WEEK 3 - perceiving others Flashcards
What are the elements of social perception
- Thin slice accuracy
- Trouble detecting lies
What is thin slices
People can create judgmenets about a person (aggression, likeablness etc) within seconds by looking at their face
People were able to agree on a ratings of teachers’ based on nonverbal behaviour seen in a silent video clips.
What does thin slices teach us?
We can pick up a lot of meaningful information in
a short amount of time!
Are people good at detecting lies?
NO
Why are people not good at dedecting lies?
- they tend to focus too much on faces
- a lot of available cues aren’t good indicators
What helps somone dedect a lie?
- Voice - hesitate, then speed up/raise pitch
- Cognitive effort - lying is harder to do than telling the truth, so easier to detect if you add a cognitive challenge. You can get someone to apply effort by asking them to say the story backwards
What the two attibution theories
- Correspondent inference theory
- Covariation model
What is attribution?
- How people explain the causes of behaviour
- People onstruct theories to explain behaviour
- people draw upon personal/dispositional and situational explanations
What is personal attribution
An internal characteristic of the person caused the behaviour
(e.g., ability, personality, mood, effort)
What is situational attribution
An external factor caused the behaviour (e.g., the task, other people, luck)
Correspondent Inference Theory
- Theory helps us understand the process of making an internal attribution. They say that we tend to do this when we see a correspondence between motive and behavior. For example, when we see a correspondence between someone behaving in a friendly way and being a friendly person
- what you see is what you get –> aggressive action due to aggressive personality
- The term correspondent inference to refer to an occasion when an observer infers that a person’s behavior matches or corresponds with their personality
What leads us to make a correspondent inference?
- Choice: If the behavior is freely chosen
- Unexpected, departs from what norms and roles dictate
- Produces fewer desirable effects
What is covariation model
The cause of a behaviour should be present when the behaviour occurs and absent when it does not
The model aimed at determining the causes of the behaviours, facts or events that we observe. When there are multiple different events that may be the triggering cause of a behaviour, only those that are shown to be consistently related to it over time, will be considered as the cause of the behaviour.
What are the three types of information that the covariation model uses?
consensus
distinctiveness
consistancyy
what is consensus in the covariation model
Do other people react similarly to
this stimulus?
what is distictivness in the covariation model
Does this person react differently to
other stimuli?
What is consistency in the covariation model
Does this person react similarly to
this stimulus on other occasions?
What is the Fundamental Attribution Error
- Tendency to overlook situational factors and instead make internal attributions for others’ behaviour
- For example, ttribute poverty to the person rather than social conditions
Why does the Fundamental Attribution Error mostly occur
Attribution is a two-step process
- Identify the behaviour and make personal attribution- this happens fast and automatic (this is step one and always happens)
- Amend attribution to account for situational factors- this doesn’t always happen and requires thought and effort (this is step two and doesn’t always happen)
When is it harder to amend the attribution made the two step process?
- Adjust for the situation less when under cognitive load or unmotivated
When jusging someone what attribution are you likely to make if the person is salient (the focus, the thing you notice)
internal attribution
When looking at a situation that is salient (noticeable, recognisable) what attribution would you make
external/situational attribution
Is a person or situation normally more salient?
the person is, leading to interal attribution
WHat culture is the fundamental attribution error more common in and why
Western culture due to the indepenednet view of ourself which makes us use abstract traits (i.e - I’m funny, smart, outgoing etc)
What is the ‘Belief in a just world)
- When bad things happen to good people it threatens our belief in a just world
- belief that the world is a fair place and that good things happen to good people
- when something is not ‘just’ it makes us feel anxious because if that happened to them, it could
happen to us
Asch’s configural model (1946)
Takes a holstic view to impression formation
- Says that some traits are more useful for constructing an integrated impression. these traits are Central traits (e.g., warm vs. cold)
- Peripheral traits have less of an impcact (e.g., polite vs. blunt)
The two tmost fundamental
social dimensions when forming an impression
Warmth: good or ill intent
Competence: ability to act on intentions
How do we put together traits to form an overall impression?
order matters
* Primacy effect: earlier info has a bigger impact on impressions (intelligent, industrious, impulsive, critical, stubborn, envious) rated more positively than
* (envious, stubborn, critical, impulsive, industrious, intelligent)
- Why? More attention, can change interpretation
- Valence matters - negative info is more distinctive, has a bigger impact
What are the three confirmation biases?
- Perseverance of belief
- Confirmatory hypothesis testing
- Self-fulfilling prophecy
What is confirmation bias?
- Sometimes initial biases can persist, even when more information becomes available
- To explain why or how this happens we can look at confirmation biases
- Interpret, seek and create information that support our views
What is perseverance of belief
Belief perseverance is the tendency to maintain one’s beliefs even in the face of evidence that contradicts them
What happens when information disconfirms our beliefs?
the belief still preservers
What is Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
Prediction that directly or indirectly causes itself to become true,
step 1: percievers expectations
step 2:percievers behaviour towards the target
step 3: targets behaviour towards perceiver
What is Confirmatory Hypothesis
We actively search for information to confirm our hypotheses
What are the Elements of Social Perception
- Thin slice accuracy
- Trouble detecting lies
What are the attribution Theories
- Correspondent inference theory
- Covariation model
What are the Biasing Factors that humans are effected by
- Fundamental attribution error - Underlying process - culture
- Belief in a just world
What are the impression formation theories/studies
- Central traits - Warmth and competence
- Primacy and valence effects
What is the sleeper effect
a persuasive message from a non-credible
source becomes more persuasive over
tim
