PSY 2401 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Milgram Experiment, Fundamental Attribution Error, Self-Perception Theory

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Social Perception- processes by we come to understand other people
Not only doing this to others but they’re doing it to us
Describes people, behavior, and/or circumstances
Explains people, behavior, and/or circumstances
Synthesize information to form an impression of another person
Impressions influence our perceptions
Initial Impressions
Almost always based on nonverbal information
Do this by looking at someone's physical appearance
Children as young as 3 years old do this
Facial expressions- help us make impressions even if it’s neutral
We especially orient towards people’s faces when it comes to nonverbal
information, known from birth
Evolutionary purposes- people payed attention to facial expressions before there
was language
6 facial expressions unique to worldwide culture- happy, angry, disgust, sad,
scared, surprised contempt is gaining attraction as the 7th
People who have been blind their whole life still make these faces
suggesting an evolutionary purpose or underline
pride , shame- less consistent than pride
Extreme individualist cultures like USA, considered to be bad to exhibit
shame, be proud of yourself, don’t tend to physically respond to shame as
other cultures do
Because facial expressions give us so much info that when we can’t see facial
expressions, communication is hard
Ex: texting
Attributions- explanation somebody comes up with for themselves or someone else
Attribution Theory (Heider, 1958): the way in which people explain causes of their
own and other people’s behavior
Personal (internal) attributions- this person did this because it’s something
about them as a person (disposition)
We have a tendency to rely on internal attributions because people are
more interesting to us not the situation
Situational (external) attributions- something or somebody else, it’s external to
the person, maybe their family member is dying and they’re rushing, this situation
is forcing them to be this way
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Correspondent Inference Theory- when we’re evaluating
Choice: if they freely chose thing thing than we are relying on internal attributions
If you choose to go to college it says more about you than your parents forcing
you to
Expectedness: is this what we expect people to do
If it’s not expected we’re more likely to rely on internal
Elevator example if they don’t do what’s expected you can inference more about
them
Effects: consequences of their behavior, if it is something good, then I’m less likely to
rely on internal attribution
(+) everyone does this so it doesn’t tell me a lot about you
(-) tells me more about you because you’re doing something without getting
something good
(CIT) correspondence between you as a person and your behavior
Covariation Model (Kelly, 1967)
attributions are formed by nothing if/how the person's behavior changes (covaries) across
time, place, different actors, and different stimuli/targets
In order to assess to make an attribution we look at: consensus information,
distinctiveness information and consistency information
actor= person were trying to explain, give an attribution to
targets= other people that the actor is interacting with
Other people but could be anything or anyone that the actor is behaving to
Consensus Information
When we pay attention to what other people are doing
Information about whether or not other people behave the same way toward the stimulus
(target) as the actor
How do other people react to your best friend; if they react the same way we make
external attribution
When other people don’t respond the same way to the target, we use internal attribution,
does covary
Distinctiveness Information
Trying to decide if behavior we observed is unusual or not
Information about whether or not the actor behaves in the same way to different stimuli
(target)
If they hate all your friends you rely on internal attribution
Abnormal behavior if they only hate Kayla- external attribution
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Document Summary

Social perception- processes by we come to understand other people. Not only doing this to others but they"re doing it to us. Synthesize information to form an impression of another person. Do this by looking at someone"s physical appearance. Children as young as 3 years old do this. Facial expressions- help us make impressions even if it"s neutral. We especially orient towards people"s faces when it comes to nonverbal information, known from birth. Evolutionary purposes- people payed attention to facial expressions before there. 6 facial expressions unique to worldwide culture- happy, angry, disgust, sad, was language scared, surprised contempt is gaining attraction as the 7th suggesting an evolutionary purpose or underline. People who have been blind their whole life still make these faces. Pride , shame- less consistent than pride. Extreme individualist cultures like usa, considered to be bad to exhibit shame, be proud of yourself, don"t tend to physically respond to shame as other cultures do.