Social Psychology Lecture 3: Person Perception, Attribution & The Social Self

Person Perception

The cognitive processes we use to form impressions and make judgments about other people.

Impression Formation

The process of forming an opinion or judgment about someone based on their traits and behaviors.

Central Traits

Traits that are more influential than others when forming an impression, such as warmth and coldness.

Asch's Configural Model

A model suggesting that some traits have a greater impact on impression formation than others.

Warmth

Perceived friendliness, morality, and trustworthiness.

Competence

Perceived ability, skill, and intelligence.

Primacy Effect

The phenomenon where information learned first has a stronger impact than information learned later.

Recency Effect

The tendency for the most recent information to weigh more heavily in impression formation when distracted or tired.

Positivity-Negativity Bias

The tendency for negative information to influence impressions more strongly than positive information.

Halo Effect

The assumption that attractive people are inherently good people, leading to more favorable judgments.

Negativity Bias

The phenomenon where negative information outweighs positive information in forming impressions.

Social Media Influencers

Individuals who craft a 'warm-competent' persona to maximize trust and following.

Physical Appearance

The visual attributes of a person that can influence perceptions and judgments about their character.

Evolutionary Survival Advantage

The concept that detecting threats is more urgent than recognizing allies, influencing bias in impressions.

Cultural Variation in Aesthetics

The idea that different societies value different aesthetic features, affecting perceptions of beauty.

Applications of Warmth

Politicians and influencers project warmth through smiling and empathy cues to enhance their appeal.

Job Candidate Impression

Candidates benefit from appearing 'warm and competent' in interviews to improve their chances.

Celebrity Scandal Impact

A single scandal can overshadow years of good deeds, demonstrating the negativity bias.

Attractive Individuals in Studies

Attractive individuals are rated as more kind, competent, and socially skilled than unattractive ones despite identical résumés.

Courtroom Bias

Attractive defendants are less likely to be convicted due to the halo effect.

Social Media Filters

Filters and aesthetics on social media can manipulate perceived warmth and trustworthiness.

Critique of Impression Formation Models

Impression formation models can be overly simplistic, as they do not account for context and culture.

Fiske et al. (2007)

Research identifying warmth and competence as two universal dimensions of social perception.

Warmth & Competence

Universal dimensions identified by Fiske.

Applications of Impression Formation

Relevant in social media, politics, hiring, dating, and law.

First Impressions Online

Formed in under 100 milliseconds before reading text or context.

Attribution Theory

The process by which people infer the causes of behaviour.

Internal Attribution

Inferring causes based on personal traits or motives.

External Attribution

Inferring causes based on context or environment.

Self-Protective Attribution

Attributing failure to external factors to protect self-esteem.

Heider's Theory of the Naïve Scientist

Humans act like mini-scientists testing hypotheses about behaviour.

Preference for Stable Causes

Personality traits are preferred over situational causes.

Fundamental Attribution Error

Overestimating internal causes and underestimating situational ones.

Correspondent Inference Theory

Deciding if a person's action reflects their personality based on choice, expectedness, and intention.

Social Media Activism

Questions whether public virtue signals reflect true values or self-presentation motives.

Kelley's Covariation Model

A scientific approach to attributions based on consistency, distinctiveness, and consensus.

Consistency

Whether a person behaves the same way every time in similar situations.

Distinctiveness

Whether the behaviour is unique to a specific situation.

Consensus

Whether others behave the same way in similar situations.

Example of Internal Attribution

A student says, 'I'm bad at statistics.'

Example of External Attribution

A student says, 'That exam was impossible.'

Example of High Consistency

If Sarah always shouts at a colleague when stressed.

Example of Low Distinctiveness

If Sarah snaps at everyone, not just coworkers.

Example of Low Consensus

If others do not behave irritably under pressure.

Heider (1958): Naïve Scientists

We seek motives behind behaviour and distinguish between internal vs external causes.

Jones & Davis (1965): Correspondent Inference

The theory that we infer internal traits from observed behavior based on choice, expectedness, and intention.

Kelley (1973): Covariation Model

A model that states high consistency, low distinctiveness, and low consensus indicate internal causes.

The Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE)

The tendency to overestimate internal causes of others' behaviour and underestimate external influences.

Correspondence Bias

The assumption that people's behaviour corresponds to their personality.

Example of FAE

Assuming someone is clumsy for tripping rather than considering the floor was wet.

Real-world example of FAE

Assuming unemployed people are lazy rather than affected by structural inequalities.

Classic Evidence for FAE

Studies that demonstrate the tendency to attribute behavior to personality rather than situational factors.

Jones & Harris (1967) - The Fidel Castro Study

Participants assumed pro-Castro essays reflected pro-Castro attitudes, even when writers had no choice.

