Research Methods: Impression Formation

What is an impression of another person?

It is what you think the person is like based on your observation of them.

Why do we form impressions of others?

To make judgments about them, which guide our expectations in future interactions.

What is a cognitive bias?

Systematic errors in thinking that arise from the way the brain processes information.

What is social cognition?

The mental processes involved in understanding and interacting with the social world, including how we perceive, interpret, and respond to social situations.

What is the false consensus effect?

An overestimation of the extent to which others share our beliefs.

What is confirmation bias?

The tendency to pay attention to information consistent with one's beliefs and ignore or discard information inconsistent with them.

What is a self-fulfilling prophecy?

When desired or expected outcomes are more likely to occur because we unknowingly act in ways to bring them about.

What is the primacy effect?

An order of presentation effect where earlier presented information disproportionately influences social cognition.

Why are first impressions important?

They shape how we interpret all further behavior of a person.

What is the recency effect?

An order of presentation effect where later presented information disproportionately influences social cognition.

What is positivity bias?

In the absence of contrary information, we tend to assume the best and form a positive impression of people.

What is negativity bias?

Negative information attracts our attention and strongly influences our impressions in a way that is resistant to change.

What is the configural model in impression formation?

A model proposing that impression formation is processed through the assignment of values or traits, distinguishing between central and peripheral traits.

What are central traits?

Traits that are influential in the formation of impressions.

What are peripheral traits?

Traits that have insignificant influence in the formation of impressions.

What are personal constructs?

Personal ways of forming impressions of others, often based on judgments about valued traits.

What are implicit personality theories?

Principles for how certain traits go together to form certain types of personality, influenced by culture.

What are stereotypes?

Widely shared and evaluative images of a social category and its members.

How are stereotypes acquired?

From people around us, including parents, teachers, peers, and the media.

What is a key finding from Haire & Grune (1950) regarding stereotypes?

Participants struggled to include the trait 'intelligent' when describing a 'working class man,' showing the influence of stereotypes.

What did Hunzaker (2014) find about stereotypes and adversity?

Stereotypes can be used to justify people's experiences of adversity, such as assuming poor people are not smart.

What was the difference in the stories read by participants in Hunzaker's study?

The only difference was whether Eric received severance pay after losing his job.

What mental process does the stereotype of blue-collar workers maintain?

It maintains inequalities, suggesting that people of low status remain in low status.

What is the significance of the 'working class man' study?

It illustrates how stereotypes can distort perceptions and lead to inaccurate impressions.

What role do central and peripheral traits play in impression formation?

Central traits significantly influence impressions, while peripheral traits have little impact.

How does the positivity bias affect our impressions?

It leads us to form positive impressions when we lack negative information.

How does the negativity bias affect our impressions?

It causes negative information to have a stronger impact on our impressions, making them resistant to change.