Lecture 2 - Person perception and Non-verbal communication Flashcards
What are the two methods of processing social information?
Top-down (using general schemas)
Bottom-up (relying on specific instances)
Who came up with the ‘Configural model’ of forming impressions?
Asch (1946)
Outline Asch’s (1946) Configural Model
‘Central traits’ are more influential than others (peripheral traits) in impresion formation
Outline Asch’s (1946) method
- Gave p’s a list of adjectives describing a person
- but one word was changed to be either: Warm, cold, polite or blunt.
- Those exposed to warm generated a more favourable impression of the person
- Warm is a central trait
How did Kelley (1950) adapt ASch’s (1946) Study?
Repeated it in a natural setting
Outline Kelley’s (1950) Study
Guest lecturer was introduced as: - Cold (or very warm) - industrious - critical - practical - and determined When described as cold, students saw them as more unsociable, self-centred, unpopular, ruthless, and were less likely to ask questions - proved that central traits are responsible for the holistic configuratoin of the impression
Who came up with the idea of Cognitive algebra?
Anderson (1978, 1981)
Define Anderson (1978, 1981)’s model of cognitive algebra
Argued Asch’s model was far too simple, judgements are formed through an algebraic model of impression formation. Assigning each characterist with a number and either using an additive (adding up all values) or averaging model (taking average value).
Which model (additive or averaging) is ssen as the best mode of cognitive algebra?
Averaging - as central traits are weighted more heavily
Which two effects create a bias in impression formation?
Primacy and Recency effects
Define the Primacy effect in terms of impression formation?
When the traits that appear first have more impact on our impressions
Define the recency effect in terms of impression formation?
When overworked/ bombarded with stimuli, information presented later has more impact than earlier info
What are the 3 explanations of the primacy effect?
Attention - more attention paid to earlier info
Interpretation - ‘proud’ could mean self-respecting or vain
Change-of-meaning hypothesis - subsequent info interpreted in light of initial impression
What did Asch’s study into impression formation bias involve?
p’s had to form an impression of someone described as:
intelligent - industrious-impulsive-critical-stubborn-envious.
They saw the person as competent and ambitious.
If order was reversed, person was described as overly emotional and socially maladjusted
What other biases in impression formation are there?
- Perceiver characteristics - e.g. mood
- Target characterists - e.g. appearance (attractive = nice person)
- Stereotypes of targets groups
- Personal constructs
Who described the methods of person organisation
Fiske and Taylor (1991)
What are the two methods to organise people (Fiske and Taylor)
Organised by group and Organised by person
Define schema
A cognitive structure that represents knowledge about a concept/type of stimulus. They allow us to quickly make sense of a person/ situation, event or place off limited info
What are the 2 types of schema?
Person Schema - recognising a famous actor
Role schema - determines how we behave towards people
- Achieved - Doctors/ psychologist
- Ascribed - gender/age/race
What are the purposes of Gaze + Eye contact?
- Regulate conversation
- status and control
- inferences about feelings, honesty, attentiveness, credibility, character
Describe the findings of Dovidio et al (1988)
When a male/ female was the relative expert in the conversation, they took the dominant gaze pattern. When no one was expert, men still adopted dominant gaze pattern
Who invented the facial affect programme?
Ekman (1971)
Describe the facial affect programme
Eliciting stimulus -> Appraisal (processing) -> F.A.P (blueprints - nature) -> Display rules (from previous experience - nurture) -> EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION
What did Kraut + Johnson (1979) do?
THe bowling study - proved that smiling is less related to being internally happy but associated with a display rule and appearing happy to others. Found that people bowling smiled more when facing opponents than after a good bowl
What are the functions of Non-verbal behaviour?
1) Supports social inferences
2) finely tunes social interactions
3) Express intimacy, attachment, familiarity, power and control
4) Faciliatates purposive behaviour
What is known as the subtle choreography of social life?
Gesticulation and hand signals - e.g. postures of tv characters show what type of character they are
Who described the 5 categories of touch?
Jones + Yarbrough, (1985)
What is Jones + Yarbrough, (1985) 5 categories of touch?
1) Positive affect (reassurance/ comfort)
2) Playful
3) Control
4) Ritualistic (shaking hands)
5) Task related (taking pulse
Who came up with that diagram of unpleasant, pleasant and moderate touch?
Burgoon, Buller + Woodall (1989)
