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social psychology chapter 4

Key Concepts:

Terms in this set (42)

social perception
the study of how we form impressions of and make inferences about other people
nonverbal communication
The way in which people communicate, intentionally or unintentionally, without words; nonverbal cues that include:
(irrepressible & almost impossible to control)
facial expressions
tone of voice
gestures
body position and movement
use of touch
gaze
encode
to express or emit nonverbal behavior, such as smiling or patting someone on the back
evolutionary finds that all people encode and decode the same. Smiles frowns, other signs of sadness are universal
decode
To interpret the meaning of the nonverbal behavior other people express, such as deciding that a pat on the back was an expression of condescension and not kindness
affect blends
a facial expression in which one part of the face registers one emotion while another part of the face registers a different emotion
*though only 6 expressions, there are unlimited combinations
Example: joy + sorrow= bittersweet or fear + anger
display rules
culturally determined rules about which nonverbal behaviors are appropriate to display
emblems
Nonverbal gestures that have well-understood definitions within a given culture; they usually have direct verbal translations, such as the "OK" sign
implicit personality theory
a type of schema people use to group various kinds of personality traits together; belief that when people possess some traits, they are more likely to possess others as well
- example, many people believe that someone who is kind is generous as well
attribution theory
a description of the way in which people explain the causes of their own and other people's behavior
internal attribution
the inference that a person is behaving in a certain way because of something about the person, such as attitude, character, or personality
external attribution
the inference that a person is behaving a certain way because of something about the situation he or she is in; the assumption is that most people would respond the same way in that situation
covariation model
A theory that states that to form an attribution about what caused a person's behavior, we systematically note the pattern between the presence or absence of possible causal factors and whether or not the behavior occurs
consensus information
information about the extent to which other people behave the same way toward the same stimulus as the actor does
-Do all or most of the students in the class
treat the professor this way?
distinctiveness information
Information about the extent to which one particular actor behaves in the same way to different stimuli
-Does this student only react to this
professor in this manner?
consistency information
Information about the extent to which the behavior between one actor and one stimulus is the same across time and circumstances
-Does this student always react to the
professor in this manner regardless of the
situation?
correspondence bias
the tendency to infer that people's behavior corresponds to (matches) their disposition (personality)
perceptual salience
the seeming importance of information that is the focus of people's attention
two-step process of attribution
Analyzing another person's behavior first by making an automatic internal attribution and only then thinking about possible situational reasons for the behavior, after which one may adjust the original internal attribution
actor/observer differences
the tendency to see other people's behavior as dispositionally caused but focusing more on the role of situational factors when explaining one's own behavior
Perceptual salience?
defensive attributions
Explanations for behavior that avoid feelings of vulnerability and mortality
belief in a just world
a form of defensive attribution wherein people assume that bad things happen to bad people and that good things happen to good people
6 basic emotions inferred from facial expressions
anger
fear
happiness
sadness
disgust
surprise (debate on surprise-more complex than other emotions)
display rules
cultural dictates of which non-verbal cues are okay to display
body language and gender
there are apparent differences in culturally acceptable gestures for the sexes
Example:
clenched fist = strength for men
Clenched first = frustration, loss of power for women
asynchronous communications
communication such as email in which the message and the response do not occur at the same time.
These allow for greater control over what we say but non-verbal cues are absent.
May lead to errors in decoding!
correspondence inference
a theory describing how we use the behavior of another to infer stable dispositions ( I.E. decode on specific traits that the possess and will remain stable over time)
>We assume the behavior reflects stable traits when the behavior:
- is freely chosen
- low in social desirability
- yields distinctive or non-common effects (effects produced by a specific cause that could not be created by any other obvious cause)
Kelley's covariation model
A theory that states that to form an attribution about what caused a person's behavior, we systematically note the pattern between the presence or absence of possible causal factors and whether or not the behavior occurs
Identify the various functions of nonverbal behavior
Help us express emotion, our attitudes and personality
Example: Narrow eyes = anger
Big broad gestures = extrovert
discuss the effects nonverbal
communication can have on verbal communication
Can show the truth. Nonverbal cues are considered more honest.
Culturally Universal (Darwin).
Darwin Yes..."All humans encode emotions in the
same way, and all humans can decode [facial
expressions] with equal accuracy."
-research supports this (Susskind)
Bodily Movements (i.e., body language)
-Position, posture or movement of our body
-Can be culture specific...especially gestures!
Asynchronous Communication
Use of text,
which allows greater control over what we say
to others but where all nonverbal cues are
absent.
-May lead to more errors in decoding messages!
Attributional problem
First, "Did the reason for the behavior stem
primarily from external causes, internal causes,
or from a combination of the two?"
- External causes: causes from the external world
-The professor is mean and unfair.
- Internal causes: causes from their internal traits
-The student is just rude and disrespectful.
- Combination? The student is rude but the Professor
made it worse by being unfair.
Kelly's covariation model high levels
*High consensus
- The other students do react to the professor this way.
*High consistency
- The student reacts to the professor this way all the time.
* High distinctiveness
- The student reacts this way only to this professor.
**EXTERNAL ATTRIBUTION
- "The Professor is just unfair!!"
Kelly's covariation model low levels
*Low consensus
-The other students do not react to the professor this way.
*Low consistency
- The student doesn't react to the professor this way all the time.
* Low distinctiveness
- The student reacts to all professors in this way.
** INTERNAL ATTRIBUTION
- "The student is just rude!!"
Kelly's covariation model combination levels
* Low consensus
- The other students do not react to the professor this way.
* High consistency
- The student reacts to the professor this way all the time.
* High distinctiveness
- The student reacts this way only to this professor.
** COMBINATION OF EXTERNAL & INTERNAL
- "The student is just rude but the Professor is also
unfair!"
Attribution Process
1.Notice personal factors
-Initial attribution
2.Notice situational factors
- Adjust attribution
Perceptual Salience & Culture
Correspondence bias is not universal!
-Western cultures focus =figure
- Eastern cultures focus = background
Self-Serving Attributions:
Explanations for one's successes
that credit internal dispositional
factors and explanations for one's
failures that blame external,
situational factors.
First impressions - Asch
How can we form quick impressions of
others with so little information?
-Gestalt psychology
◦ "Whole"
◦ Principle of Closure
Central & Peripheral Traits:
Ps report more favorable impressions of the
person with the trait "warm" vs. "cold"!
◦ Central traits: traits that strongly shape the
overall impression of individual and color the
peripheral traits.
◦ Peripheral traits: secondary traits that do not
strongly shape an overall impression but rather fill the spots.
Impression formation (cognitive)
Cognitive Perspective
- We form impressions by paying attention to the
most useful information about a person.
*Exemplars: concrete examples of a given
behavior a person has performed that are
consistent with a given trait.
* Abstractions: mental summaries of
frequent observations of another person's
behaviors.
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