PSYC 231 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Social Perception, Proxemics, Nonverbal Communication

• School: George Mason University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 231
• Professor: Shulman

Document Summary

Social perception: social perception: the study of how we form impressions of and make inferences about other people, nonverbal communication. How people communicate, intentionally or unintentionally, without words: facial expressions, tone of voice, gestures, body positions, movement, use of touch, gaze. Crown jewel of nonverbal communication is facial expressions: communicativeness of human face, evolution and facial expressions. Encode: express or emit nonverbal communication: smiling, patting someone on the back. Decode: interpret the meaning of nonverbal behavior: deciding pat on the back was an expression of condescension, not kindness. Sometimes people are feeling multiple emotions: culture and the channels of nonverbal communication. Display rules: dictate what kinds of emotional expressions people are supposed to show, are culture-specific, display rule differences. Display of emotion: america: men discouraged from emotional displays like crying, but women allowed, japan: women discouraged from displaying inhibited smile.