Psych Exam #1/ Lecture #5/ Chp 5 (Impressions & Judgement)

Question 1

Self Presentation

Answer 1

refers to the ways in which we change, enhance, or emphasize aspects of the self

Question 2

2 benefits of self-presentation

Answer 2

Social rewards, Identity rewards

Question 3

Identity rewards

Answer 3

having others view us a certain way may help stabilize self-knowledge

Question 4

Social Rewards

Answer 4

controlling how others see us may help us get dates, jobs, etc.

Question 5

What impressions do we desire most in everyday life?

Answer 5

“Genuine” and Positive

Question 6

“Genuine” Self Presentation

Answer 6

*most self-presentation is not very different from one’s own view of the self

Question 7

Consistency or Self-verification motive

Answer 7

we want others to see us as we see the self, because it keeps expectations of other consistent with what we can do –social safety and security

Question 8

Positive Self Presentation

Answer 8

most self-presentation also designed to show self as valuable (as defined in the culture), so will try to put “best face forward”

Question 9

Self-enhancement motive

Answer 9

we want others to see us as positive, competent, and likable

Question 10

Swann Study

Answer 10

Interact with two people, one who perceived your favorably but incorrectly, the other who perceives you accurately but unfavorable.

Question 11

Self-Presentation

Answer 11

• Identity creation/ Self-construction
• Our self-presentation reflects our internal beliefs about ourselves (we may play up a particular aspect that we hold with pride/enhancement or certainty/verification)
• We may ‘display’ central aspects of self for that same reason (bumper stickers, T-shirts, coffee table books, style of dress, etc
• Self-presentation also may alter our internal, private beliefs –allow us to craft a new view of the self in the eyes of others and thus ourselves

Question 12

Symbolic self-completion theory

Answer 12

• states that social validation is necessary to believing any aspect of the self
• Thus, people show symbols related to identity, discuss topics related to identity, etc. to have others validate it

Question 13

When is symbolic self-completion likely to happen?

Answer 13

• New: e.g., new professors place diploma on wall, use “Dr” when referring to self more frequently than established, tenured professors
• Threatened: e.g., Wicklund & Gollwitzer guitarist study: Those told their personality profile was a mismatch to expert guitarists wanted to give guitar lessons more than those told their profiles matched.
• In both cases, if feel less like an expert, you present yourself to others in ways that make you appear more like an expert.

Question 14

Who can self-presentation be for?

Answer 14

Self presentation can be for others (like when trying to make a good impression) OR for the self (when trying to strengthen a new or threatened aspect of self.

Question 15

Social Perceivers

Answer 15

social perceivers are often “cognitive misers” –don’t put in much effort, but instead use shortcuts
sometimes shortcuts work

Question 16

How fast can we form accurate impressions?

Answer 16

• Ambady’s “thin slice” research. 6 seconds of silent film–: teacher effectiveness; malpractice suits to surgeons; winning politicians
• Better at this type of impression when targets and perceivers are members of the same culture, and when behavior is unconstrained/naturalistic

Question 17

What are impressions of others based upon?

Answer 17

• Information from TARGET

* Information processing by PERCEIVER

Question 18

Information from TARGET

Answer 18

• Nonverbals –eye contact, smiling, body language. Interpretation of these may differ across cultures
• Appearance – attractiveness, facial structure, clothes

Question 19

Information processing by PERCEIVER

Answer 19

• Category knowledge (i.e., stereotypes)
• Processing level: “Overthinking” may lead to less accuracy–fast impressions based on thin slices of data are one instance in which it is often better to use the automatic system rather than the conscious one

Question 20

Target qualities

Answer 20

• Physical appearance: (automatic)

* Behaviors and speech (conscious)

Question 21

Physical appearance

Answer 21

Facial features may sometimes be related to personality. partly due to heritability and partly to facial habits –thus faces better cues when older
Babyfacedness –warmth and protectiveness. Even extends to babyfaced animals.
Less blame in court cases, BUT also seen as less competent.
Attractive in females more than males –ryan vs emma

Question 22

Behaviors and speech

Answer 22

(conscious)

more important when have longer time to form impressions and perceiver is motivated and processing

Question 23

Perceivers: Who is better?

Answer 23

Women are better

: BUT seems to be motivation rather than ability – paying for accuracy wipes out differences

Question 24

Further evidence of motivation’s impact:

Answer 24

People higher in “need to belong” or people who have been previously rejected (e.g., left out of a ball game) get better at social sensitivity measures. Automatic, but very adaptive in that if can understand the social world, can ‘fit into’ it better.

