Interpretation and Perception

Take-Away Points Social schemas (Lisa’s overview) and scripts The book has some difference in social schemas – you just need to know the ones we mentioned in class Four Processes in Interpersonal perception Don’t need to know “Sizing up situations” Do know: Implicit Personality Theory Self-monitoring Attribution Theory General concept of Attribution Theory 4 Different types of bias Be able to name all the pieces of the chart Moreover, be able to reason through a communication example by using the chart

Emotion, motivation, and cognition influence how our perceptions are formed.

1. How do emotions facilitate perceptions? Emotion: Our emotional state triggers cognitions – emotions don’t “cloud” judgments, contrary to popular belief, they facilitate them. Think about fear, anger, danger situations. Something has triggered your emotion and you become very aware and perceptive of your surroundings. We tend to remember similar emotional states when we are in one – why you remember sad things when you are sad, happy thinks when you are happy. How would this play into URPs?

Being in a certain emotional state triggers memories of similar emotional states.

2. How can motivation change how we perceive things?

We can be primed or automatically motivated to perceive things in a certain way. Automatic – e.g., me watching someone speak Primed: things we talk about in this class – if I point out that people are selfish when they won’t let you talk about yourself -Use example of what things students pay attention to

3. Our cognitive structures and schemes also influence perceptions.

A schema is a cognitive structure that helps us process and organize information. Prom ?

Schema Example: (Warning: These guys are kinda weird) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4HHCgFmkcI

Cognitive schemas are used to 1) fill in missing information or gaps in our knowledge… You talk to your friend’s brother – he says he is nervous and prom is coming up. Why is he nervous?

2) make inferences or generate additional info beyond what we’ve actually seen or heard. Stereotype is most common “schema” example We have pre-existing categories that we classify other people into Principle of least effort Can look at the appropriateness of the ones we have, communication can alter them Schema – cluster of abstract knowledge containing typical features, qualities behaviors, or other expectations

Schema If I introduce you to two people and say “this couple is in love,” what things do you think of? Abstract knowledge containing typical features, qualities ,behaviors, or other expectations

There are 5 schema types. 1. Personal 2. Role 3. Relational 4. Self Personal: characteristics we give to individuals, objects, events, etc Role characteristic: internal representations of rules, norms, behaviors associated with specific role Relational schema: cognitive representations of typical interaction patterns Stereotype: Generalizations or socialized expectations that we come to expect from a certain group Self-schema: how you categorize yourself “if I think of myself as honest and trustworthy, I’m going to say that I won’t steal something” We are resistant to learning new information about ourselves

There are 5 schema types. 5. Stereotypes

Next Section How we convince ourselves that our perceptions are accurate and meaningful rather than biased and arbitrary Under what conditions our perceptions are automatic vs. conscious processes?

Implicit Personality Theory When we meet someone we focus on a central trait After selecting that trait, cluster other traits that go with it

How would you describe this guy’s personality?

How would you describe this girl’s personality?

Implicit Personality Theory Primacy effect First impression Pick “central trait”

Implicit Personality Theory Recency effect More recent the interaction, more powerful the effect If keep building interaction, overrides primacy effect

DQ The implicit personality theory says that we generally link individual traits to other traits we believe to be related. From your experience, are these “clusters” present in people? Are they accurate?

Self-Monitoring High self-monitors Low self-monitors Reads the social situation and presents the appropriate face Steps: What type of person does the situation call for? Construct mental image of that person Act according to that mental image Low self-monitors Present the same “real” version of themselves in every situation

Attribution Theory

Attribution Theory explains how we attribute (often biased) meaning to behavior.

We make certain biased attributions without realizing our bias. 1. Self-Serving 2. Personality 3. Group 4. Cultural Self serving bias: We judge our actions on our motives Personality bias: We judge the actions of others based on their personalities Group bias: We are positively biased to people who belong to the same group as us Communication to lower uncertainty and increase predictability Cultural bias: Operate within the norms of our culture E.g., collectivistic vs. individualistic

Attribution Theory Distinctiveness Consensus Consistency What caused the person to do this? Consensus Would most people do this? Consistency Is this out of character for the person?

Attribution Theory High Low Distinctiveness Situational Internal What caused? Situational Internal Consensus Most people do it? Consistency Usual for this person?

Attribution Theory High Low Distinctiveness Situational (self defense) What caused? (Besty killed Paul) Situational (self defense) Internal (no motive) Consensus Most people do it? (Kill to defend or not?) (most people would do it) (most people would NOT do it) Consistency Usual for this person? (Does Betsy kill people a lot?) (Pattern – serial killer) (No) *Give a communication example after this – or have them write one that’s a communication example – have them make their own boxes and turn in?

Try it with Communication Act Polly calls Maria a selfish witch According to Attribution Theory… Polly will say this is because of …? Maria will say this is because of…? Fill in each of the boxes for why Polly might have said this in this situation

Attribution Theory High Low Distinctiveness Situational Internal What caused Polly to say that? Situational Internal Consensus Most people do it? Consistency Usual for this person? High Low Distinctiveness What caused Polly to say this? Situational (Maria did something really bad) Internal (Polly is mean) Consensus Most people do it? (Yes – if provoked by Maria) (No) Consistency Usual for this person? (Polly is always talking about others) (No, Polly is usually nice and considerate)

Take-Away Points Vocab: schema, halo effect, primacy effect, recency effect How do emotions, motivation, and cognitive schemas influence our perceptions? How do schemas help us? What are the 5 types of schemas? Be able to recognize examples What is the main concept of Implicit Personality Theory? What are the two types of self-monitors? Attribution Theory Main concept of Attribution Theory 4 Different types of bias (definitions and examples) Be able to name all the pieces of the chart Moreover, be able to reason through a communication example by using the chart