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This multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are prohibited by law:• any public performance or display, including transmission of any image over a network;• preparation of any derivative work, including the extraction, in whole or in part, of any images; • any rental, lease, or lending of the program.

Social Perception: Perceiving and Understanding Others

Copyright 2006, Allyn and Bacon


Social PerceptionSocial Perception

• Nonverbal Communication

• Attribution

• Impression Formation and Impression Management


Social PerceptionSocial Perception

• Social Perception—process through which people seek to know and understand others


Nonverbal CommunicationNonverbal Communication

• Nonverbal Communication—communication between individuals that relies on an unspoken language of facial expressions, eye contact, and body language– Basic channels

• Facial expressions—reveal current moods/feelings• Eye contact—indicates positive feelings (except staring)• Body language (gestures, posture, movements)—reveals emotional states, cultural

emblems• Touching—suggests affection, sexual interest, dominance, caring, aggression


Nonverbal CommunicationNonverbal Communication• Recognizing Deception: The Role of Nonverbal

Cues– Microexpressions—fleeting facial expressions lasting only a

few tenths of a second– Interchannel discrepancies (nonverbal cues are inconsistent)– Eye contact (blink more, unusually low or high eye contact) – Exaggerated facial expressions (overly broad smile)– Linguistic Style—aspects of speech apart from the meaning

of the words employed (pitch of voice)• Lies are less complex, less related to the self, and more negative.


Nonverbal CommunicationNonverbal Communication

• What are your thoughts?What are your thoughts?

– Which channels of nonverbal communication are the most reliable?

• Why?

– What explains why women are generally better than men are at sending and interpreting nonverbal cues?

– Why is it difficult to tell if someone is lying? • Why is it typically harder for women to detect deception

than it is for men?


AttributionAttribution

• Attribution—process through which people seek to identify the causes of others’ behavior and so gain knowledge of their stable traits and dispositions



• Theories of Attribution– Jones and Davis’ (1965) Theory of Correspondent

Inference—describes how people use others’ behavior as a basis for inferring their stable dispositions

• What factors are considered important in this process?– Behavior is freely chosen.

– Behavior yields noncommon effects—effects produced by a particular cause that could not be produced by any other apparent cause.

– Behavior is low in social desirability (or unusual).



– Kelley’s (1972) theory of causal attributions

• People attribute the cause of others’ behavior to internal or external factors.

– Internal—caused by person’s traits (disposition)

– External—caused by situation

• To explain other’s behavior the following are used:– Consensus—extent others behave in same way toward the stimulus

– Consistency—extent person always behaves this way toward the stimulus

– Distinctiveness—extent person responds in the same way toward different stimuli



– Kelley’s (1972) theory of causal attributions

• People attribute the causes of others’ behavior to internal factors when:

– Consensus and distinctiveness are low, but consistency is high.

• People attribute the causes of others’ behavior to external factors when:

– Consensus, consistency, and distinctiveness are all high.

• People attribute the causes of others’ behavior to a combination of internal and external factors when:

– Consensus is low, but consistency and distinctiveness are high.


AttributionAttribution• Other dimensions of causal attributions (besides

internal-external) are stable-unstable and controllable-uncontrollable, which all influence judgments concerning personal responsibility.

– When multiple potential causes for behavior are present, the following may occur:

• Discounting Principle—tendency to attach less importance to one potential cause of some behavior when other potential causes are also present

• Augmenting Principle—tendency to attach greater importance to a potential cause of behavior if the behavior occurs despite the presence of other, inhibitory causes


Attribution Attribution

• Some Basic Sources of Error– Correspondence Bias (Fundamental attribution

error)—tendency to explain others’ actions as stemming from dispositions even in the presence of clear situational causes; tendency to overestimate the impact of dispositional factors

• This error is more common or stronger in individualist cultures (Western Europe, the United States, and Canada).

• This error is committed against groups, as well as individuals.


Attribution Attribution

• Some Basic Sources of Error– Actor-Observer Effect—tendency to attribute own

behavior mainly to situational causes, but the behavior of others mainly to internal (dispositional) causes

– Self-Serving Bias—tendency to attribute positive outcomes to internal causes, but negative outcomes to external causes

• Cognitive and motivational factors may explain this bias.

• This bias is stronger in individualist cultures.



• Applications of Attribution Theory– Attribution and Depression

• Depressed persons often show a self-defeating pattern of attributions, which is the opposite of the self-serving bias.

– Attribute negative outcomes to stable, internal causes– Attribute positive outcomes to temporary, external causes



• Applications of Attribution Theory– Attribution in Workplaces

• Attributions affect how people perceive sexual harassment.

– Men are more likely than women are to attribute blame to the victim.

– Changing men’s attributions regarding sexual harassment may help to prevent it.




– What are differences between Jones and Davis’ correspondent inference theory and Kelley’s causal attribution theory?

– What are reasons why the fundamental attribution error, the actor-observer effect, and the self-serving bias occur?

– What are explanations for the cultural differences in the tendency to commit some of the attribution errors?


Impression FormationImpression Formation

• Asch’s (1946) Research on Impression Formation– Impression Formation involves more than combining

individual traits.

• Implicit Personality Theories—beliefs about what traits or characteristics tend to go together– These theories are similar to a schema. – Implicit theories can influence the impressions of

others more than people’s actual traits. • An example is the implicit personality theory people hold

regarding the relationship between birth order and personality traits.



• A Cognitive Perspective– How do people combine diverse information about

others into a unified impression of them?• People form impressions by averaging available

information.

– What kind of information do people focus on when meeting others for the first time?

• People focus first on information about others’ traits, values, and principles.



• Other Aspects of Impression Formation– First impressions involve two major components:

• Concrete examples of behaviors consistent with a given trait (exemplars of the trait)

• Mental summaries abstracted from repeated observations of others (abstractions)

– Motives influence the kind of impressions people form of others.


Impression ManagementImpression Management

• Impression Management (Self-Presentation)—efforts to produce favorable first impressions on others

– Research indicates that it does have positive effects.

– Tactics of impression management• Self-enhancement—boost one’s appeal to others

– Boost physical appearance, boast about abilities

• Other-enhancement—induce positive moods in others– Use flattery, express liking, agree with their views

» If overused, tactics can boomerang (slime effect can occur).


Impression ManagementImpression Management

– The role of high cognitive load

• In most situations, it can interfere with people’s efforts to give others a favorable impression of them.

– First impressions on the run: Speed dating

• People are given seven minutes to impress potential dates.

– Research indicates that generally people appear to form initial judgments about others in about one or two minutes.


Impression Formation and ManagementImpression Formation and Management


– Can first impressions of others be changed?

• What are strategies people can employ to change an unfavorable first impression that someone formed of them?

– What are the advantages and disadvantages of speed dating?

• If you were looking for a romantic partner, would you consider trying it?

– Why or why not?

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