PSYCH 220 - Topic 4: Social Perception

Social Perception

The study of how we form impressions of others and make inferences about them based on observable behavior

Nonverbal Communication

Communication without words through facial expressions, tone, gestures, posture, touch, and eye contact

Facial Expressions of Emotion

The most important nonverbal channel; involves encoding (expressing) and decoding (interpreting) emotions

Charles Darwin (1872)

Argued that facial expressions of emotion are universal and not unique to humans—evolved reactions

Ekman & Friesen (1971)

Studied the South Fore people and concluded there are 6 universal emotions recognizable across cultures

Cordaro et al. (2018)

Identified 22 emotions with universal characteristics but noted cultural and contextual variability

Masuda et al. (2008)

Japanese participants were influenced by background faces when judging expressions, while U.S. participants were not

Affect Blend

A facial expression where one part of the face shows one emotion and another part shows a different one

Display Rules

Culturally determined rules about which emotional expressions are appropriate to show

First Impressions

Formed quickly (as fast as 34 ms), often based on facial features and are difficult to change

Todorov et al. (2015)

Found impressions from faces are quick, automatic, and more about perception than conscious thinking

Implicit Personality Theory

A schema used to group traits together, influencing how we interpret others’ personalities

Cameron et al. (2016)

Participants interpreted Alex's behavior differently depending on whether she was described as having high or low self-esteem

Dion et al. (1990)

Collectivist students were less likely to associate attractiveness with positive traits

Hoffman, Lau, & Johnson (1986)

Found that Chinese and English speakers held culturally influenced implicit personality theories

Attribution Theory

The study of how people explain the causes of behavior—either internal (dispositional) or external (situational)

Covariation Model (Kelley, 1967)

We use consensus, distinctiveness, and consistency to determine the cause of behavior

Fundamental Attribution Error

The tendency to overestimate personality and underestimate situational factors in explaining others’ behavior

Jones & Harris (1967)

Participants attributed a writer’s essay stance to their actual beliefs, even when they were assigned the position

Perceptual Salience

Tendency to focus on people rather than context in explanations, leading to overemphasis on personal traits

Two-Step Attribution Process

Step 1: automatic internal attribution; Step 2: effortful consideration of situational factors

Culture and the FAE

Collectivist cultures are less likely to commit the fundamental attribution error and more likely to consider situational causes

Actor/Observer Difference

We attribute others’ actions to traits but our own to situational factors

Self-Serving Attributions

Tendency to credit internal factors for successes and external factors for failures

Ross & Sicoly (1979)

Found people remember contributing more to group tasks than they actually did

Amichai-Hamburger & Etgar (2016)

Participants rated their partner’s phone use as negatively affecting intimacy more than their own use

Defensive Attributions

Explanations that protect us from feelings of vulnerability or mortality

Belief in a Just World

Tendency to believe that people get what they deserve—used to justify victim-blaming

Lerner & Simmons (1966)

Participants blamed the victim more when they had no control over stopping the shocks—supported belief in a just world

Bias Blind Spot

The belief that others are more likely to have attributional biases than we are