PSYC 343 Social Perception

Ch 4

What is Social Perception?

the study of how we form impressions and make inferences about other people

Why is social perception necessary?

Helps to understand and predict our social worldand navigate social interactions effectively.

What is Nonverbal Communication?

the ways in which people communicate, intentionally or unintentionally

What are some of the channels for nonverbal communication?

Facial expressions, gestures, posture, eye contact/gaze, and tone of voice.

Why and how is nonverbal communication used?

to convey emotions, attitudes, and intentions, and personality

What does Encoding mean in reference to social perception?

to express nonverbal behavior

What does Decoding mean in reference to social perception?

to interpret the meaning of other’s expressions

Arguable the most important channel?

facial expression

What are Affect Blends?

facial expressions in which one part of the face registers an emotion while a different part registers another

What are Emblems?

gestures with a meaning specific to a certain culture

What are Display Rules?

cultural rules that determine what behaviors are appropriate to display

Reasons for Evolutionary psychology in the social psychology field?

evolution has shaped our behavioral reflexes and instincts, developing physiological and biological adaptions for survival (flight vs fight, social perception, facial expressions, and thinking style)

What are Biproducts of Adaptions?

incidental effects of an adaptation (ex. stress)

Examples of evolutionary psych in reference to social psychology?

nonverbal communication, flight vs fight, social perception, facial expressions, and thinking style, conformity, heuristics

Self-esteem functions as what throughout our evolution?

an internal tracker of our social status

What is thin slicing?

drawing meaningful conclusions about someone’s personality based on a brief example of behavior

What is the Primacy Effect?

the first trait we learn about others influences the information we learn next, while our schemas organize and assume traits

What is Belief Perseverance?

the tendency to stick with our initial judgement even when new information prompts us to reconsider

What is the Attribution Theory?

explaining the causes of peoples behavior, due to ambiguity, and the open interpretations of someone’s behavior

What is an Internal Attribution?

when a person’s behavior is often driven by their attitude, character, personality and internal disposition

What is an External Attribution?

when a person’s behavior is driven by their external situation, with an assumption most people would behave the same way

What is the Covariation Model?

a theory of how we make an attribution based on the persons pattern on behavior and the presence of possible situational causes

What is Consistency? (Covariation)

extent to which the person behaves he same way towards the stimuli overtime

What is Distinction? (Covariation)

extent to which the person behaves the same way across different situations

What is Consensus? (Covaritation)

extent to which other people would behave the same way in the given situation

People tend to relay on which two types of covariation to make an attribution?

consistency and distinctiveness

High consensus + high distinctiveness =

external attribution

Low consensus + low distinctiveness =

internal attribution

What is the Fundamental Attribution Error/Correspondence Bias?

tendency to overestimate people’s behavior as internal and underestimate situational factors

What is Perceptual Salience?

the seeming importance of information that is noticeable, what can be observed is more valuable

What is the Two Step Attribution Process?

analyzing someone’s behavior by first making an internal attribution and only then putting situational causes into perspective

What are Self-Serving Attributions?

crediting ones success to internal factors, while blaming failures on external factors, maintaining self esteem

What is a “Belief in a Just World”?

a defensive attribution believing people get what they deserve and deserve what they get, relieving anxiety for random tragedies

What is a Bias Blind Spot?

the tendency to think other people are more susceptible to attribution biases than we are

Is the fundamental attribution error and self-serving bias more prevalent in eastern or western cultures?

more common in western cultures, less in eastern, fitting the holistic thinking style

What is an Independent View of Self? 

defining oneself in terms of own’s own internal thoughts, feelings, and actions - more common in western cultures

What is an Interdependent View of Self?

defining oneself in terms of relationships to other people - more common in Eastern cultures