Topic 4 - Social Perception Flashcards
What is social perception?
the study of how we form impressions of and make inferences about other people inside our social spheres
What is nonverbal communication? Give examples.
how people communicate, intentionally or unintentionally, without words, their emotions, attitudes, moods, intentions, and personalities
ex. facial expressions, tone of voice, gestures, body position, movement, use of touch, gaze
What is proxemics?
Refers to how you are using your body position in space
ex. Can stand near you, but can do that in many different ways that communicate different things
ex. closed or open sitting position
What is the crown jewel of nonverbal communication? Why?
the facial expressions channel
Why? Communicativeness of human face is actually very remarkable
We are capable of making and reading subtle emotions through our faces
What does encoding and decoding emotion mean?
Encoding emotions: to express or emit nonverbal behaviour
Decoding emotions: to interpret the meaning of nonverbal behaviour
Can you have encoding errors? Decoding errors?
can have both encoding errors and decoding errors
ex. with RBF
What are the universal emotions?
Anger, happiness, sadness, surprise, fear, disgust
What are the 2 possible candidates that could possibly be added to the universal emotions?
Pride and shame
What is Darwin’s belief on emotions (relating to species and culture)?
Nonverbal forms of communication are species specific, not culture specific
How might facial expressions relate to evolution according to Darwin’s findings?
What evidence is there for this?
Facial expressions are vestiges of once-useful physiological reactions
evidence with fear and disgust as warnings to others AND to increase and decrease perception and sensory organ size
Why can decoding of emotions sometimes be difficult?
Because of affect blends.
Facial expressions in which one part of the face registers one emotion while another part of the face registers a different emotion.
What dictates what kinds of emotional expressions people are supposed to show (ex. in different settings)?
Are they species or culture specific?
Display rules
which are CULTURE specific
Are pride and shame seen in both sighted and blind athletes? What does this suggest?
Same for sighted and blind athletes
Tells us that is not just something that is visually learned from observing others - suggests that there is a component of universality to the expression of pride/shame
How are display rules of pride and shame often different across cultures?
Sighted athletes from highly individualistic cultures (ex. United States and Western Europe) did not show shame when they lost or didn’t perform as well because in individualistic cultures, shame is a negative and stigmatized emotion, so we tend to hide our display.
Display rules dictate that in Canada, U.S., and other Western Individualistic cultures, we tend to cover up our shame (show more disappointment, indignant, or wanting to blame others for failure).
Are there differences in display rules between groups?
Yes. Examples:
Japan - covering negative emotions, reduced facial expressions vs. West
America/Canada - men largely discouraged from emotional displays that signal vulnerability (crying) - more acceptable for women
rural vs. urban: distinct masculine ideals exist across regions, and “masculinities in rural spaces were marked with more rigidity that flexible urban areas”
Why does it matter that display norms in Western, and especially rural areas generally discourages males from showing emotion?
Display rules influence help-seeking and the availability of social support
Canadian prairies: highest suicide rates of all Canadian provinces, excluding Territorial North
Farmers: some of the highest suicide rates of any industry
Rural masculine norms and display rules can prevent talking about, seeking help for, or receiving social support related to emotional distress
Are rural men more likely to talk about mental health in the private sphere or expressing weakness in public?
might talk about mental health in private sphere
What is the display rule difference in terms of eye contact in America and Nigeria, Thailand, or Puerto Rico?
America: suspicious when people do not look them in the eye
Nigeria, Puerto Rico, Thailand: direct eye contact can be considered disrespectful
How does standing space differ between Western and Eastern countries?
West: like bubble of personal space; touching limited
Middle East, South America, Southern Europe: stand closer to each other; touch frequently
What are the types of space/distance that differ across cultures?
Intimate space
Personal space
Social space
Public space
What are emblems?
Are they universal?
Nonverbal gestures that have well-understood definitions within a given culture
Usually have direct verbal translations
They are NOT universal
Can the way we dress communicate different things?
Yes, begins to move into first impressions
What are first impressions and how are they made?
Impressions based on the slightest cues
Fast and automatic
Patterns of assumptions/judgements
Rely on person schemas - make all sorts of judgements about the person’s character, nature, intentions, etc.
Initial impressions of others based only on appearance are formed how quickly?
We form initial impressions of others solely based on appearance in less than 100 milliseconds
What is thin-slicing?
Thin-slicing explores how limited exposure to other people is enough for us to form meaningful first impressions about their abilities and personalities
(meaningful does NOT mean accurate, but in the sense of impacting the way the interaction goes)
Refers to social perceptions we make about others based on extremely brief snippets of behaviour
In terms of first impressions, what is the primacy effect?
Is it possible to change beliefs after?
the first traits we perceive in other influence how we view information that we learn about them later
possible to change beliefs, but difficult
What is belief perseverance?
the tendency to stick with an initial judgement even in the face of new information that should prompt us to reconsider