Social Beliefs: Lecture #3 topics

1. 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

2. Elements of social perception PEOPLE • first impressions are affected by physical appearance • we read traits from & _________ people’s faces

3. Elements of social perception

4. 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

5. Elements of social perception

6. Elements of social perception NON-VERBAL BEHAVIOUR • emotion: ability to identify certain ones is adaptive • eye gaze: can signal _________/ _________ • touch: can signal _________/ _________

7. From elements to dispositions attributions: • explanations for people’s behaviour • can be _________ (internal factors; e.g., ability) or _________ (external factors; e.g., luck, fate)

8. From elements to dispositions

9. 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: • _________ • _________ • _________

10. 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 • _________ of behaviour

11. 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 _________?

12. From elements to dispositions attribution biases can stem from heuristics: __________________that let us make quick judgments, but that often lead to mistakes

13. 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)

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. From elements to dispositions RESULTS (Jones & Harris, 1967): PRO ANTI

19. From elements to dispositions A: The host of Jeopardy! Q: Who is the smartest man in the world?

20. From elements to dispositions RESULTS (Ross, Amabile, & Steinmetz, 1977): HIGH LOW

21. self as actor self as observer 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

22. Fromelements 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

23. From dispositions to impressions impression formation: • process of integrating information about a person to form a coherent impression • influenced by: • _________ • _________ • _________ • _________

24. 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

25. From dispositions to impressions Higgins et al. (1977):

26. 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

27. 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)

28. Asch (1946): List 1 intelligent industrious impulsive critical stubborn envious List 2 envious stubborn critical impulsive industrious intelligent From dispositions to impressions

29. 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

30. Corroborating our impressions RESULTS (Darley & Gross, 1983): HIGH LOW

31. 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