Percieving persons (4) key terms

Question 1

Attribution theory

Answer 1

This describes the process of how people explain behavior (Fritz Heider)

Question 2

Availability heuristic

Answer 2

Tendency for people to try and estimate the chance of an event ocurring based on how quickly instances of that event come to mind

Question 2

Base-rate fallacy

Answer 2

Tendency for people to be very insensitive to information in the form of numerical statistics. This belongs to the availability heuristic

Question 3

Belief in a just world

Answer 3

A belief we hold that people deserve what they get. This can lead to victim blaming

Question 3

Belief perseverance

Answer 3

When people stick to their beleifs even though they’ve been faced with contrary evidence

Question 4

Central traits

Answer 4

These are traits that have a big influence on our impressions and when we’re confronted with them, we tend to also assume the person has other traits as well, even though there is no evidence for that

Question 5

Confirmation bias

Answer 5

When people actively seek information that can verify their existing belief, so they don’t have to change it

Question 6

Counterfatcual thinking

Answer 6

When people think about what could have been. This type of thinking often still has a big influence on our emotions

Question 7

Covariation principle

Answer 7

This states that people only attrbute behavior to a factor when that factor is present when the behevior is present and when the factor is nt present when the behavior is not either (Kelley)

Question 8

False-concensus effect

Answer 8

Tendency for people to think that many more people agree with them than is actually the case. This belongs to the availability heuristic

Question 9

Fundamental attribution error

Answer 9

This states that people tend to underestimate the influence of situational factors when making an attribution, instead focussing heavily on personal factors (Ross)

Question 10

Implicit personality theory

Answer 10

This states that everyone has implicit, set assumptions about the relationship between personality traits. Central traits play a key role

Question 11

Impression formation

Answer 11

The process of combining information about a person from different sources and turning that into an impression

Question 12

Information integration theory

Answer 12

States that impressions are based on two factors: the dispositions and state of the person that’s making the impression and a weighted average of the target person’s traits

Question 13

Mind perception

Answer 13

The human tendency to attribute humanlike characteristics to inanimate and animate objects and persons. You litterally percieve something to have a mind:)

Question 14

Need for closure

Answer 14

A desire to reduce unertainity, for example if your first impression of a person in actually correct or not. For people who are low in this need, first impressions weight heavier

Question 15

Nonverbal behavior

Answer 15

Behavior that shows a persons true feelings, without them telling you what they are

Question 16

Personal attrubution

Answer 16

When people seek the explanation to a person’s behavior in their personal characteristics, like mood or personality

Question 17

Primacy effect

Answer 17

Information that is absorbed first, will have a stronger impact on someone’s impression

Question 18

Priming

Answer 18

When recently learned conepts come to mind easier and influence how we interpret later information

Question 19

Self-fulfilling prophecy

Answer 19

When a someone’s expectations of another person influence their behavior, so that the initial expectation is confirmed

Question 20

Situational attribution

Answer 20

When people seek the explanation to a person’s behavtior in external factors specific to the situation in which the behavior occured

Question 21

Social perception

Answer 21

An overlaying term for all the processes people use to make sense of the people around them