Person Perception and Attribution Theory

This set of vocabulary flashcards covers concepts related to person perception, social cognition, and various attribution biases as discussed in the lecture.

Social cognition

How we judge others in social situations by interpreting and analysing information.

Cognitive bias

A systematic error in thinking generally due to oversimplification of information.

Person perception

The mental process we use to form our impressions of others.

Direct person perception

Information provided from the person we are judging through observing them or interacting with them.

Indirect person perception

Information gathered through hearing about the person from another person or source, such as a friend or reading about them online.

Schema

A pre-existing mental idea relating to a certain topic which helps us interpret/organise new information.

Physical cues

The physical characteristics and behaviours of people, such as clothing or body language, that influence our impressions of them.

Body language

Non-verbal communication in which physical behaviour and movement are used to express a message.

Saliency

Any personal characteristic that is distinctive, prominent, conspicuous or noticeable in its context and therefore attracts attention.

Social categorisation

A mental shortcut used in person perception to categorise people in groups based on their shared characteristics.

Attributions

Inferences we make about the causes of events and behaviours of our own and of others.

Internal attribution

Also called personal attribution, this occurs when we judge behaviour as being caused by something personal within an individual, such as their psychological state, intellect, or ability.

Situational attribution

Occurs when we determine the cause of a behaviour as resulting from situational factors occurring outside the individual, such as the environment or events beyond their control.

Fundamental attribution error

The tendency to overemphasise personal factors and ignore situational factors when judging someone else's behaviour.

Just world theory

A cognitive bias where people believe the world is fair and just, and that everyone gets what they deserve.

Actor-observer bias

The tendency to attribute our own behaviour to situational factors, and other people's behaviours to their internal factors.

Self-serving bias

The tendency to attribute our successes to internal factors and our failures to external factors, often used to maintain self-esteem.