W4.b Flashcards
Building blocks: what impinges on our senses?
Physical
Social category: gender, nationality…
Context-environment: We are reflected in the spaces we occupy
Behaviors: verbal and non-verbal; intentional and unintentional
Constructing first impressions
In automatic first impressions, attitudes, self-schema, beliefs…(sense data) are integrated with our existing knowledge
Our existing knowledge structures (esp. that info which is accessible) give meaning to these sense data
What is accessibility in constructing first impressions?
Accessible information gets more weight in the interpretation of cues
Accessibility of knowledge structures from:
Concurrent activation
Frequent activation
Recent activation
What is cue salience in constructing first impressions?
Salient cues get more weight in the impression
Product of context and person
Ability to attract attention.
–unpredictability - stand out from context
What is correspondent inferences?
Assumption that behaviours correspond to traits
What is correspondence bias?
Although some conditions warrant correspondent inferences, people tend to form such inferences even in the absence of such conditions.
They suffer from correspondence bias.
Aka. Fundamental attribution error (FAE): general tendency to overestimate the importance of personal or dispositional factors relative to environmental influences.
How to go beyond first impressions and overcome correspondence bias?
Impressions can be formed rapidly, with minimal information via automatic, superficial processes.
With more motivation, ability and time, we can gather more information and engage in deeper processing.
What is Covariation Theory?
Kelley (1967)
Initial impressions may be modified as we draw on a richer set of covariation information to explain others’ behaviours.
Consensus: does everyone else perform the same behavior towards the same stimulus?
Distinctiveness: does the person perform the same behavior towards other stimuli?
Consistency: does the person always perform this behavior to the stimulus?
How do we form global impressions?
We combine a variety of first impressions, casual attributions and other information into global impressions by aggregating across traits. (not through simple averaging, traits vary in importance)
What is Trait gestalts?
A whole that is more than the sum of it’s parts
What is inter-trait context
Trait meanings are dependent upon inter-trait context
intelligent and cold: sly
intelligent and warm: wise
What are the two major dimensions of traits we use to summarize others’ behaviours?
Communal (social)
Agentic (intellectual)
A third? Moral (Goodwin)
How the goal we have in mind (motivational principle) influence the way we perceive others?
Mastery
People seek accurate impressions when they will be held accountable or when their own outcomes depend on the other person.
Belonging
Depends on whether this evaluation threatens or strengthens their existing relationships
E.g., People with affiliation goals are more likely to assume that others have positive traits
Valuing me and mine
People formed positively biased impressions to make themselves feel good or when we want to see good outcomes
What is attribution?
Process of attributing behaviours to causes.
- Internal dispositional causes: located in the person.
- External, situational causes: in the situation.
What is primacy effect?
A pattern in which early-encountered information has a greater impact than subsequent information.
