Chapter 7 Social Perception and Attribution An Information Processing An Information Processing Model of Perception Model of Perception Stereotypes: Perceptions Stereotypes: Perceptions about Groups of People about Groups of People Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: The Pygmalion Effect The Pygmalion Effect Causal Attribution Causal Attribution

Perception: An Information Processing Model Competing environmental stimuli  People  Events  Objects Interpretation and categorization Stage 1 Selective Attention/Comprehension Stage 2 Encoding and Simplification Stage 3 Storage and Retention Stage 4 Retrieval and Response Memory Judgments and decisions ABCDEFABCDEF ACFACF C 7-2 Figure 7-1 McGraw-Hill © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Perception Mental and cognitive process that enables us to interpret and understand our surroundings Select Organize Interpret

1. Attention The process of becoming consciously aware of something or someone

Attention is affected by: Expectations Mood Salience Novel Bright Unusual for the person Unusual for a person’s social category Unusual for people in general Extremely positive or negative Dominant in the visual field

Perception: An Information Processing Model Competing environmental stimuli  People  Events  Objects Interpretation and categorization Stage 1 Selective Attention/Comprehension Stage 2 Encoding and Simplification Stage 3 Storage and Retention Stage 4 Retrieval and Response Memory Judgments and decisions ABCDEFABCDEF ACFACF C 7-2 Figure 7-1 McGraw-Hill © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

2. Encoding and Simplification Cognitive category – mental structure containing a number of objects that are considered equivalent Help make sense of environment Limit our attention

Schema Schema mental picture of an event or object Network of related information Impact attention, encoding, perception Provide context 7-3 McGraw-Hill © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Perception: An Information Processing Model Competing environmental stimuli  People  Events  Objects Interpretation and categorization Stage 1 Selective Attention/Comprehension Stage 2 Encoding and Simplification Stage 3 Storage and Retention Stage 4 Retrieval and Response Memory Judgments and decisions ABCDEFABCDEF ACFACF C 7-2 Figure 7-1 McGraw-Hill © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

3. Storage and Retention Long-term memory Types Event Semantic – general knowledge about the world Person

Perception: An Information Processing Model Competing environmental stimuli  People  Events  Objects Interpretation and categorization Stage 1 Selective Attention/Comprehension Stage 2 Encoding and Simplification Stage 3 Storage and Retention Stage 4 Retrieval and Response Memory Judgments and decisions ABCDEFABCDEF ACFACF C 7-2 Figure 7-1 McGraw-Hill © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

4. Retrieval and Response Impacted by: Attention Coding Expectations, mood, salience, etc.

Stereotypes Stereotype is an individual’s set of beliefs about the characteristics of a group of people Type of schema Likely to form inaccurate stereotypes Little interaction Experienced conflict Enhance our own social identity 7-8 McGraw-Hill © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Characteristics of Stereotypes Are not always negative May or may not be accurate Can lead to poor decisions and discrimination 7-9 McGraw-Hill © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Stereotyping is a Four-Step Process 1) Begins by categorizing people into groups Attention 2) Infer that all people in a category possess similar traits or characteristics 3) Form expectations of others and interpret their behavior according to stereotypes 4) Stereotypes are maintained Overestimate frequency of behavior Incorrectly explaining behavior Differentiating group members from self 7-11 McGraw-Hill © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Perceptual Errors The tendency to evaluate people or objects by comparing them with characteristics of recently observed people or objects Contrast effects The tendency to remember recent information. If the information is negative, the person or object is evaluated negatively Recency effects The tendency to avoid all extreme judgments and rate people and objects as average or neutral Central tendency A personal characteristic that leads an individual to consistently evaluate other people or objects in an extremely positive fashion Leniency A rater forms an overall impression about an object and then uses that impression to bias ratings about the object Halo DescriptionPerceptual Error 7-13 Table 7-2 McGraw-Hill © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Sex Role Stereotypes Belief that differing traits and abilities make women and men particularly well-suited to different roles Women are viewed as more emotional, affectionate, talkative, patient, creative Men are viewed as more aggressive, courageous, easygoing, ambitious

More commonly stereotyped groups Age Race Disability

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy Self-Fulfilling Prophecy Self-Fulfilling Prophecy or Pygmalion Effect, is that people’s expectations or beliefs determine their behavior and performance, thus serving to make their expectations come true Pygmalion effect Pygmalion effect Golem effect Golem effect 7-14 McGraw-Hill © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

A Model of the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy Supervisor expectancy 6 3 Motivation 4 Performance 5 1 Leadership Subordinate self- expectancy Figure 7-2 McGraw-Hill © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Attributions Determinations of cause of behavior Internal External Made by observing: Consensus Consistency Distinctiveness

Attributional Tendencies Fundamental Attribution Bias ignoring environmental factors that affect behavior Actor-observer effect Self-Serving Bias taking more personal responsibility for success than failure 7-24 McGraw-Hill © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.