chapter 4: social perceptions

Question 1

what is non verbal communication

Answer 1

How do people use nonverbal cues to understand others?

-How people communicate, intentionally or unintentionally, without words

Question 2

what is social perception

Answer 2

The study of how we form impressions of and make inferences about other people.

Question 3

why do people use emojis in text

Answer 3

-We use emojis and things over text to help our messages be understood in the way we intend; get the emotion across more than the words do
-Text does not convey everything that happens in person, in person there is body language, facial expressions, etc.
-Using emojis allow us to get back some nonverbal communication that is lost over text

Question 4

what are examples of nonverbal channels

Answer 4

-Facial expressions
-Tone of voice
-Gestures
-Body position
-Movement
-Use of touch
-Gaze

All of these things affect your expectations and how you interact with someone

Question 5

explain encoding and decoding of facial expressions

Answer 5

Perhaps most important channel (social psychologists say there are multiple channels of communication)

Encode
-Express or emit nonverbal behavior (contorting your face in some way to show an emotion)
-Examples: smiling

Decode
-Interpret the meaning of nonverbal behavior
-Example: interpreting the meaning of a smile

Question 6

explain Darwin’s research on facial expressions

Answer 6

Nonverbal communication is species, not culture, specific
-Why? Recognizing facial expression is adaptive (if all of us have the same ancestors we should have evolved in similar ways)
-If it’s adaptive, all members of our species should do it

Question 7

was Darwin correct?

Answer 7

True for at least 6 major emotions
-Anger, happiness, surprise, fear, disgust, and sadness

Some research indicates others, as well
-pride

Question 8

Sussand and colleagues research on fear and disgust

Answer 8

Found that muscle movements opposite each other
-Fear: enhanced perception—facial and eye movements increase sensory input (e.g., widening the visual field, increasing the volume of air in the nose, and speeding up eye movements)
-Disgust: decreased perception—facial and eye movements decrease sensory input (e.g., eyes narrow and less air is breathed in)
-This is adaptive in situations where you experience fear and disgust

Question 9

Ekman research on the Fore tribe and Americans

Answer 9

-Interested in whether encoding and decoding emotion is culturally specific or if it is the same across the board
-Emotion encoding and decoding is not cultural, for the most part
-It’s part of being human, though there are some differences

Looked at Southern Fore tribe and American people
-Fore tribe has had no contact with Western society ever
-Used pictures of Americans encoding different emotions and show members of the tribe these pictures; he would tell them a story about someone getting something stolen or someone whose family member just died
-Tribe members had to pick the right face from choices of different facial expressions

Then took it a step further, had the members of the tribe make facial expressions they would make after a certain situation happened, brought these pictures back to college students in America
-People could recognize emotions in other cultures, shows emotion encoding and decoding of those facial expressions for those emotions is the same

Question 10

why is decoding sometimes difficult?

Answer 10

Affect blends
-Facial expressions in which one part of the face registers one emotion while another part of the face registers a different emotion (people do not always feel one emotion at one time)
-What emotions? (Adapted from Ekman & Friesen, 1975) (e.g. anger and disgust and happiness and surprise)

Question 11

what two forms of non verbal communication are not universal to cultures

Answer 11

Display rules: unwritten expectations about expressions (whether or not displaying emotion is appropriate)

Emblems: Nonverbal gestures that have well-understood definitions within a given culture

Question 12

examples of three display rules across cultures

Answer 12

1) Display of emotion
-America: men discouraged from crying, but women allowed
-Japan: women discouraged from smiling
-Japan: less emotion in general, definitely less negative than west

2) Eye contact/gaze
-America: suspicious when people don’t “look them in the eye”
-Nigeria, Puerto Rico, Thailand: direct eye contact considered disrespectful

3) Personal space
-America: like bubble of personal space
-Middle East, South America, southern Europe: stand close to each other and touch frequently

Question 13

example of an emblem

Answer 13

-America: ok
-At least that’s what is used to mean…

Japan: money

France: zero

Mexico: sex

Ethiopia: homosexuality

South America: middle finger

Question 14

how quickly do first impressions form

Answer 14

-Form initial impressions based on facial appearance in less than 1/10 of a second (Bar et al., 2006; Willis & Todorov, 2006)
-Infer character from faces when we’re as young as 3 years old (Cogsdill et al., 2014)
-Judge sexual orientation at above chance levels (Rule et al., 2008; 2009)
-Just by looking at their face

Question 15

explain baby faces and how it impacts first impressions

Answer 15

-Features that are reminiscent of those of small children (e.g., big eyes, a small chin and nose, and a high forehead)
-Tend to be perceived as having childlike traits—naïve warm, and submissive (Livingston & Pearce, 2009; Zebrowitz & Montepare, 2008)

Question 16

are first expressions correct? explain thin slicing?

Answer 16

Thin-Slicing: Limited exposure can lead to meaningful first impressions of abilities and personalities
-The research shows that first impressions are often accurate

Question 17

study for thin slicing on clips of professors

Answer 17

-Participants rated 3 random 10-second video clips from 12 instructors’ lectures (and shorter clips); asked participants what end of semester ratings they think this person they would get; then compared them to the professors real student ratings
-Removed audio track (silent video)
-Accurately predicted end of the semester teaching evaluations from real students
-Clinicians accurately do this with patients, as well.