Question 25

Perceiver Motivation

Answer 25

Choice between more category based (CB) vs more piecemeal (PM) processing

Question 26

Categories

Answer 26

the big three: Sex, Race, Age –discerned automatically, also influence our judgments to be stereotype consistent

Question 27

Expectancies

Answer 27

Halo effect: good with good/ bad with bad
“Sam kicks puppies” - does Sam also cheat at cards?

Sam kicks puppies= Sam is cruel (automatic trait inference) = bad
Cheating at cards? =dishonest =bad. Bad-Bad associated

Question 28

trait transference

Answer 28

especially with strangers/initial impressions –what if Sam says “I dislike Mark for kicking a puppy” Then how do we feel about Sam?
Sam is a good person who disapproves of kicking puppies?
NOPE –”kicking puppies” gets associated with SAM

Question 29

When will we use CB vs PM?

Answer 29

Good Mood, and Attention/Distraction= categorical

Outcome dependence= PM

Question 30

Outcome dependence

Answer 30

Many studies show if you expect to be dependent on someone (you will be working with them in the future) – you will make the effort to use piecemeal, controlled processing – otherwise, automatic and categorical processing.
Power differences: those with less power in the relationship more piecemeal/effortful processing.

Question 31

Ok, so we infer personality traits about people, but then what?
How do traits combine?

Answer 31

*primacy effects, central traits, change of meaning

Question 32

We tell a story and create a person, not just traits

Answer 32

Susan is kind and strict. . explain
Segregation – kind at home, strict at work
Depth –appears strict, but really kind
Cause/effect –kind so must be strict protection
Means/end – kind can act strict for goal (charity)
Common source – Puritan upbringing

Question 33

counterregulation

Answer 33

the “what the heck” effect that occurs when people indulge in a behavior they are trying to regulate after an initial regulation failure

Question 34

attributions

Answer 34

the causal explanations people give for their own and others’ behaviors, and for events in general

Question 35

self-serving bias

Answer 35

the tendency to take credit for success but deny blame for failure; or internal attributions for success, external attributions for failure.

Question 36

actor/observer bias

Answer 36

the tendency for actors to make external attributions and observers to make internal attributions

Question 37

fundamental attribution error (correspondence bias)

Answer 37

the tendency for observers to attribute other people’s behavior to internal or dispositional causes and to downplay situational causes

Question 38

heuristics

Answer 38

mental shortcuts that provide quick estimates about the likelihood of uncertain events

Question 39

representativeness heuristic

Answer 39

the tendency to judge the frequency or likelihood of an event by the extent to which it resembles the typical case

Question 40

availability heuristic

Answer 40

the tendency to judge the frequency or likelihood of an event by the ease with which relevant instances come to mind

Question 41

simulation heuristic

Answer 41

the tendency to judge the frequency or likelihood of an event by the ease with which you can imagine (or mentally simulate) it

Question 42

anchoring and adjustment

Answer 42

the tendency to judge the frequency or likelihood of an event by using a starting point (called an anchor) and then making adjustments up or down.

Question 43

illusory correlation

Answer 43

the tendency to overestimate the link between variables that are related only slightly or not at all

Question 44

confirmation bias

Answer 44

the tendency to notice and search for information that confirms one’s beliefs and to ignore information that disconfirms one’s beliefs

Question 45

one-shot illusory correlation

Answer 45

an illusory correlation that occurs after exposure to only one unusual behavior performed by only one member of an unfamiliar group

Question 46

base rate fallacy

Answer 46

the tendency to ignore or underuse base rate information and instead to be influenced by the distinctive features of the case being judged

Question 47

hot hand

Answer 47

the tendency for gamblers who get lucky to think they have a “hot” hand and their luck will continue

Question 48

gambler’s fallacy

Answer 48

the tendency to believe that a particular chance event is affected by previous events and that chance events will “even out” in the short run

Question 49

false consensus effect

Answer 49

the tendency to overestimate the number of other people who share one’s opinions, attitudes, values, and beliefs

Question 50

false uniqueness effect

Answer 50

the tendency to underestimate the number of other people who share one’s most prized characteristics and abilities

Question 51

theory perseverance

Answer 51

proposes that

are more likely to think about the bad exceptions than about the good exceptions.

Question 52

statistical regression (regression to the mean)

Answer 52

the statistical tendency for extreme scores or extreme behavior to be followed by others that are less extreme and closer to average

Question 53

illusion of control

Answer 53

the false belief that one can influence certain events, especially random or chance ones

Question 54

counterfactual thinking

Answer 54

imagining alternatives to past or present events or circumstances

Question 55

first instinct fallacy

Answer 55

the false belief that it is better not to change one’s first answer on a test even if one starts to think that a different answer is correct

Question 56

upward counterfactuals

Answer 56

imagining alternatives that are better than actuality

Question 57

downward counterfactuals

Answer 57

imagining alternatives that are worse than actuality