PSYC 100 Chapter 4: social PSYCH CHAPTER 4

• School: McGill University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 100
• Professor: Jens C Pruessner

Document Summary

A lack of information on which to base a judgement rarely stops people from making inferences about a person or situation. For example, the impressions we form of complete strangers based in the briefest glace. Konrad lorenz (1950) speculated that the cuteness of the young man in many mammalian species triggers a hardwired, automatic reaction that helps ensure the young and helpless receive adequate care. There often is some validity to extremely brief expose to other people"s behavior. In many cases, the information collected firsthand is more accurate because it has the advantage of not having been filtered by someone else, who might slant things in a particular direction. First hand experiences can also be very deceptive, as we fail to pay close attention to information about events that occur before our eyes, or when we misconstrue their true meaning. Pluralistic ignorance: people act in ways that conflict with their private beliefs because of a concern for the social consequences.