PSYC 345 Chapter 5: Chapter 5 Vocabulary
Document Summary
Person perception: people"s perceptions of one another based on initial impressions of their behavior and assumptions concerning what characteristics correspond with that behavior. Self-fulfilling prophecy: when an individual"s expectations about someone else change his or her behavior, which then changes the other person"s behaviors such that they fulfill the first individual"s expectation. Halo effect: when an entire social perception of a person is constructed around a single trait. Central trait: a major characteristic of an individual"s personality that indicates the presence of several associated traits, together creating a unified impression about the entire person. What-is-beautiful-is-good effect: when physical attractiveness creates a halo effect such that individuals who are beautiful are also perceived to have several other positive characteristics. Attributional ambiguity: confusion individuals have concerning the cause of the way others treat them, experienced most often by members of stigmatized groups. Nonverbal communication: the many ways individuals communicate through body language, tone of voice, and facial expressions.
