social perception Flashcards
much of social perceptions is about forming ____________ and explaining the world - how we assign _________ responsibilities to _________.
impressions; causal; behaviours
traditionally, the study of social perception revolves around 1 question. what is that question?
what are the reasons behind a behaviour?
why do we want explanations about the way people are and why they do what they do?
- helps us understand and predict our social world
- attributing behaviour to cause satisfies effectance whereby we can say that the world follows causality and is not random and chaotic
what are the 3 functions of nonverbal cues?
- express emotional states/feelings
- convey attitude or thought
- communicate personality
what are some aspects of nonverbal communication?
- eye contact
- gestures
- facial expressions
- distance
- possession
- decorations
- body movements
which aspect of nonverbal communication, eye contact or gestures, is highly subject to interpretations like generational and cultural diff?
gestures
2 key parts of social perception is nonverbal cues and causal _________.
attribution
why do we care about the causes behind behaviours (causal attribution)?
to uncover people’s traits which is generally stable overtime and across situations, so that we can better explain and predict their behaviour in future.
the 2 classic perspectives of causal attributions are:
- heider’s attribution theory (fritz heider)
- kelly’s covariation model (harold kelly)
what are the 2 attributions under heider’s attribution theory?
- internal attribution (dispositional)
- external attribution (situational)
internal or external attributions matter a great deal because internal attributions often imply ______________ while external attributions do not.
intentions
according to heider’s attribution theory, we focus more on (actor/situation) and less on (actor/situation), thus our explanations for behaviours are biased towards (internal/external).
actor; situation; internal (dispositional)
define FAE.
fundamental attribution error.
tendency to discount or ignore external (situational) factors when explaining a behaviour
FAE aka ________
correspondence bias
(someone’s behaviours are seen to correspond to his/her disposition)
what is the empirical evidence for FAE?
Castro experiment by Jones and Harris (1967)
*Fidel Castro - former president of Cuba
- Participants listened to speeches supporting and opposing Fidel Castro and rated the speakers’ attitudes towards Castro.
- When participants believed speakers freely chose their positions, they rated pro-Castro speakers more positively.
- Contrary to expectations, even when told positions were determined by a coin toss, pro-Castro speakers were still rated more positively.
- In conclusion, participants attributed the speeches to the speakers’ attitudes and disposition
how is kelly’s covariation model related to heider’s attribution theory?
it is a scientific look at the criteria we use to make internal and external attributions
we make internal and external attributions through 3 pieces of info. what are they?
- consensus (do other people behave similarly)
- consistency (does the actor behave similarly to the same stimuli)
- distinctiveness (does the actor behave similarly to other simuli)
we make internal attributions (dispositional) when consensus is _____, consistency is ________ and distinctiveness is __________.
low; high; low
we make external attributions (situational) when consensus is _____, consistency is ________ and distinctiveness is __________.
high; high; high
what are the 2 steps in the process of attribution in the modern view?
- make an internal attribution
- make attributional corrections - adjust attribution by considering the situation
in step 2 of the attribution process, situational correction are less likely to happen if we:
- are rushing
- are tired, or busy
- don’t care about being accurate
- trust a behaviour at face value
what is the name of the attribution whereby we credit our successes to internal/dispostional factors in ourselves and explain our failures by blaming external/situational factors?
self-serving attribution
what is self-serving bias?
tendency to perceive info in a way that favors ourselves over others
self-serving attribution vs self-serving bias
self-serving bias is the tendency to perceive info in a way that favors ourselves over others.
an example of self-serving bias is self-serving attribution is whereby we credit out successes to internal/dispostional factors in ourselves and explain our failures by blaming external/situational factors.
define dorsal striatum.
The dorsal striatum is a region in the brain involved in controlling movement and reinforcement learning.
how does the dorsal striatum relate to self-serving bias?
- involvement in reward processing and reinforcement learning
- dorsal striatum is activated when individuals receive positive feedback or rewards, leading to reinforcement of behaviors associated with favorable outcomes
- In the context of self-serving bias, the dorsal striatum may be involved in the reinforcement of self-enhancing attributions. This could occur through the activation of neural pathways that associate positive outcomes with internal causes, leading to a bias in attributions that serve to maintain or enhance self-esteem.
what motivates self-serving attributions?
- feel good about ourselves by maintaining self-esteem
- sense of belonging when people think well of us
self-serving attribution is an example of self-serving bias and __________ attribution.
defensive
define defensive attribution
explanations for behaviour that avoid feeling vulnerable/dreadful
besides self-serving attribution, what is one more example mentioned in the slides that comes under defensive attribution?
beliefs in a just world
beliefs in a just world: the worldview that the world is a ________ place and that people get what they __________ and deserve what they_____.
just; deserve; get
what are 2 advantages of “beliefs in a just world”?
- protects people from terrifying view that the world is a random place where rewards and suffering are arbituary
- justify why good and bad things happen even when there are no apparent reasons
what are 2 disadvantages of “beliefs in a just world”?
- victim-blaming (victims seen as causing their own fate)
- drawing unwarranted conclusions about people
