L3 Social perception pt2

How does perception work in a social context?

We are both a perciever and a target of other ppl’s perceptions

Ppl, situations and behaviours are the raw data of social perception, and we rely on indirect clues to understand others, which is an interplay between the three factors. 

Process of social perception

1) Intake the interplay between ppl, situation and behaviour in a scenario
2) Form clues/source of info
3) Form social perception of event

How are people as “raw data” percieved?

Faces and physical appearance is evaluated first, can create perceptions of dominance or submissiveness, kind or mean, etc, takes less than a second to form an impression from face

Eg, baby faced ppl are usually seen as kinder and more childish whereas mature faced people are seen as dominant. irl, appearance can subconciously effect decisionmaking of others, eg court judges being influenced by appearance of defendant, which influences sentencing

The reverse scenario also present, sometimes ppl read traits into faces, eg if someone introduces a person as kind, ppl may be more likely to report that they have a cuter baby face as compared to if they were described as mean.

This can be applied to all other physical attributes and even environmental factors like the state of one’s home or work place

How are behaviours as “raw data” percieved?

By recognizing what someone is doing at a given time, can be verbal and nonverbal eg hearing them read or observing their expressions

For example, different types of smiles:
Reward smile → reinforce behaviour
Affliation smile → want to bond
Dominance smile → assert dominance

Touching → hugging, hand holding, sympathetic back pat

Gaze → avoiding or prolonged eye contact can point to personality traits like evasiveness or dominance

Online, behaviour can be conveyed thru texts or emojis

Pluralistic ignorance

Situation where majority of ppl privately reject a norm but assume everyone else accepts it and therefore goes along with it

Most likely comes from fear of causing social consequence, so they conform to the assumed majority while feeling completely different

How are situations as “raw data” percieved?

Social settings provide context to understand other ppls behaviours

We can use scripts/schemas to anticipate and predict sequences that happen in situations with a particular setting

How do ppl analyze and interpret behaviour? W reference to a theory (s)

Attribution theory → dispositional and situational attribution 

uses system 1 and 2

Correspondence inference theory → Inferring from an act whether it corresponds to an enduring trait of the individual thru 3 dimensions

• Choice → freely chosen behavior speaks more abt someone than coerced

• Expectedness → Behaviour that deviates from expectation tells more abt someone

• Effects → Intended effect of behaviour can show intentions of someone, more so if theres one specific intention rather than a variety

Convariation theory → behaviour mainly caused by person’s situation and disposition based on 3 factors

• Consenus → to what extent do ppl agree with this behaviour/or behave the same way towards this person

• Distinctiveness → Did they react uniquely or the same way they react to most things, is this behaviour unusual for them?

• Consistency → Do they react this way to this situation again and again, or just a one time thing?
  
  Results in a situational or dispositional attribution

Perceptual biases (pt 1)

Avaliability heuristic → Estimating the likelihood of event occuring by how easily it comes to mind

False consensous effect →Thinking other ppl share their opinons attributes and behaviours a bit too much, “everyone thinks and acts like me and agrees with me”

Base rate fallacy → overlooking general statistical info in favour of specific vivid details they remember

Counterfactual thinking → thinking of alternative outcomes/events that might have occured but did not

Fundemental attribution error → overexaggerating disposition in attribution and ignoring situational factors

Culture and its effects on perception

Studies show fundemental attribution error is more of a western bias, americans attribute negative actions to disposition more than indians, who attributed more to situational factors

Culture impacts sensitivity to context. Framed line task:

Relative task → Draw line in same proportion as original
Absolute → draw exactly same line in new box

Americans performed better at absolute while japanese performed better at relative

Motivational biases

Wishful seeing → Seeing what u want to see instead of reality lmfao (my crush is totally staring at me rn)

Just world belief → Individuals get what they deserve in life, leads to victim blaming

We victim blame as a defensive strategy to defend our safety and reject this potential situation from happening to us (eg girl gets abused by bf, its her fault for triggering him, i would never get abused bc i don’t trigger my bf)

Information integration theory

Theory that impressions are based of our own disposition + current state in combo with the weighted average of target person’s characteristics

We use ourselves as a standard and compare, we see ourselves as a good standard, and our mood affects our peception of others, our physical orientation, sensations and the surrounding env also impact perception

Perceptual biases (pt 2)

Social priming →Tendency for recently used/perceived word to be recalled easily and influence perception of new info

Primacy effect → rmbring what was percieved at beginning more (first impressions are critical)

Framing effect → Info presented a certain way can influence perception differently

Confirmation bias

Belief perserverance → Continuing with belief even when its been discredited, being stubborn with ur belief

Confirmatory hypothesis testing → Thinking someone exhibits certain trait, engages in biased search for trait, upon finding, reinforces already biased hypothesis

Target characteristics used to form perceptions

Central traits → traits that exert high influence on overall character like warmness/coldness

Some traits are easier to spot and judge than others, eg extraversion

The valence (good or bad-ness) of a trait influences impressions, one bad trait can tarnish entire impression

Absence of favourable evaluation leads us to assume worst (eg professor didnt compliment me so now he hates me)

Context characteristics → seeing the target person w someone u love or dislike, seeing them in a specific environment

Self fufilling prophecy

Process where someones expectations of a person eventually lead them to behave in ways that fit those expectations