1. Social Cognition and Person Perception
Soc 319: Sociological Approaches to Social Psychology
Thursday February 19, 2009
Social Cognition and Person Perception

2. I. Person Perception/Social Cognition
I. Social Perception and Cognition
A. Review of cognitive theory
1. Salience
2. Categorization
3. Types of schemas
B. Person perception
1. Implicit personality theory
a. warm-cold variable studies (Asch 1946; Kelley 1950)
2. Attractiveness stereotype
a. Dion, Berscheid and Walster study
b. Explanations
i. “Halo” effect

3. Asch (1946) A person is described as: Intelligent Skillful Industrious
Determined
Practical
Cautious
and either…
Warm, cold, polite, blunt, [control]

4. Asch (1946) “Forming Impressions of Personality”
Overall
Impression
Warm
Cold
Polite
Blunt
No key trait
Generous 91 8 56 58 55
Wise 65 25 30 50 49
Happy 90 34 75 71
Good-
natured 94 17 87 69
Reliable 99 95
100 96
Important 88
% of subjects choosing trait as a characteristic of unknown person.

5. I. Person Perception (cont’d)
C. Group schemas
1. Stereotypes
Often deeply embedded and not conscious.
2. Social sources of stereotypes
a. “Kernel of truth” thesis (Eagly)

6. Data: A random sample survey of persons in 16 nations.
Source: Pew Global Attitudes Project, 2005

7. II. Advantages of Using Schematic
A. Efficiency
Efficiency is not always a good thing
[take test on your own]
B. Aid in interpretation
C. Aid in Recall

8. III. Disadvantages of Using Schematic Processing
A. Erroneous inferences
1. Lack of individual differences
2. Complexity-extremity effect
B. Inflexibility of schemas
C. Biased nature of perceptions
1. Hastorf & Cantril (1954): “They saw a game study” focused on 1951 Princeton-Dartmouth football game.

9. “Which team do you feel started the rough play?
% Dartmouth students
% Princeton students
Princeton started it. 2
Both started it. 53 11
Dartmouth started it. 36 86
Neither/no answer. 9 3

10. Which team won the RU vs. Tennessee game in February 2008?
Final score: Tennessee 59 – Rutgers 58

11. IV. How are Impressions of Others Formed?
A. Importance of positive and negative evaluations
B. Models of integrating information
1. Averaging model
2. Additive model
3. Weighted average model
C. The importance of first impressions
1. Primacy effect
2. Recency effect
3. Self-fulfilling prophecy

12. How would we obtain an overall assessment of our new roommate?
Friendly +8
Good listener +5
Financially responsible +9
Additive Model: +22
Averaging Model:
Next, we incorporate a new piece of information:
Intelligent +3
Additive Model: +25
Averaging Model: 6.25
In the additive model, any new piece of positive information improves our overall assessment. In the averaging model a weak, positive piece of new information might lower our overall assessment.

13. What kind of football season did RU have in 2008?
Fresno State L 24-7
UNC L 44-12
Navy L 23-21
Morgan State W 38-0
WVU L 24-17
Cincinnati L 13-10
UConn W 12-10
Pittsburgh W 54-34
Syracuse W 35-17
USF W 49-16
Army W 30-3
Louisville W 63-14
NC State W 29-23

14. V. Implications for Policy and Practice
Medicine
Law enforcement
Controversies over Amadou Diallo (2002); Sean Bell (2006)
Education
Media coverage of political and social issues

15. “The Police Officer’s Dilemma” (Correll et al., 2002)

16. “The Police Officer’s Dilemma” (Correll et al., 2002)