightens the importance of first impressions

Question 41

confirmatory hypothesis testing

Answer 41

procedures in testing that seeks to confirm pre-existing beliefs