Social Perception & Attribution Lecture

Vocabulary cards covering major concepts, theories, and biases from the lecture on social perception, attribution, and impression management.

Social Perception

The process of forming impressions about others based on available cues such as appearance and behavior.

First Impression

The immediate opinion formed about someone within the first seconds of meeting, often based on appearance and non-verbal cues.

Albert Mehrabian’s 15 % Rule

Theory stating that 15 % of someone’s behavior and appearance is remembered from the first 30 seconds of an encounter.

Attribution

The process of explaining the causes of someone’s behavior, focusing on internal traits or external circumstances.

Correspondent Inference Theory (Jones)

Attribution theory proposing that we infer a person’s disposition from behavior that is freely chosen and not constrained by situational demands.

Freely Chosen Behavior

Actions performed voluntarily without external pressure; essential for accurate dispositional inferences in Jones’s theory.

External Factors

Situational influences outside the individual that can explain behavior (e.g., job demands, social expectations).

Kelley’s Causal Attribution Theory (Covariation Model)

Model stating that people determine internal vs. external causes of behavior by examining consensus, consistency, and distinctiveness information.

Consensus (Kelley)

Whether other people behave the same way in a given situation; high consensus suggests an external cause.

Consistency (Kelley)

Whether the person behaves the same way over time and situations; high consistency supports an internal cause.

Distinctiveness (Kelley)

Whether the person behaves differently in other contexts; high distinctiveness points to an external cause.

Internal Attribution

Explaining behavior as stemming from personal traits or dispositions; in Kelley’s model, indicated by low consensus and high consistency.

Correspondence Bias (Fundamental Attribution Error)

Tendency to attribute others’ behavior to internal causes while overlooking situational influences.

Actor-Observer Effect

Bias in which we attribute our own actions to external factors but others’ actions to internal traits.

Self-Serving Bias

Attribution pattern where we credit successes to internal causes and blame failures on external factors.

Impression Formation

The process by which observers integrate information to form judgments about others.

Impression Management

Deliberate efforts to control how we are perceived by others, often through appearance, behavior, and verbal cues.

Tips for a Good Impression

Smile, dress appropriately, and focus on the first five seconds to shape others’ perceptions positively.