Social perception Flashcards
What does Penton-Voak (2006) state that we use facial characteristics for?
Penton-Voak (2006) says that we use facial characteristics as a basis for personality attributions
We have schemas for what we believe nice/mean/etc. people look like
Pps judged faces for traits (trustworthiness, likability, aggressiveness) with varied presentation times
There trait judgements were correlated with judgments made under no time constraint
Who did this study & what did they find?
Willis & Todorov (2006)
There was a high correlation between trait judgments made under time constraint or no time constraint - pps made the same judgments despite the amount of time they saw the faces for
What are the 6 basic emotions?
- happiness
- sadness
- anger
- fear
- disgust
- suprise
What are characteristics of the 6 basic emotions?
- universally expressed & recognised
- each have distinct patterns of facial muscle activity
What piece of research supports that idea that the 6 basic emotions are universal?
Ekman et al. (1987) found that people from Western, Latin & tribal cultures could identify basic emotions from facial expressions of people of the same culture & different cultures
What is non-verbal behaviour?
Unintentional/intentional communication without words
Transferring info by means other than written/spoken language
Give examples of non-verbal behaviours.
- facial expressions
- body language
- eye contact
- personal space
- physical touch
- tone of voice
We acquire a repertoire of non-verbal behaviours early in life.
Who said this & what does it suggest?
Ekman & Friesen (1969)
Suggests that there will be individual differences in the skills & uses people have in employing non-verbal communication
What are display rules?
Culture-specific rules that define which behaviours are appropriate to display
They govern the expression of emotion
Give an example of a display rule.
Western cultures discourage the display of emotion in men & anger in women
What are the functions of non-verbal communication?
- collect info about the feelings & intentions of others
- regulate interactions
- express intimacy (touching, mutual eye contact)
- establish dominance/control over others (non-verbal threats)
- facilitate goal attainment
We use _________ to express emotions & _________ to communicate with others.
We use FACIAL EXPRESSIONS to express emotions & DISPLAY RULES to communicate with others.
We can explain a person’s behaviour by crediting their disposition (stable, enduring traits) or the situation.
Who said this?
Heider (1958)
Who proposed Covariation theory?
Kelley (1973)
What does Covariation theory claim?
We make attributions using the covariation principle
What is the covariation principle?
It describes how we attribute someone’s behaviour to internal (their disposition)/external (the environment) causes
How do we decide whether we attribute a person’s behaviour to internal/external causes?
To decide, we assess 3 classes of info associated with the co-occurrence of an action by a person with a potential cause…(useful when we can observe behaviour over several occasions)
What are the 3 classes of info that we assess to decide whether we attribute a person’s behaviour to internal/external causes?
- Consensus - the covariation of behaviour across different people (i.e. agreement)
- Distinctiveness - how unique the behaviour is to the situation
- Consistency - covariation of behaviour across time
What does it mean when consensus is high?
Lots of people agree - e.g. lots of people find Lisa attractive –> attribute their behaviour to the (external) stimulus (Lisa)
What does it mean when distinctiveness is low?
People behave similarly in all situations –> attribute their behaviour to the person (internal)
What does it mean when consistency is low?
People do not always behave like this (e.g. are not always generous) –> attribute their behaviour to the situation (external)
Hewstone & Jaspars (1987) found that when we have low consensus + low distinctiveness + high consistency, we make a ______ attribution.
Hewstone & Jaspars (1987) found that when we have low consensus + low distinctiveness + high consistency, we make a PERSONAL attribution.
Hewstone & Jaspars (1987) found that when we have high consensus + high distinctiveness + high consistency, we make a ______ attribution.
Hewstone & Jaspars (1987) found that when we have high consensus + high distinctiveness + high consistency, we make a STIMULUS attribution.
Hewstone & Jaspars (1987) found that when we have high consensus + low distinctiveness + low consistency, we make a ______ attribution.
Hewstone & Jaspars (1987) found that when we have high consensus + low distinctiveness + low consistency, we make a CIRCUMSTANCE attribution.
Pps were allocated to a questioner/contestant role
Questioners asked the contestants difficult general knowledge questions.
Who did this study & what did they find?
Ross, Amabile & Steinmetz (1975)
Questioners rated superior (more clever) to contestants
What error did pps demonstrate in Ross, Amabile & Steinmetz’s (1975) questioner/contestant study?
Fundamental attribution error
What is the fundamental attribution error
When we overestimate the impact of personal disposition & underestimate the impact of situations when explaining others’ behaviour
It doesn’t explain interpretations of own behaviour, where situational factors are easily recognised & considered
What is the actor-observer bias?
The tendency to make personal attributions for the behaviour of others & situational attributions for ourselves
Pps sat at 3 vantage points around Confederates A & B (behind A/behind B/in between) & watched them interact.
Pps rated the extent to which A & B’s behaviour was caused by personal/situation factors, how each set the tone of the conversation & how each caused the other’s behaviour.
Who did this study & how did pps respond?
Taylor & Fiske (1975)
Pps watching B (sat behind A) rated B as more causal
Pps watching A (sat behind B) rated A as more causal
Pps sat in between perceived A & B as equally influential
What are the cognitive causes of attribution errors?
