Elements of Social Perception

• The situation and schemas

• Social comparison and saliency

• Schemas -- mental maps or blueprints for how familiar people, events or things usually work

Elements of Social Perception

• People and non-verbal cues– Major visual cues– Face cues– Voice cues– Movement cues

Causal Attribution

• The process by which we describe how people explain the causes of behavior

• Personal Attribution -- Attributing behavior to internal characteristics of an individual

• Situation Attribution -- Attributing behavior to external factors

Kelley’s Covariation Theory

HighConsensusM any agree

LowConsensus

No one agrees

ConsensusSocial Com parison

HighPerson does notact the sam e inother situations

LowPerson actsthe sam e in

other situations

DistinctivenessSituations

LowPerson does not

act this w ay m ostot the tim e

HighPerson act this

w ay m ost ofthe tim e

ConsistencyT im e

IndividualBehavior

Attribution Errors

• Fundamental Attribution Error -- The tendency to underestimate the impact of the situation on other people’s behavior and to overestimate the role of personal causes

• Actor-observer error -- The tendency to attribute our own behavior to situational causes and others to personal factors

Reflective Questions

• How do non-verbal cues help us form impressions of individuals?

• How do we arrive at motives or causes for behavior from impressions

• How accurate are our causal attributions?