chp. 4 Social Perception

What is social perception?

The study of how we form impressions of and make inferences about other people.

How do we form impressions of others according to Asch (1946)?

A glance and a few spoken words are often enough to form an impression of a person’s character.

What are the four types of physical appearance signs mentioned?

Static signs, slow signs, rapid signs, artificial signs.

What is baby-facedness associated with, according to Zebrowitz (1996)?

Baby-faced individuals are seen as warm, weak, and submissive and are judged less guilty in small claims courts.

What are the four types of nonverbal cues?

Facial expressions, body language, gaze (eye contact), vocal cues.

Why can interpreting nonverbal cues be difficult?

Because affect blends can occur, where one part of the face shows one emotion while another part shows a different emotion.

What does 'thin slicing' refer to in social perception?

Drawing meaningful conclusions about another person’s personality or skills based on an extremely brief sample of behavior.

What did Ekman & O’Sullivan (1991) find about deception detection?

Subjects watching videotapes of women lying or telling the truth had a chance guessing rate of 50%. (hard to tell when people are lying- no one is good at it)

What is Fritz Heider's attribution theory?

People automatically form inferences about whether a person's behavior was caused by an internal characteristic or by some external factor.

What are the three assessments used in the covariation model of attribution?

Consensus, distinctiveness, and consistency.

When is an internal attribution made according to covariation theory?

When consistency is high, and consensus and distinctiveness are low.

What is the two-step model of attribution?

A model that includes making an automatic dispositional inference followed by an effortful situational correction.

What is the fundamental attribution error?

The tendency to overestimate the influence of personal factors and underestimate situational factors as causes of behavior.

What is the actor-observer bias?

The tendency to make external attributions for one's own behaviors while making internal attributions for the behaviors of others.

What is self-serving bias?

The tendency to explain one's successes as due to dispositional qualities while attributing failures to situational factors.

How does culture influence attribution biases?

Fundamental attribution error and self-serving bias are more prevalent in Western, individualistic cultures than in Eastern, collectivist cultures.

What is the spotlight effect?

The tendency to overestimate the extent to which our actions and appearance are noticed by others.

What is the belief in a just world according to Lerner (1980)?

The belief that the world is fair and that people get what they deserve.