Social Perception - Lecture Notes

Social Perception

  • Social perception is the process by which we form impressions of and make inferences about other people.

  • It is a constructive process influenced by schemas.

Nonverbal Behavior

  • Nonverbal behavior is mostly automatic and includes:

    • Facial expressions

    • Eye contact, gaze

    • Extravocal cues (volume, pitch, speed, inflection)

    • Intentional gestures

    • Body language (posture, orientation, distance, etc.)

Nonverbal Behavior - Facial Expressions

  • Six basic emotions:

    • Fear

    • Anger

    • Surprise

    • Happiness

    • Disgust

    • Sadness

  • These are culturally universal and appear early in life.

  • Culture influences emotional expression through display rules, which dictate when different nonverbal behaviors are appropriate.

  • Decoding facial expressions is often less than 100% accurate because people may display blends of multiple affects simultaneously.

  • Deception: People can mask or exhibit emotions contrary to what they really feel

Nonverbal Behavior - Gender Differences

  • Women are generally better than men at both decoding and encoding nonverbal behavior.

  • Exception: Anger.

Causal Attribution

  • Inferring the causes of outcomes (e.g., behaviors, performance, etc.).

  • Heider’s dichotomy for people’s explanations:

    • Internal (dispositional) attributions

    • External (situational) attributions.

Kelley’s Covariation Model

  • How people make internal vs. external attributions based on 3 dimensions:

    • Consistency

    • Distinctiveness

    • Consensus

Kelley’s Covariation Theory of Attribution-Making (Example)

  • Scenario: Dave argues in Philosophy 101.

    • Question: Is Dave an argumentative guy (internal) or is there something about the class or the professor (external) that causes him to argue?

    • Decision Tree:

      • Does Dave always argue in Philosophy 101?

        • NO (Consistency is low) = External attribution (STOP).

        • YES (Consistency is high) …go to next step……

          • Do most other students argue in Philosophy 101?

            • NO (Consensus is low) …tend toward internal attribution.

            • YES (Consensus is high) …tend toward external attribution.

              • Does Dave argue a lot in all his other classes?

                • NO (Distinctiveness is high) …tend toward external attribution.

                • YES (Distinctiveness is low) …tend toward internal attribution.

Kelley’s Covariation Theory: Summary

  • If consistency is high, distinctiveness is high, and consensus is high = EXTERNAL ATTRIBUTION.

  • If consistency is high, distinctiveness is low, and consensus is low = INTERNAL ATTRIBUTION.

  • If consistency is low = EXTERNAL ATTRIBUTION.

  • This process is relatively automatic.

Attributional Processes

  • The fundamental attribution error is a mistaken inference that a behavior (or outcome) is caused by a person’s disposition (i.e., an internal attribution).

Key Studies:

  • Jones & Harris’ Anti- & Pro-Castro speechmakers

  • Ross et al.’s “Quiz Show”

Fundamental Attribution Error Examples:

  • Jones & Harris Study: Participants attributed attitudes consistent with speeches, even when speakers were assigned to argue either pro- or anti-Castro.

  • Ross, Amabile, & Steinmetz Study: Questioners in a quiz show were rated as more knowledgeable than contestants, even when observers knew the questioners designed the questions.

Fundamental Attribution Error Possible Causes:

  • Correspondence bias

  • Actor/observer difference due to perceptual salience

How Perceptual Salience Influences Attributional Tendencies (Fiske & Taylor, 1975)

  • People tend to attribute more influence to the actor they are visually focused on.

More on Fundamental Attribution Error

  • Possible Causes:

    • Correspondence bias

    • Actor/observer difference due to perceptual salience

    • Biased sampling (seeing others in 1 or very few situations)

    • 2 step process:

      • Automatic internal attribution

      • Controlled search for situational factors

    • Cultural values/beliefs

Attributional Processes & Biases

  • Self-Serving Attributions:

    • Positive outcomes » Internal

    • Negative outcomes » External

  • Why?

    • Maintain Self-Esteem

    • Self-Presentation to others

    • Self-efficacy, illusion of control, and unrealistic optimism

The Role of Culture

  • Individualist Cultures:

    • More prone to FAE.

    • Subject to actor-observer and correspondence biases.

    • More prone to self-serving attributions.

  • Collectivist Cultures:

    • Less prone to FAE.

    • Subject to actor-observer and correspondence biases (when situational info is missing).

    • Less prone to self-serving attributions.

Judgmental Overconfidence

  • Overestimating the accuracy of our beliefs about others and ourselves.

  • We over-rely on dispositions to predict behavior.

  • We over-rely on first impressions, which may be grossly inaccurate (due to the influence of schemas, unrepresentativeness, etc.)

  • Our implicit personality theories may be inaccurate

  • Self-fulfilling prophecy and confirmation bias can contribute to a persistent belief in our own accuracy

Other Attributional Processes & Biases

  • “Defensive” attributions

  • Belief in a Just World

  • Why?

    • Maintain Self-Esteem

    • Reduce threat/uncertainty

    • Self-efficacy, illusion of control, and unrealistic optimism

  • Bias Blind Spot

    • Believing we are less subject to such biases/errors than others

Research on the Bias Blind Spot (Pronin et al., 2002)

  • People tend to think that they are less prone to biases, such as self-serving bias or blaming the victim, than the average person.