UNIT 2

• person perception is the process by which people think about, appraised and evaluate other people
• person perception

  • leads us to make judgements about other people
  • judgement cues: physical, saliency, social categorisation
• physical cues

  • appearance
  • facial expressions
• saliency detection

  • noticing unique physical features first
  • capture attention - look at longer
• social categorisation

  • grouping individuals based upon perceived social category they belong to
  • age,race,sex
• attribution is the process of attaching meaning to behaviour by looking for a cause to explain the behaviour
• internal attribution - factors within a person that shape their behaviour
• external attribution - environmental factors external to an individual

  • location, other people
• attitudes - evaluation a person makes about a person, group, event/issue
• tri-component model of attitudes - attitudes are formed through

  • affective component
  • behavioural component
  • cognitive component
• affective c - feelings/emotions

  behavioural c - actions

  cognitive c - beleif
• stereotypes are generalised views about the personal characteristics of a group of people
• stereotyping - placing people in categories based on shared characteristics + membership to a particular group
• stereotyping

  • ingroup - share common pos traits
  • outgroup - do not share pos traits
• stereotypes

  • used to maintain control over other groups
  • expression of a negative attitude towards group
• cognitive dissonance is a psychological discomfort that one experiences when there is an inconsistency between their attitudes and behaviours
• discomfort related to cognitive dissonance can motivate people to make their attitudes align with their behaviours
• cognitive biases are systematic errors that occur in decision making.

  • occur when we attempt to simplify the information we are processing when having to interpret quickly
• cognitive biases

  • actoc observer bias
  • false consensus bias
  • self-serving bias
  • anchoring bias
  • confirmation bias
  • halo affect
• actor-observor bias

  • contributing own behaviour to external factors
  • contributing others behaviour to internal factors
• false consensus bias - assuming atitudes are more commonly shared than they are
• self-serving bias

  • attributing positive outcomes to internal factors -under control
  • attributing negative outcomes to external factors -out of control
• anchoring bias - relying onfirst piece of information provided when making decisions
• conformation bias

  • favouring supportive information
  • ignoring contradictory information
• halo affect - positive view of one quality influences view of other qualities
• heuristics are mental shortcuts used to make quicker decisions
• availability heuristic - use information first thought of to make a judgement
• representative heuristic - estimate likelihood of something occurring, being true based on expectation
• affect heuristic - decision-making influenced by emotional state/mood
• cobiases reduce the experience of cognitive dissonance as we process information that justifies our behaviour
• social group formed when

  • 2+ people interact
  • influence eachother
  • share objectives
• social groups

  • structured, permanent: sport team
  • fluid, temporary: study group
• social power

  • amount of influence one can exert over another person
  • depending on situation/group, nature of influence can differ
• social power

  • reward
  • legitimate
  • coercive
  • referent
  • expert
• reward power - ability to award person who complies with desired behaviour
• legitimate power - acceptance of one being part on an established social order
• coercive power - ability to punish person for failure to comply
• referent power - refer to for direction (role model)
• expert power - expertise in field because of training, experience
• anti-conformity is the deliberate refusal to comply with social norms as demonstrated by ideas, beleifs or judgements that challenge norms