Question 18

does thin slicing work for deception?

Answer 18

-No single behavior can tell you if someone is lying, hard to tell if someone is lying

Ekman and Sullivan (1991)
-Showed people videos of different people saying something, they were either lying or telling the truth
-Did this with different groups of people to see if someone was better at telling if something was a lie or not
-College students, CIA, FBI, military, police investigators, trial judges, psychiatrists were all just as good as chance at determining if someone was lying
-Secret service agents were the only group better than chance at determining if someone was lying

Question 19

why is deception so hard to determine?

Answer 19

Mismatch Hypothesis:
-Mismatch between cues that actually signal deception, and cues that people use to detect deception

Question 20

four relevant channels of communication with lying

Answer 20

words, face, body, voice

Question 21

explain words and lying

Answer 21

-words: cannot trust (because we have control over the words we are speaking)
-but fewer “I” and “ME”
-research shows that when people lie to try and deflect attention off of themselves, they might use these words less often
-more negative words
-less specific (people have to remember their lies and cannot get caught in it)

Question 22

explain face and lying

Answer 22

-face: easily controllable (people can easily control their facial expressions)
-don’t rely on eyes
-people can look at others in the eyes and tell a lie
-look for “Duschene smiles”
-can determine when someone is legitamtely happy or not

Question 23

explain body and lying

Answer 23

-body: better cues (might give us a better idea about If someone is lying or not)
-fidgety and restless
-watch hands and feet

Question 24

explain voice and lying

Answer 24

-voice: most revealing
-liars raise voice
-pitch of their voice gets a little bit higher
-hesitate

Question 25

explain primacy effect

Answer 25

Primacy Effect
-Asch (1946) (did research on where first impressions come from and why they stick around), showed picture to people and said this person is described as one of two ways (two ways listed below, same list in different order)

-Intelligent; industrious; impulsive; critical; stubborn; envious
-Envious; stubborn; critical; impulsive; industrious; intelligent

Results: people got better ratings when they were shown the first list because they paid more attention to the things they see first

Question 26

explain belief perseverance

Answer 26

-Stick with original belief even in fact of new info

Creates lots of problems
-Juries
-Fabricated data
-Political misinformation

Question 27

how can you use the research on first impressions to your advatange

Answer 27

Be mindful on job interviews and public speaking
-Have a strong opening

Question 28

explain the body language study about power posing

Answer 28

Carney et al. (2010)
-High-power pose: standing behind a table, leaning forward with hands planted firmly on its surface
-Low-power pose: standing with feet crossed and arms wrapped around one’s own torso

Results: when people stood in a powerful pose (feelings of power tend to be more confident and tend to view things as more holistically), Felt more powerful and adopted riskier strategy on gambling task
-This study is controversial because it failed to replicate, people went after researchers and it was too far (NY times article)

Question 29

what is an attribution

Answer 29

Trying to explain why someone is doing something, giving someone a characteristic

ex. When someone cuts you off in a car you will assume that there is something internally wrong with the person (they are an asshole); don’t even consider that there could be a situation that justifies pulling out in front of people

Question 30

what are the two kinds of attributions

Answer 30

1) Internal or dispositional attribution
-Infer a person is behaving in a certain way because of something about the person (e.g., attitude, character, personality)

2) External or situational attribution
-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 31

why do attributions matter and example

Answer 31

-It influences how you feel about other people

A driver pulls out in front of you…
-Internal attribution: that driver is reckless and doesn’t care about the safety of others
-External attribution: that driver must be going somewhere very important

Question 32

how can attributions affect relationships (marriage example)

Answer 32

Happy marriage: relationship enhancing attributions
-Internal attributions for partner’s positive behaviors
-External attributions for partner’s negative behaviors

Unhappy marriage: distress-maintaining attributions
-Internal attributions for partner’s negative behaviors
-External attributions for partner’s positive behaviors

This is a cycle that makes happy couples happier and unhappy couples more unhappy (Karney & Bradbury, 2000)

Question 33

how can attributions affect self-esteem

Answer 33

SELF-SERVING ATTRIBUTIONS: Explanations for successes that credit internal, dispositional factors, and explanations for failures that blame external, situational factors
-We’re motivated to feel good about ourselves
-We use attributions to do that

Question 34

why do we make self serving attributions

Answer 34

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

Question 35

what is the fundamental attribution error

Answer 35

-Tend to make internal attributions for other people’s behavior and underestimate the role of situational factors
Ex. Public transit wanted to have a day to honor Rosa Parks, put a sign on a bus seat asking people to leave the seat empty to honor Rosa Parks, reporter noticed that people continued to sit in the seat

Immediately thought they were jerks, asked someone in the seat why they are not willing to honor Rosa Parks; he eventually said he did not see the sign and got up and moved to another seat

Question 36

explain study using the fundamental attribution error even in times when it does not make sense to

