1 7 th Edition John D. DeLamater University of Wisconsin–Madison Daniel J. Myers University of Notre Dame

Perception 2

3 Chapter 4 Social Perception and Cognition

Social Perception 4

5 Chapter Outline  Schemas  Person Schemas & Group Stereotypes  Impression Formation  Attribution Theory  Bias and Error in Attribution

6 Class Exercise  Look around the room and select a student who you do not know.  Write down your impression of that person. – You won’t share your impression with anyone.  How did you form your impression of the person?  What cues did you use?

7 Social Perception & Attribution  Social perception  Using information  to construct understandings  of the social world  from our sensory data.  The way we form impressions of other people’s traits and personalities.

Social Perception & Attribution  Attribution  Observe a person’s behavior, then infer causes –Intentions –Abilities –Traits – to explain why people act as they do. 8

9 Accuracy of Impressions  Often impressions are sufficiently accurate to permit smooth interaction.  Social perception and Attribution –Can be unreliable

Accuracy of Impressions  Even trained observers:  Misperceive  Misjudge  Reach wrong conclusions  Our impressions determine how we interact 10

11 Schemas  Well-organized structures of cognitions about some social entity  Person  Group  Role  Event

Schemas Tend to categorize into:  Classes or members of group  Rather than unique entities Use prototypes  Represent “typical” of a class or group. What’s your prototype of: –A wealthy person –A politician –A rapper 12

13 Schemas 1. Organize information in memory 2. Guide inferences and judgments –About people and object 3. Organize & remember facts –Assess new information

14 Types of Schemas  Self-Schemas  Own characteristics  Person schemas  Personalities of others

15 Types of Schema  Group schemas:  Social group or social category –Also called stereotypes  Role Schema  Attributes & behaviors of persons in particular role –Occupation, family, leisure

16 Schematic Processing Respond to situations faster: 1.Facts easier to remember 2.Process information faster 3.Guide inferences/judgments about people and objects 4.Interpret ambiguous elements in the situation

17 Group Schema: Stereotypes  “Irish are hot-headed and belligerent.”  “Blacks are good at dancing and sports.” Stereotypes:  Limit opportunities  Fear of being judged leads to poorer performance  Change over time

18 Group Stereotypes  Characteristics attributed to all members of group  Predict behavior with minimal information  Negative effects  Limit access to social roles   Blue eyes-Brown eyes experiment

19 Discussion Question  What are your group schemas?  How do they influence how you relate to others?

20 Origins of Stereotypes  Direct experience with group  Generalize from person to group  Biased distribution of group members in certain social roles

21 Errors Caused by Stereotypes  20 Accents  Assume all members are alike –Have certain traits  Assume all members of one group differ from all the members of other groups

22 Trait Centrality  Some traits have more impact on impression formation  High trait centrality = Large impact on overall impression

Central Traits o Intelligent o Skillful o Industrious o Warm o Determined o Practical o Cautious o Wise o Happy o Good-natured o Humorous o Sociable o Popular o Humane o Altruistic o Imaginative 23

24 First Impression  Important  Enduring impact

Possible Explanations  Primacy effect:  More weight to early information  Recency effects:  Strongest influence to most recent information 25

26 Impressions as Self-Fulfilling  Our impressions of people influence our behavior toward them  May cause them to react in ways that confirm our original impressions

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy 27

28 Heuristics  Quick way to select schemas  Helps make effective choice amid considerable uncertainty  Two common heuristics: –Availability - Recently used schema--easier to call it up in current situation –Representativeness – Use a few known characteristics and select a schema that matches

Examples of Heuristics  “more expensive is better”  “effort heuristic” (more effort=more valuable)  Availability heuristic 

30 Attribution Theory  Methods used to explain why people act as they do  Observe behavior & Infer back to causes –Intentions –Abilities –Traits –Motives –Situational pressure

31 Dispositional vs. Situational Attributions  Your neighbor is unemployed.  Dispositional Attribution: Attach behavior to the internal state(s) of the person who performed it. –Your neighbor is out of work because he is lazy, irresponsible, or lacking in ability.  Situational Attribution: Connect behavior to factors in person’s environment. –Scarcity of jobs –Employment discrimination –Bad economy –Evils of capitalist system

32 Attributions for Success and Failure  When someone succeeds possible explanations  (1) ability  (2) effort  (3) task difficulty  (4) luck  Internal vs external/situational?  Outcome stable or unstable?  Permanent or changing?

33 A sprinter is depressed after narrowly losing a race. To what do we attribute his failure? How does the attribution determine the athletes future actions?

34 Bias and Error in Attribution  Observers scrutinize their environment  Gather information  Form impressions  Interpret behavior  In rational, if sometimes unconscious, ways  Or do they?

Bias and Error in Attribution  In reality, observers often deviate from the logical methods and  Fall prey to biases  Biases may lead observers to misinterpret events and  To make erroneous judgments 35

36 Fundamental Attribution Error  Overestimating the importance of personal factors  Underestimating situational influences  Examples: –I failed the test because I am stupid. –I failed the test because the instructor’s questions were unclear.

37 Focus of Attention Bias  Tendency to overestimate the causal impact of whomever or whatever we focus our attention on. –Media influence –Election campaign coverage

38 Actor-Observer Difference  Observers tend to attribute actors’ behavior to the actors’ internal characteristics  Actors see own behavior due more to the external situation

39 Motivational Biases  Motivational factors are a person’s needs, interests, and goals.  Self-serving Biases: –Tendency to take credit for acts that yield positive outcomes –Deflect blame for bad outcomes and attribute them to external causes