- perceptual saliency & availability of info
- thinking style
How does perceptual saliency & availability of info influence people to make attribution errors?
It is about knowing/not knowing someone’s situation
Behaviour is often salient while situational factors are not –> we tend to make a personal attribution for others
FAE doesn’t occur for ourselves because we are aware of our own situation (& disposition)
How does thinking style influence people to make attribution errors?
Asian cultures have a holistic thinking style - emphasise the context & situational factors over the individual –> prevents the FAE
Western cultures have an individualist thinking style - emphasise the individual over situational factors –> more prone to the FAE
What are the motivational causes of attribution errors?
- need for self-esteem & self-presentation motives
- need for control (+ belief in a just world)
How does the need for self-esteem & having self-presentation motives influence people to make attribution errors?
Leads to self-serving biases for successes & failures
- successes are often attributed to ourselves
- failures are often attributed to others/the situation
–> i.e. we attribute positive events to our own character & negative events to external factors
How does the need for control influence people to make attribution errors?
When attributing an outcome to someone else’s disposition, it gives us a sense of self-control –> that it won’t happen to you, you can control it
Leads to defensive biases (belief in a just world)
What is ‘belief in a just world’?
A defensive attribution
Believing that people get what they deserve
Attributing failures to dispositional causes (vs. situational = uncontrollable) satisfies the need to believe that the world is fair & we have control over our life
Why are we motivated to see a ‘just world’?
We are motivated to see a just world because…
- it reduces perceived threats
- it gives us a sense of security
- it helps us find meaning in difficult circumstances
- it is psychologically beneficial
What behaviour does ‘belief in a just world’ lead to?
Tend to blame victims
–> reassure ourselves of our insusceptibility to such events
May blame the victim’s own faults to justify their bad outcome
What is mind perception?
Recognising that others have agency & experience
What is ‘agency’?
The capacity for planning, having intentions & setting goals
What is ‘experience’ (in relation to mind perception)?
The capacity for feeling, emotion & desires
What is dehumanisation?
Representing people as objects/animals & denying them of having thoughts/ emotions
Often serves as self-justification for treating others inhumanely
Prevents feelings of empathy –> makes it easier to treat them badly
What is anthropomorphism?
Representing non-humans as humanlike
Often caused by the motivation/need to connect with others &/or to understand & control the world
What is the primacy effect?
When we are given a list of items, we are more likely to remember items at the beginning of the list
Asch (1946) says that our impressions are affected by _____ traits more than _____ traits.
Asch (1946) says that our impressions are affected by CENTRAL traits more than PERIPHERAL traits.
What did pps do in Asch’s (1946) study investigating the primacy effect & what did they find?
Pps formed impressions & wrote characterisations of a person to whom a list of trait adjectives applied
Found that the order of traits influenced their impressions – a person with a list beginning with positive traits (“intelligent”) was rated more positively than a person with a list beginning with negative traits (“envious”)
= primacy effect
Changing which type of trait changes an impression most?
Traits can be central/peripheral according to their fit in the general configuration of traits
Changing a central trait in a series changes the impression more than changing a peripheral trait
When can priming bias impression formation?
Priming can bias impression formation only when applicable info is primed
Pps had to memorise words, including 6 object-nouns (e.g. furniture) & 4 personality traits (positive OR negative)
They were then shown a description about a stimulus person (Donald) & had to categorise his personality as positive or negative
Who did this study & what did they find?
Higgins et al. (1977)
Pps who memorised positive traits formed a positive impression of Donald
They used trait categories that had been previously been primed through unobtrusive exposure to trait terms to form their impression
Pps had formed a schema –> this influenced their impression
Define ‘impression formation’.
When individual pieces of info about a person are integrated to form a global impression of them
What factors can influence impression formation?
- traits (primacy effect, central traits shape impressions more than peripheral traits)
- priming (recently-used info biases impression formation)
What is do Implicit Personality theories describe?
Describe the patterns & biases that a person uses when forming impressions based on a limited amount of info about an unfamiliar person
Our expectations that we build about someone after we know their central traits
What are confirmation biases?
The tendency to seek, interpret & create info that verifies our existing beliefs
What is the self-fulfilling prophecy?
A type of confirmation bias
The process by which our expectations about someone eventually lead that person to behave in ways that confirm those expectations
How do self-fulfilling prophecies cause a behaviour change in another person?
- We have an expectancy/social theory about a target person
- We behave towards the target in a way that is consistent with our expectation/theory
- The target responds to our behaviour in a similar way
- We see the target’s behaviour as proof that our expectation was correct – we don’t realise the role we played in causing the target’s response
Who looked at how to avoid biased social perception?
Gilber & Malone (1995)
What stages did Gilber & Malone (1995) state that we go through when trying to avoid biased social perception?
- We are sitting in class & the teacher asks a question; the student in front of you gets it wrong
- You automatically make an internal attribution about the student
- If you have the time, energy & motivation, you consider other possible explanations (situational)
- You adjust your initial attribution, taking into account other possible external causes