Answer 36

-Study done in the 1960s during the Cuban Missile Crisis; had people get up and read off an essay that they had written in front of the class; the essay that they read was either pro-Castro or anti-Castro; another IV is that the class was told whether or not the author had a choice about what to write about (they could choose whether they were pro or anti Castro) class then had to estimate what the writers true perceptive of Castro was

Results: regardless of whether the class was told the author had a choice or not, students thought the author was pro castro if it was a pro castro essay and anti castro if it was an anti castro essay
-Shows we can’t help ourselves, we do it even if we are told people might be forced to act one way or another

Question 37

why does fundamental attribution error occur

Answer 37

-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 38

what is perceptual salience

Answer 38

The seeming importance of information that is the focus of people’s attention

Question 39

explain perceptual salience study about actors

Answer 39

Ex. Had two actors that went through a scripted conversation (facing each other in chairs), had observers sitting around the actors, some of the observers were only facing one actor, other observers were facing both observers

Participants were then asked which one of the actors were driving the conversation
-Results: observers facing Actor B thought he was in control of the conversation, those facing actor A thought he was in control, those facing both actors had a 50/50 split

Question 40

what is the two step attribution process

Answer 40

Step 1:
-Make an internal attribution
-Occurs quickly and spontaneously

Step 2:
-Adjust for the situation
-Often we fail to adjust enough
-Might be tired or distracted, might not care enough to get to step 2; we are able to adequately adjust but just tend not to

Question 41

when do you get to the second step in two step attribution process

Answer 41

You consciously slow down, think carefully before reaching a judgment
-Not tired, distracted, or busy

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
-Eastern cultures are less likely to commit the fundamental attribution error

Question 42

explain belief in a just world

Answer 42

-People get what they deserve and deserve what they get (makes us feel better to believe in this), tells us that all we have to do is behave ourselves so bad things do not happen to you; unfortunately this is not true and bad things happen to good people all the time
-Type of defensive attribution

Question 43

advantages and disadvantages of belief in a just world

Answer 43

Advantages
-People feel better

Disadvantages
-Blaming the victim

Ex. Happens a lot with rape, what could this person have done to not put themselves in the situation; people do not want to believe that these things can happen to people who do not believe it

Question 44

what is the bias blind spot

Answer 44

-People realize biases in attribution can occur

Believe other people more susceptible to attributional biases compared to self

Study done, people think that they are individually not susceptible to these (e.g. heuristics) things but everyone else is

Question 45

holistic vs. analytical thinking

Answer 45

Analytic thinking
-Western cultures
-Focus on properties of object or people, pay less attention to context or situation

Holistic thinking
-Eastern cultures
-Focus on the object or person AND the surrounding context and relationships between them

Generalized cultural difference, but variability within cultures

Question 46

explain cultural differences in looking at other people’s facial expressions (study)

Answer 46

Study: two pictures (one picture has the central figure smiling with the background people sad; other picture has central figure smiling with the background people smiling)
-Ask people how happy the person in the center is?
-Western cultures say that the people are equally happy
-Eastern culture says that the central figure is less happy in the picture where the people in the background are frowning

Question 47

explain social neuroscience evidence for cultural differences (context vs. details)

Answer 47

Hedden and colleagues (2008): fMRI study
-Judged length of line inside boxes

Two conditions:
-Ignore the box around each line (ignore context)- western way of looking at things
-Pay attention to the box around each line (attend to context) – eastern way of looking at things

Results:
-Americans: greater brain activation (frontal and parietal) when told to pay attention to context
-East Asians: greater brain activation (same regions) when told to ignore context
-Show that frontal and parietal cortex are the parts of the brain that allow us to ignore or incorporate context
-Takes more brain power to do things in a way that is inconsistent with the way you have done things your entire life

Question 48

explain cultural differences in the fundamental attribution error, also explain children and the fundamental attribution error

Answer 48

Members of individualistic cultures
-Prefer dispositional attributions

Members of collectivistic cultures
-Prefer situational explanations
-But difference is reduced in children (Miller, 1984)

Less of a difference in fundamental attribution error in children of different cultures; shows that this is something that is learned
-And can be primed (Hong et al., 2003)
-Using pictures from particular cultures to prime ways of thinking of particular cultures;

Ex. Western cultures say Fish is leading the other fish (doing something to the situation); eastern cultures say the fish are chasing the front fish; can push this around with primes

Question 49

cultural differences in self serving bias

Answer 49

More prevalent in Western, individualistic cultures than Eastern collectivist cultures

Question 50

cultural differences of olympic gold success

Answer 50

Reporters discuss success in terms of unique talent in U.S., but incorporated role of other people (e.g., coach and family) in Japan

Question 51

cultural differences in failure

Answer 51

-Make attributions to external causes in U.S., but internal causes in China
-Self-critical attributions hold groups together in some Asian cultures
-People tend to blame themselves because they care about the group so much they do not want them to get the blame

Question 52

cultural differences in belief in a just world

Answer 52

-More prevalent in cultures with extreme differences in wealth
-People who are wealthy will say I worked hard I deserve this, the other people didn’t work hard and that is why they cannot afford basic needs