Social Perception

the process through which we seek to know

& understand other people

nonverbal language/communication

not language

includes paralanguage & body language

paralanguage

vocal content apart from the spoken words.

the way we say what we say.

body language

gestures, postures, proximity, eye contact
taken in certain contexts
( can vary among different cultures) 

attribution

process through which we seek to identify the cause of others' behavior and to gain knowledge of their stable traits & dispositions

impression formation

process through which we form

impressions of others.

impression management

(self presentation)

efforts by individuals to produce favorable

first impressions of others

nonverbal cues

provided by changes in one's facial expression, eye contact, posture, body movements, & other expressive actions that are irrepressible(difficult to control)

5 different basic emotions

that are represented clearly

anger

fear

happiness

sadness

disgust

gazing

a sign of liking,

friendliness

staring

a form of eye contact in which one person continues to gaze steadily at another reguardless of what the recipient does

emblems

body movements carrying specific meanings

in a given culture

facial feedback hypothesis

facial expressions not only serve as a source of info for observers, but also play a role in generating such emotions/feelings

microexpressions

fleeting facial expressions lasting only

few tenths of a second.

interchannel discrepancies

inconsistencies between facial and body expressions/movements

linguistic style

aspects of speech apart from the

meaning of the words employed

correspondent inferrence

theory describing how we use others' behavior as a basis for inferring their stable dispositions

noncommon effects

effects produced by a particular cause that coudn't be produced by any other apparent cause

consensus

extent to which other people react to some stimulus or even in the same manner as the person we are considering 

consistency

extent to which an individual responds to a given stimulus or situation in the same

way on different occasions

distinctiveness

extent to which an individual responds in the same manner to different stimuli or events

fate

forces outside our understanding & control

complex causality

idea that many causes influence such events

& that no ONE cause is essential

action identification

level of interpretation we place on an action

correspondence bias

tendency to explain others' actions as stemming from dispositions even in the presence

of clear situational causes

fundamental attribution error

(correspondence bias)

tendency to overestimate the impact of

disspositional cues on others' behavior

actor-observer effect

tendenct to atttribute our own behavior mainly to situational causes but

the behavior of others mainly to internal causes

self-serving bias

tendency to attribute positive outcomes to

internal causes but

negative outcomes to external causes

self-defeating pattern

tendency to attribute negative outcomes to lasting internal causes (i.e. traits or lack of ability)

and attribute positive outcomes to temporary external causes (i.e. good luck)

gestalt psychologists

specialists in the field of perception

central traits

ones that strongly shaped overall impressions of the stranger and colored the other adjectives

"thin slices"

small amounts of information about others that we use to form first impressions of them

implicit personality theory

beliefs about what traits or characteristics

tend to go together

impression management
(self-presentation) 

do our best to "look good" to others when

meeting for the first time

self-enhancement

efforts to increase one's appeal to others

other-enhancement

efforts to make the target person feel good

in various ways 

ingratiation

flattering others in various ways

"slime" effect

tendency to form negative impressions of others who play up to their superiors but treat subordinates

with disdain and contempt

penis.

PENIS.

social capital

the number of social ties each person has to others; typically connections people draw on for knowledge, assitance, or other goods

self-promotion

attempting to present ourselves to others as having positive attributes

self-verification perspective

theory that addresses the processes by which we lead others to agree with our views of ourselves wanting otherrs to agree with how we see ourselves

ingratiation

when we try to make others like us by conveying that we like them; praising others to flatter them

introspection

to privately contemplate "who we are," a method for attempting to gain self-knowledge

social identity theory

addresses how we respond when our group identity is salient(most noticeable/important); suggests that we go to positive others with whom we share an identity but distance from other members who make our social identity negative

presonal vs. social identity continuum

at the personal level, the self is thought of as unique individual whereas at the social identity level the self is seen as member of a group

salience

when someone or something stands out from its background or is the focus of attention

intRAgroup comparisons

judgements that result from comparisons between individuals who are members of the same group

intERgroup comparisons

judgements that result from comparisons between our group & another group

self-construal

how we characterize ourselves, which can vary depending on what identity is salient at any given moment

autobiographical memory

concerned with memory of the ourselves of the past, sometimes over the life course as a whole

possible selves

image of how we might be in the future 
(either a "dreaded" potential to avoid
or
a "deserved" potential to strive for) 

self-control

acheived by refraining from actions we like and instead performing actions we prefer NOT to do as a means of acheiving a long-term goal

ego-depletion

lowered capacity to exert subsequent self-control following earlier efforts to exert self-control, performance decrements typically observed when ego is depleted

self-esteem

degree to which we perceive ourselves positively or negatively; overall attitude towards self

low self-esteem

related to drug use, low school performance, depression, and eating disorders

high self-esteem

related to bullying, narcissism, exhibitionism, and impersonal aggression

downwards social comparison

comparison of self to another who does less well than

OR is inferior to us

upwards social comparison

comparison of the self to another who does better than or is superior to us

social comparison theory

people compare themselves to others because for many domains and attributes there is no objective yardstick to evaluate ourselves against
and other people are therefore highly informative 

self-evaluation maintenence model

perspective that suggests that to maintain a positive view of ourselves, we distance ourselves from others who perform better than we do on valued dimensions and move closer to those who perform worse than us
(do so to protect self-esteem) 

above average effect

tendency for people to rate themselves as above the average on most positive social attributes

stereotype threat

can occur when people believe that they might be judged in light of a negative sterotype about their group OR because of their performance they confirmed a negative stereotype of their group

achievement attributions

basic types: ability, effort, task, luck

dimensions: affect, stability, intentionality