Person perception Flashcards
Role of information
We use information to make judgements and judge their importance
* Information has to be complete and accurate to help us make the best judgements
Inferences about strangers
Based on their faces we judge their trustworthiness, competence, aggressiveness and likability
Todorov et al. (2005) - Competence judgement
Snap judgements on competence based on faces were correct on who won position 69% of the time
Why shouldn’t you rely on first hand information
Relying on first hand information might not be representative and information from other people’s behaviour might not be reliable
Pluralistic ignorance
Misperception of a group norm that results from observing people who are acting differently from their beliefs out of a concern for the social consequences
Inter-racial communication and friendship formation
Failure to initiate contact was attributed to fear of rejection but it was assumed that the other person didn’t initiate because of a lack of interest in establishing friendship over ethnic lines
Self fulfilling prophecies (Rosenthal & Jacobsen, 1968)
Students described as bloomers achieved better results than non bloomers due to expectations brought to the perceptions by the perceiver
What is second hand information
Information that other people tell us
What is first hand information
Information that we experience ourselves
Flaws to second hand information
It could be misleading, persuasive, for entertainment or profit making
Sheley & Askins (1981) - Media perceptions of crime
80% of media presented crime is violent but in reality it’s only 20%
Why is negative info more powerful
Can be more informative and directly affects us
Negativity bias
Negative information tends to attract more attention and have greater psychological impact than positive information
Implicational schemata
A person with a moral disposition is unlikely to behave in an immoral way
Negativity bias on impression formation
Negative behaviours are more influential on impression formation as they are more diagnostic than positive behaviours
