Social Perception Seeking To Understand Each Other Flashcards
The process through which we seek
to know other people.
Social Perception
refers to the unspoken ways we convey meaning through body language, facial expressions, gestures, posture, tone of voice, and other physical cues. It can be influenced by both external factors and internal processes, like changes in mood, emotions, physical health, or hormonal fluctuations. These influences can affect how we think, behave, and interact with others, often without us being fully aware of them
NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION
What are the basic channels of nonverbal communication
facial
expressions, eye contact,
body movements, posture,
and touching.
Often interpreted as a sign of
anger or hostility
Staring
Depending on the combination of these factors, _____ can suggest friendliness, affection, sexual interest, dominance, caring, or aggression.
Touch
You’re meeting someone for the first time, and when you extend your hand for a handshake, they offer a limp, cold, and clammy grip. What type of handshake is this commonly known as?
Wet Fish
During a business meeting, a man extends a firm but subtly controlling handshake, aiming to establish early authority and subtly assert dominance. What is this type of handshake commonly known as?
The Vice
You’re introduced to someone in a professional setting, and they give you an extremely firm handshake, gripping your hand with excessive force to the point of discomfort. What type of handshake does this describe?
The Bone-Crusher, which is characteristic of an overly aggressive personality attempting to assert dominance and intimidate others by applying excessive pressure.
During a greeting, a man extends his hand but only manages to grab the fingers of the woman he’s meeting, missing her palm completely. What type of handshake does this describe?
The Fingertip Grab, a common handshake mistake where one person inadvertently grabs only the other person’s fingers instead of a full, proper handshake.
During a greeting, someone extends their arm straight out with little to no flexibility, keeping you at a distance and not allowing for a comfortable handshake. What type of handshake is this?
The Stiff-Arm Thrust, commonly used by aggressive individuals to maintain distance and assert control over their personal space.
You’re about to greet someone, so you stand up, extend your hand straight but slightly in front of your body, with your elbow slightly bent and your thumb pointing upward. You lean forward just enough to show engagement without making the interaction uncomfortable. What type of handshake is this?
The Appropriate Handshake
During a handshake, one person pulls the other into their personal space, maintaining control of the encounter. What type of handshake is this, and what does it indicate about the initiator?
The Socket Wrencher. This gesture suggests that the initiator is either insecure and feels safe only within their own space, or comes from a culture with smaller space needs. Either way, they seek to control the encounter on their terms.
a type of nonverbal
communication involving vocal
effects other than speech, such as
tone (an attitude or feeling conveyed
through sound) and pitch (highness
or lowness of sound).
Paralanguage
the process of identifying the causes behind events or behaviors.
Attribution:
Through attribution, we try to explain why and how things happen, often assigning responsibility to specific people or factors. This process helps us understand not only others’ actions but also the motivations behind our own behavior by analyzing causes and drawing conclusions.
Who proposed the Theory of Correspondent Inference
Proposed by Jones and Davis (1965)
explains how we interpret others’ behaviors to conclude their personality traits. By observing someone’s actions, we try to determine if these actions reflect stable characteristics, such as kindness or reliability. This theory helps us decide whether a person’s behavior is likely to be consistent over time, allowing us to make assumptions about their character based on what we observe.
Theory of Correspondent Inference
Three Major types of information in Kelley’s Covariation Theory and describe them.
- Consensus
Definition: Consensus refers to how similarly other people react to a specific situation compared to the person being evaluated.
Interpretation: High consensus means that many people respond similarly in the same situation, suggesting that the behavior may be typical or influenced by external factors.
Example: If multiple employees are angry at their supervisor after being reprimanded, there is high consensus, as many share the same reaction. - Consistency
Definition: Consistency considers whether the person responds the same way to the same stimulus across different occasions.
Interpretation: High consistency suggests that the person’s response is stable over time, indicating that it’s a reliable part of their reaction pattern.
Example: If an employee consistently feels angry with their supervisor each time they are reprimanded, there is high consistency in their reaction. - Distinctiveness
Definition: Distinctiveness assesses whether the person reacts the same way to various, different stimuli or if their reaction is unique to a specific situation.
Interpretation: High distinctiveness suggests that the reaction is unique to that situation, while low distinctiveness implies a general response to similar events.
Example: If the employee is not only angry at their supervisor but also reacts similarly to other authority figures when reprimanded, there is low distinctiveness, as the reaction is generalized rather than specific.
What is the tendency to assume that others’ behaviors are due to their personality traits, even when situational factors are present?
Correspondence Bias or fundamental attribution error
Why do we tend to explain our own mistakes by blaming the situation, but blame others’ mistakes on their personality?
Actor-Observer effect
It’s a tendency where people credit their own successes to personal qualities or efforts, but blame failures on external factors.
Self-serving bias
For example:
If you do well on a test, you might think, “I succeeded because I’m smart and worked hard.”
However, if you perform poorly, you might think, “The test was unfair,” or “I didn’t get enough time to prepare.”
This bias helps protect self-esteem by attributing success to personal strengths and distancing ourselves from responsibility for negative outcomes.