Ross, Amabile & Steinmetz (1977) - The Quiz Show Study

Observers rated the questioner as more intelligent despite knowing roles were randomly assigned.

Actor-Observer Effect (Jones & Nisbett, 1972)

The tendency to explain our own behavior differently from others, attributing negative outcomes to external causes.

Observer (others)

Attributes negative outcomes to internal causes, e.g., 'She failed because she's lazy.'

Actor (self)

Attributes negative outcomes to external causes, e.g., 'I failed because the exam was unfair.'

Self-image protection pattern

For negative outcomes, we protect our self-image by denying personal fault.

Credit claiming pattern

For positive outcomes, we claim credit for our success.

Classic example of Actor-Observer Effect

In sports interviews, players claim 'We won because we trained hard' vs. 'We lost because of bad referees.'

Critique of Actor-Observer Effect

May reverse in collectivist cultures where modesty norms reduce self-serving bias.

Perceptual Salience

The actor is visually and mentally 'in focus'; the situation fades into background.

Just-World Belief

People need to believe the world is fair — that people get what they deserve.

Cultural Influence

Individualist cultures emphasise personal responsibility; collectivist cultures consider context more.

Cross-cultural studies

FAE weaker in Eastern collectivist cultures (Japan, China) because people are more attuned to situational context.

Social media 'cancel culture'

Often reflects FAE — we judge single tweets as defining character, ignoring stress, context, or intent.

Bauman & Skitka (2010)

Study showing 53% of participants showed correspondence bias even though they knew essays were assigned.

Personal Relationships

Couples blame partner's personality instead of situation, leading to more conflict.

Health & Mental Health

People blame themselves for illness, increasing guilt; depression linked to internal, stable, global attribution style.

Education

Students credit success to ability but failure to unfair exams; growth mindset encourages situational attributions.

Politics & Policy

Voters explain poverty or crime by individual flaws, leading to punitive rather than supportive policy.

Media coverage of homelessness

Often personalises 'failed individuals' instead of contextualising (housing policy, economic inequality).

Actor-Observer Effect

Others → internal; Self → external.

Classic Studies

Jones & Harris (1967): Pro/anti-Castro essays; Ross et al. (1977): Quizmaster study.

Victim blaming

A consequence of FAE where individuals are blamed for their misfortunes.

Mental health stigma

Negative perceptions and beliefs about mental health issues influenced by FAE.

Policy bias

Attributions affecting the formulation of policies, often leading to punitive measures.

Illness representations

Beliefs about what caused their illness, influencing coping and stigma.

Causal attributions

Influence coping and emotional adjustment; internal + controllable attributions → higher guilt, lower self-compassion.

Depressogenic attributional style

A pattern where people with depression explain bad events using internal, stable, and global causes.

Internal cause

An explanation attributing events to personal fault, e.g., 'It's my fault.'

Stable cause

An explanation suggesting that a situation will always be the same, e.g., 'It'll always be this way.'

Global cause

An explanation that generalizes failure to all areas, e.g., 'Everything I do fails.'

Cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT)

A therapeutic approach that helps clients restructure attributions toward external, unstable, and specific explanations.

Attribution retraining

A technique that involves reframing causes to improve relationship communication and forgiveness.

Entity theory of intelligence

The belief that intelligence is fixed, leading to the view that failure indicates a personal flaw.

Incremental theory of intelligence

The belief that intelligence is malleable, viewing failure as an opportunity to improve.

Growth mindset

An intervention that teaches students to attribute failure to effort rather than ability.

Attribution bias

The tendency to attribute social problems to internal causes, influencing support for punitive policies.

Cultural emphasis on individualism

A societal focus that strengthens internal explanations for social issues, affecting media framing and policy design.

Health applications of attribution

Illness attributions affect coping and stigma.

Mental health applications of attribution

Depressogenic attributions lead to hopelessness.

Relationship applications of attribution

Internal blame fuels conflict.

Education applications of attribution

Growth mindset promotes effort-based attributions.

Politics applications of attribution

Internal blame fosters victim-blaming and poor policy.

Core idea of attribution theory

The way we explain events shapes how we feel, how we treat others, and what kind of society we build.

Sweeney, Anderson & Bailey (1986)

A meta-analysis that confirmed the pattern of depressogenic attributional style.

Alloy, Abramson & Francis (1999)

Research showing that those with depressogenic attributional style were 17× more likely to develop depression later.

Bradbury, Fincham & Beach (1996)

Research indicating that couples who attribute negative behavior to stable, global, and intentional causes report more hostility and lower satisfaction.

McClure et al. (2011)

Research showing that high achievers take credit for good marks and deflect blame for poor ones.