Social Beliefs:Lecture #3 topics

Observation: Elements of social perception

Attributions: From elements to dispositions

Integration: From dispositions to impressions

Confirmation: Corroborating what we believe

Elements of social perception

PEOPLE

first impressions are affected by physical appearance

we read traits from & _________ people’s faces

Elements of social perception

Elements of social perception

THE SITUATION

scripts: pre-set ideas of how to act in different types of

situations

provide _________ for understanding behaviour we see what we expect we know the reasons behind someone’s behaviour

Elements of social perception

Elements of social perception

NON-VERBAL BEHAVIOUR

emotion: ability to identify certain ones is adaptive

eye gaze: can signal _________ / _________

touch: can signal _________ / _________

From elements to dispositions

attributions:

explanations for people’s behaviour

can be _________ (internal factors; e.g., ability) or _________ (external factors; e.g., luck, fate)

From elements to dispositions

From elements to dispositions

correspondent inference theory

(Jones & Davis, 1965):

we infer whether an action corresponds to _________ characteristics of the actor

inferences are based on: _________ _________ _________

From elements to dispositions

covariation theory (Kelley, 1967):

cause of behaviour should be _________ when it occurs & _________ when it doesn’t occur (_________ principle)

attributions are based on: _________ _________ of behaviour _________ of behaviour

From elements to dispositions

consensus:

how do _________ react to the same stimulus?

distinctiveness:

how does the actor react to _________ stimuli?

consistency:

is the actor’s response to the stimulus _________?

From elements to dispositions

attribution biases can stem from heuristics:

_________ _________ that let us make quick judgments, but that often lead to mistakes

From elements to dispositions

availability heuristic:estimating the odds of an event occurring based

on how _________ examples of it come to mind

false consensus:

_________ how many people share our opinions and (negative) traits

base-rate fallacy:

being influenced by _________ events &

insensitive to actual _________ (base rates)

From elements to dispositions

counterfactual thinking:

imagining outcomes that could have happened but didn’t imagining a better outcome – _________, regret imagining a worse outcome – relief, _________

especially likely if we were on the _________ of a better/ worse outcome e.g., Olympic medalists

From elements to dispositions

illusory correlation:

seeing a relationship where _________ exists/ stronger relationship than _________ exists

more likely to recall instances that _________, rather than _________, this “relationship” e.g., premonitions

From elements to dispositions

illusory control:

perception that _________ events are under one’s control/ more controllable than they really are e.g., _________ _________ to the mean: statistical tendency for

extreme scores to return to the average

From elements to dispositions

fundamental attribution error (FAE):

overestimating _________ factors &

underestimating _________ factors when explaining someone else’s behaviour

e.g., Jones & Harris’ (1967) Castro study e.g., Ross, Amabile, & Steinmetz’s (1977) quiz show

study

From elements to dispositions

RESULTS (Jones & Harris, 1967):

PRO

ANTI

Position chosen Position Assigned

Att

itu

de

attr

ibu

tio

n

Pro-Castro

Anti-Castro

From elements to dispositions

A: The host of Jeopardy!Q: Who is the smartest man

in the world?

From elements to dispositions

RESULTS (Ross, Amabile, & Steinmetz, 1977):

HIGH

LOW

Contestants' ratings Audience's ratings

Per

ceiv

ed k

no

wle

dg

eab

ilit

y

Contestant

Quizmaster

From elements to dispositions

why do we commit the FAE?

actor-observer effect:

we make _________ attributions for other

people’s behaviour and _________ ones for our own

self as actor self as observer

From elements to dispositions

why else do we commit the FAE?

motivational biases:

need for _________ causes us to make positive, self-serving attributions that make us look good

personal ideologies:political beliefs lead us to make certain attributions about disadvantaged peoples

stems from “_________”: we get what we deserve & deserve what we get

From dispositions to impressions

impression formation:

process of integrating information about a person to form a coherent impression

influenced by: _________ _________ _________ _________

From dispositions to impressions

perceiver’s characteristics: mood

priming effects: priming: tendency for _________ /

_________ concepts to come to mind easily colours our interpretation of new information

e.g., Higgins et al.’s (1977) “Donald” study

From dispositions to impressions

Higgins et al. (1977):

“DONALD”

GROUP 1 _________ _________ _________

GROUP 2 _________ _________ _________

“DONALD”… climbed mountains drove in a demo derby crossed the Atlantic in a sailboat

From dispositions to impressions

target’s characteristics:

some Big 5 traits (CANOE) are easier to read than others

trait negativity bias: negative traits are more influential than positive traits, leading us to form more _________ impressions

From dispositions to impressions

contextual factors:

implicit personality theories: if someone has one trait, we infer they have certain other traits as well

primacy effects: information presented _________ than _________ has more influence on the impressions we form e.g., Asch (1946)

From dispositions to impressions

Asch (1946):

List 1 intelligent industrious impulsive critical stubborn envious

List 2 envious stubborn critical impulsive industrious intelligent

Corroborating our impressions

belief perseverance:

_________ of one’s initial beliefs

although a belief has been discredited, the reasons we generate to support our beliefs _________ e.g., Darley & Gross’ (1983) “Hannah” study

Corroborating our impressions

RESULTS (Darley & Gross, 1983):

HIGH

LOWNo Yes

Watched Hannah's performance

Rat

ing

s o

f H

ann

ah's

aca

dem

ic

abil

ity

High expectations

Low expectations

Corroborating our impressions

confirmatory hypothesis testing:

seeking evidence to confirm our expectations

self-fulfilling prophesy:

when our beliefs lead us to act in ways that

_________ them e.g., Rosenthal & Jacobson’s (1968) “Pygmalion in

the classroom” study