Chapter 5: Key Terms

Question 1

Social Perception

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Nonverbal Communication

Answer 2

The way in which people communicate, intentionally or unintentionally, without words; nonverbal cues include facial expressions, tone of voice, gestures, body position and movement, the use of touch, and gaze

Question 3

Display Rules

Answer 3

Culturally determined rules about which nonverbal behaviors are
appropriate to display

Question 4

Emblems

Answer 4

Nonverbal gestures that have well-understood definitions within a given culture; they usually have direct verbal translations, such as the “OK” sign

Question 5

Implicit Personality Theory

Answer 5

A type of schema people use to group various kinds of personality traits together; for example, many people believe that someone who is kind is generous as well

Question 6

Attribution Theory

Answer 6

A description of the way in which people explain the causes of their own and other people’s behavior

Question 7

Internal Attribution

Answer 7

The inference that a person is behaving in a certain way because of something about the person, such as attitude, character, or personality

Question 8

External Attribution

Answer 8

The inference that a person is behaving a certain way because of something about the situation he or she is in; the assumption is that most people would respond the same way in that situation

Question 9

Covariation Model

Answer 9

A theory that states that to form an attribution about what caused a person’s behavior, we systematically note the pattern between the presence or absence of possible causal factors and whether or not the behavior occurs

Question 10

Consensus Information

Answer 10

Information about the extent to which other people behave the same way toward the same stimulus as the actor does

Question 11

Distinctiveness Information

Answer 11

Information about the extent to which one particular actor behaves in the same way to different stimuli

Question 12

Consistency Information

Answer 12

Information about the extent to which the behavior between one actor and one stimulus is the same across time and circumstances

Question 13

Correspondence Bias

Answer 13

The tendency to infer that people’s behavior corresponds to (matches) their disposition (personality)

Question 14

Perceptual Salience

Answer 14

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

Question 15

Two-Step Process of Attribution

Answer 15

Analyzing another person’s behavior first by making an automatic internal attribution and only then thinking about possible situational reasons for the behavior, after which one may adjust the original internal attribution

Question 16

Actor/Observer Difference

Answer 16

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

Question 17

Self-Serving Attributions

Answer 17

Explanations for one’s successes that credit internal, dispositional factors and explanations for one’s failures that blame external, situational factors

Question 18

Defensive Attributions

Answer 18

Explanations for behavior that avoid feelings of vulnerability and mortality

Question 19

Belief in a Just World

Answer 19

A form of defensive attribution wherein people assume that bad things happen to bad people and that good things happen to good people