Chapter 4: Social PErception: How We Come to Understand Other People Flashcards
nonverbal communication
- communication without words
- intentional or unintentional
- facial expressions, tone, gesture, eye contact, use of space, etc
- help us express emotions and personality
social perception
-study of how we form impressions of and make inferences about other people
facial expressions
- primary nonverbal channel
- universal: all encoded/decoded same by everyone
encode
- to express nonverbal behavior
- smiling, patting
decode
- interpret meaning of nonverbal behavior
- Ex: deciding pat on back was of praise
- automatic
6 major emotional expressions
- ) anger
- ) happiness
- ) surprise
- ) fear
- ) disgust
- ) sadness
- interpreted the same across cultures
- first emotions to appear in development
why is decoding sometimes inaccurate
- ) affect blends
2. ) culture
affect blends
- one part of face registers one emotion, while another part of the face registers different emotion
- Ex: being disgusted and fearful at same time
decoding across cultures
- display rules are particular to each culture and dictate expressions people are supposed to show
- Ex: In US, men discouraged to show grief, but women allowed (opposite in Japan)
emblem
-gesture with clear defined meaning
-not always universal
Ex: flipping bird is “v” shape in Australia
implicit personality theory
- schema that consists of our ideas about what kinds of personality traits go together
- use few traits to determine other characteristics
- automatic
forming quick impressions
- use 2 general schemas
1. ) judgments of “warmth
2. ) implicit personality theory- determine competence
warm person
-perceived as generous, trustworthy, etc
competent person
- capable
- powerful
- dominant
attribution theory
-study of how we infer causes of other’s behavior
internal attribution
- inference that a person is behaving in a certain way because of something about the person
- behavior fueled by the person’s attitude, character, or personality
external attribution
- inference that a person is behaving in a certain way b/c of something about the situation
- assume most people respond the same way if in similar situation
covariation model
- to form an attribution about what caused behavior, we note pattern between presence of absence of possible causal factors
- how a person’s behavior changes across time, place, different actors, and different targets
- reach judgment about what caused behavior
3 types info examined in covariation
- ) consensus
- ) distinctiveness
- ) consistency
- combine into distinct patterns that allow for clear attribution to be made
consensus information
- how other people behave toward the same stimulus
- Ex: does everyone yell at Tom
distinctiveness information
- how the person whose behavior is to be explained responds to other stimuli
- Ex: does boss yell at other people
consistency information
- frequency with which observed behavior between actor and stimulus occurs across time and circumstances
- Ex: does boss yell at Tom often, no matter who’s around
fundamental attribution error
- overestimate extent to which people’s behavior is due to internal dispositional factors
- underestimate role of situational factors
- occurs b/c info about situation is often unavailable
perceptual salience
- information that is focus of importance
- visual point of view
- we pay attention to people and not the situation, resulting in the fundamental attribution error
- blame people and forget influence of situation
2-step process to making attributions
- ) make internal attribution- assume behavior due to something about the person
- ) attempt to adjust attribution by considering situation
* step 1 quick and spontaneous
* step 2 often skipped b/c requires effort