Chapter 4: Social Perception

Question 1

What is Social Perception?

Answer 1

the study of how we form impressions of other ppl & make inferences about them

Question 2

What is Nonverbal Communication?

Answer 2

the way in which ppl communicate, intentionally or unintentionally w/o words

Question 3

What is Encoding?

Answer 3

expressing nonverbal behavior

Question 4

What is Decoding?

Answer 4

interpreting the meaning of the nonverbal behavior other ppl express

Question 5

What are the 5 characteristics of NVC?

Answer 5

• often unintentional
• tend to be powerful (w/ physical touch)
• overrule & enrich verbal comm
• ambiguous
• culturally based

Question 6

What is Affect Blend?

Answer 6

facial expression where one part of the face displays one emotion & another a different emotion

Question 7

What is Implicit Personality Disorder?

Answer 7

a type of schema ppl use to group various kinds of personality traits together

Question 8

What are Microexpressions?

Answer 8

the truest expressions of a person; very quick & slight

Question 9

What is an Attribution?

Answer 9

a causal explanation of behavior

Question 10

What is Attribution Theory?

Answer 10

study of how ppl explain the causes of their own & other ppls behavior

Question 11

Who is associated with Attributions?

Answer 11

Fritz Heider

Question 12

What is an Internal Attribution?

Answer 12

the behavior is caused bc that’s how the person actually is

Question 13

What is an External Attribution?

Answer 13

the behavior is caused by the situation

Question 14

What is the Two-Step Process of Making Attributions

Answer 14

1. make an internal attribution about someone
2. (with effort) taking time, motivation, & energy to consider other explanations for behavior then making an attribution

Question 15

What is the Covariation Model?

Answer 15

suggests that in order to form an attribution about what caused a person’s behavior, we systematically note the pattern btwn the presence (or absence) of possible causal factors & whether or not the behavior occurs

Question 16

What are the 3 factors in the Covariation Model? What do each of them mean?

Answer 16

1. Consensus - how similarly other ppl act, given the same stimulus
2. Distinctiveness - how similarly the person acts in different situations, towards other stimuli
3. Consistency - the extent to which the behavior btwn the person & the same stimulus is same across time & circumstances

Question 17

What is Fundamental Attribution Error?

Answer 17

underestimate external factors & overestimate internal factors when assessing the behavior of others

Question 18

What is Perceptual Salience?

Answer 18

information that’s the focus of ppl’s attention; we tend to overestimate the causal role

Question 19

What is the Actor-Observer Difference?

Answer 19

attribute the behavior of others to internal or dispositional causes & attribute your own behavior to external factors

Question 20

What is Self-serving Bias?

Answer 20

explanation for one’s success that credit is internal, dispositional factors & explanations for one’s failures that blame external situational factors

Question 21

What are Defensive Attributions?

Answer 21

explanations for behavior that avoid feelings of vulnerability & mortality

Question 22

What is Optimism Bias?

Answer 22

when a person believes positive things happen to them more frequently than others & negative things happen less frequently