How We Construct Social Perceptions

Social Psychology How we construct social perceptions as we: Judge events, informed by implicit rules that guide our snap judgements, and by our moods; Perceive and recall events through the filters of our own assumptions Explain events by sometimes attributing then to the situation, sometimes to the person; Expect certain events, thereby sometimes helping bring them about. System 1- functions automatically and out of our awareness; intuitive, automatic, unconscious, and fast way of thinking; also called “intuition” or “gut feeling”. Influences more of our actions than we realize. System 2- our conscious attention and effort; deliberate, controlled, conscious, and slower way of thinking. Priming- is the awakening or activating of certain associations; activating particular associations in memory. Effects surface when stimuli is presented subliminally. Memory system- web of associations Embodied cognition- the mutual influence of bodily sensations on cognitive preferences and social jugements. Intuitive management- we should tune into our hunches Automatic processing- impulsive, effortless, and without awareness- System 1; “implicit” thinking that is effortless, habitual, and without awareness; roughly corresponds to intuition. Controlled processing- reflective, deliberate, and conscious; “explicit” thinking- System 2 Schemas- mental concepts or templates that intuitively guide our perceptions and interpretations Emotional reactions- instantaneous, happening before there is time for deliberate thinking. Eye/ear -> Thalamus (brain’s sensory switchboard) -> Amygdala (emotional control center) -> Thinking cortex. Expertise- people may know intuitively the answer to a problem Snap judgement- can beat a chance at guessing when given but a very thin slice of someone. Blindsight- having lost a portion of the visual cortex to surgery or stroke, people may be functionally blind in part of their field of vision. Overconfidence phenomenon- the tendency to be more confident than correct; to overestimate the accuracy of one’s beliefs Confirmation Bias- we are eager to verify our beliefs but less inclined to seek evidence that might disprove them; tendency to search for information that confirms one’s preconceptions Three techniques to reduce overconfidence bias: Prompt feedback Estimating probable accuracy Get people to think why their judgements might be wrong Heuristics- simple efficient thinking strategies; a thinking strategy that enables quick efficient judgments; enable us to make routine decisions with minimal effort Representative Heuristic- to judge something by intuitively comparing it to our mental representation of a category to use; the tendency to presume, sometimes despite contrary odds, that somone or something belongs to a particular group if resampling (representing) a typical member. Representativeness (typicalness) usually reflects reality. Snap judgement of whether someone or something fits a category. Availability heuristics- a cognitive rule that judges the likelihood of things in terms of their availability in memory. If instances of something come readily in mind, we presume it to be a commonplace. Quick judgements of likelihood of events (how available in memory) Probability neglect- we worry about remote possibilities while ignoring higher probabilities Counterfactual thinking- mentally simulating what might have been; imagining alternative scenarios and outcomes that might have happened, but didn’t. Underlies our feelings of luck. Illusory correlation- perception of a relationship where none exists, or perception of a stronger relationship than actually exists. Regression toward the average- the statistical tendency for extreme scoresor extreme behavior to return toward one’s average Belief perseverance- persistence of one’s initial conceptions, such as when the basis of one’s belief is discredited but an explanation of why the belief might be true survives Misinformation effect- Incorporating “misinformation” into one’s memory of the event, after witnessing an event and receiving misleading information about it. Rosy retrospection- they recall mildly pleasant events more favorably than they experienced them Misattribution- mistakenly attributing a behavior to the wrong source Attribution theory- the theory of how people explain others’ behavior; attributing to internal dispositions (enduring traits, motives, and attitudes) or external situations Dispositional attribution- attributing behavior to the person’s disposition and traits (stable personality) Situational attribution- attributing behavior to the environment (situations) Spontaneous trait inference- an effortless, automatic inference of a trait after exposure to someone’s behavior. Fundamental attribution error- the tendency for observers to underestimate situational influences and overestimate dispositional influences upon others’ behavior. Fundamental because it colors our explanations in basic and important ways. Camera perspective bias Self-fulfilling prophecies- a belief that leads to its own fulfillment. Have less than extraordinary power. Experimenter bias- participants sometimes live up to what they believe experimenters expect of them Behavioral confirmation- a type of self-fulfilling prophecy whereby people’s social expectations lead them to behave in ways that cause others to confirm their expectations