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

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

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

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):

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 LOW

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