Chapter 4 Social Perception- How We Come to Understand OtherPeople

Chapter 4: Social Perception- How We Come to Understand Other People Social Perception  The study of how we form impressions and make inferences about other people  Explaining why others behave as they do Nonverbal Communication  They way people communicate intentionally or not, without words o Facial expressions, tone of voice, gestures, body position, movement, use of touch, gaze  Help us to express our emotions, attitudes and personality Evolution and Facial Expressions  Communicativeness of the human face has been a topic of research interest for almost 150 years o Darwin’s (1872) The Expression of The Emotions in Man and Animals  Darwin believed facial expressions were vestiges of adaptive physiological reactions  Susskind studied facial expressions of fear and disgust o Found that muscle movements of each emotion were completely opposite of the other o Fear- Enhanced perception- facial and eye movement increase sensory input (widening visual field, increasing volume of air in nose, speeding up eye movements) o Disgust- Decreased perception- facial and eye movement decrease sensory input (eyes narrow, less air breathed)  Darwin also believed that the ability to communicate and interpret facial expressions had survival value o Such ability is a species-typical (i.e. universal) psychological adaptation o Are facial expressions of emotion universal? YES for the six major: anger, happiness, surprise, fear, o What about other emotion states?: contempt, anxiety, shame, envy  Less, more influenced by cultural Encode- To express or emit nonverbal behavior (smiling, patting someone on the back) Decode- Interpret the meaning of nonverbal behavior (deciding a smile or pat was an expression of condescension, not kindness) Why is Decoding sometimes Difficult?  Affect Blends- Facial expressions in which one part of the face registers one emotion while another part of the face registers a different emotion Culture and the Channels of Nonverbal Communication  Display Rules- Rules dictating what kinds of nonverbal behaviors (e.g. emotional expressions) people are supposed to show o Culture specific- (e.g. display of shame is discouraged in individualistic cultures) Examples of Display Rule Differences  Display of emotiono USA: men discouraged from emotional displays like crying, but women are allowed o Japan: women discouraged from displaying uninhibited (i.e. broad) smile  Eye contact/gaze o USA: suspicious when people do not “look them in the eye” (hiding something) o Nigeria, Puerto Rico, Thailand: direct eye contact considered disrespectful  Personal Space o USA: Bubble a few feet in radius o Middle East, South America, Southern Europe: stand close to each other and touch frequently  Emblems- nonverbal gestures that have well-understood defined within a given culture o Usually have direct verbal translations, like the okay sign o Emblems are NOT universal (e.g. V for victory sign in Austrailia, okay sign meaning middle finger in Brazil) First Impressions: Quick but Long-Lasting  Impressions Based on the Slightest of Cues: o “Judging a book by its cover”- Forming impressions based on easily observable information o Fair or not, easily observable information is crucial to first impressions How Quickly do First Impressions Form?  Form initial impressions based on facial appearance in less than 100 milliseconds (1/10th of a second)  Infer character from faces when we’re as young as 3 years old o Ex. Baby faces- Features that are reminiscent of those of small children o Tend to be perceived as having childlike traits- naïve, warm, submissive  These impressions are not always accurate, but some evidence exists of their validity. Why? Thin-Slicing  Limited exposure can lead to meaningful first impressions  Thin-Slicing- Drawing meaningful conclusions about another person’s personality or skills based on a very brief sample of behavior  Research Question: How do college students form impressions of their professors? o Participants rated 3 random 10 second clips from 12 instructors’ lectures (with no audio) o Compared ratings of clips to teaching evaluations from real students- were they accurate?  Results: Accurately predicted highest-rated teachers The Lingering Influence of Initial Impressions  Primary Effect- The first traits we perceive in others (e.g. beautiful) influence how we later view information about them o Using schemas to fill in knowledge gaps  Belief Perseverance o The tendency to stick with an initial judgment even in the face of new, contradictory information Using First Impressions and Nonverbal Communication to Our Advantage  Public speakingo Make sure opening is strong  Job Interviewo Dress, eye contact, body posture all affect evaluation  Handshake quality- o Affects assessments of personality and final hiring recommendations  You can even use nonverbal communication to affect how you think and feel about yourself (ex. study of body posture and posing)  High power pose- Standing behind a table, leaning forward with hands planted firmly on its surface  Low power pose- Standing with feet crossed and arms wrapped around one’s torso  Results: Felt more powerful and adopted riskier strategy on gambling task after high power pose Causal Attribution: Answering the “Why” Question- How we determine why others do what we do  Two Theories: o Attribution theory (Fritz Heider), Covariation Model (not teaching)  Attribution Theory- Describes the way in which people explain the causes of their own and other people’s behaviors  We can make 1 or 2 attributions about causes of behavior o Internal- dispositional attribution (e.g. personality)  “she did this because she’s nice”  We tend to see the causes of another person’s behavior as internal (assume someone is at fault) o External- situational attribution, assume most people would respond the same way in that situation Attributions in a Happy Marriage  Partner’s Positive Behaviorso Make internal attributions- “She helped me because she is a generous person”  Partner’s Negative Behaviorso External attributions- “He said something mean because he’s so stressed at work this week” Attributions in a Distressed Marriage  Partner’s positive behaviorso External attributions- “She only helped me because she wanted to impress our friend”  Partner’s negative behaviors- o Internal attributions- “He said something mean because he’s a self-centered jerk.” Fundamental Attribution Error  Tendency to make internal attributions for other people’s behavior and underestimate the role of situational factors (fits with Heider’s theory) END 9/12/2019