Person Perception, Attribution, and Stereotypes: Key Psychology Concepts

What is the halo effect in person perception?

The tendency to expect positive characteristics from physically attractive individuals.

What are the Big Five personality traits?

Openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.

What does the Johansson Experiment demonstrate about nonverbal behavior?

Different people exhibit distinct walking patterns, and observers can infer actions from points of light representing movement.

What is the significance of facial expressions in communication?

Facial expressions of happiness, fear, sadness, anger, surprise, and disgust are universal and can be recognized even by blind individuals.

What are some common indicators of deception?

Fidgeting, vocal cues like speech hesitations, and cognitive effort such as telling a story backwards.

What is the primacy effect in impression formation?

The tendency to remember the first traits encountered more favorably than those encountered later.

What does Heider's attribution theory distinguish between?

Personal (internal) attributes, which relate to individual characteristics, and situational (external) attributes, which relate to environmental factors.

What is Kelley's covariation theory?

A theory stating that for one factor to cause a behavior, it must be present when the behavior occurs and absent when it does not.

What are the three types of information in Kelley's covariation theory?

Consensus information, distinctiveness information, and consistency information.

How does low consensus affect attribution?

Different people react differently to the same stimulus, suggesting a personal attribution.

What does high distinctiveness indicate in attribution?

the person reacts differently to various stimuli, suggesting the reaction is specific to the current stimulus.

What does high consistency indicate in attribution?

The person reacts the same way to the same stimulus over time, supporting a stable attribution.

What is augmenting in attribution theory?

The enhancement of the role of a factor in producing an outcome when other limiting factors are present.

What is the contrast effect in person perception?

The tendency to evaluate someone based on how they compare to others, affecting our impressions.

What is the role of mood in person perception?

Mood can influence how we perceive and interpret the behavior of others.

What does Baumeister's research suggest about negative traits?

Negative traits have a stronger impact on impressions than positive traits, making them more memorable.

What is the difference between internal and external attributions?

Internal attributions focus on personal characteristics, while external attributions consider situational factors.

What are central traits according to Asch's theory?

Traits that have a significant impact on our overall impression of a person, such as warmth or coldness.

What is the significance of zero acquaintance in person perception?

Impressions formed with no prior knowledge of the person can still be consistent and accurate regarding certain traits.

What is the impact of speed on first impressions?

People can make similar personality judgments in as little as a tenth of a second compared to unlimited time.

What is discounting in attribution theory?

The role of a factor is diminished if other possible causes are present.

What is the fundamental attribution error?

The tendency to overestimate personal causes and underestimate situational causes in others' behaviors.

What is the actor-observer effect?

Actors tend to make situational attributions while observers tend to make personal attributions.

What is self-serving bias?

The tendency to make favorable attributions to maintain a positive self-concept, taking credit for good outcomes and distancing from bad ones.

What is the ultimate attribution error?

The tendency to attribute positive outcomes of ingroup members to internal factors and negative outcomes to external factors, while doing the opposite for outgroup members.

What is belief perseverance?

The tendency to maintain beliefs even when they have been discredited.

What is confirmation bias?

The tendency to seek or create information that confirms existing beliefs.

What is a self-fulfilling prophecy?

When expectations influence behavior in a way that causes those expectations to come true.

What is the difference between stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination?

Stereotypes are beliefs about group traits, prejudice is feelings towards individuals based on group membership, and discrimination is behavior towards individuals based on group membership.

What is the outgroup homogeneity effect?

The assumption that members of an outgroup are more similar to each other than members of one's ingroup.

What is the cross-race effect?

The phenomenon where individuals are better at recognizing faces from their own ethnic background.

What is subtyping in relation to stereotypes?

Creating a separate category for individuals who do not fit a stereotype, rather than altering the stereotype itself.

What did the Robber's Cave experiment demonstrate?

That real or perceived competition for resources can lead to negative feelings towards outgroup members.

What is cognitive busyness in the context of stereotype activation?

When individuals are cognitively busy, they may not activate stereotypes as readily.

What is the rebound effect in stereotype suppression?

When individuals who suppress stereotypes may later express them even more strongly than those who did not suppress.

What is the fusiform face area in the brain responsible for?

Recognition of faces, with more activation for ingroup members.

What is confirmatory hypothesis testing?

The tendency to seek information that confirms existing suspicions or beliefs.

What did the study by Darley and Gross illustrate?

That participants rated a girl's academic potential higher if they believed she was affluent compared to if they believed she was from an urban background.

What is the significance of the IAT test developed by Greenwald and Banaji?

It measures implicit biases and attitudes towards different social groups.

What is the role of stereotypes in perception according to Sagar and Schofield's study?

Participants interpreted ambiguous behaviors as more aggressive when the actors were black compared to white.

How do stereotypes affect memory according to the findings of Allport and Postman?

People showed better memory for a drawing of a black man holding a knife than a white man.

What is the significance of the concept of distinctiveness in attribution?

It refers to how we assess if a behavior is typical or atypical for a person, influencing our attributions.

What is the role of expectations in teacher-student interactions as shown in Rosenthal and Jacobson's study?

Teachers' expectations can unconsciously influence their behavior towards students, affecting students' performance.