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Social PerceptionProcess of inference-making is one of making sense and imposing order and predictability on our experiences

We do this in several ways:Deductive

Schema-driven inferencesCategory ‘familiar’Automatic processing

InductiveNaïve epistemologyCategory ‘unfamiliar’Controlled processing

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Attribution TheoryDescribes how we arrive at decisions about the

cause of people’s behavior and why we arrive at specific decisions

- Process of naïve epistemologyAttributions are causal explanations for an event

They suggest how and why something happened and who or what was responsiblenaturally this results in a ‘causal account’ that influences subsequent decision making

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Attribution Biases Actor/Observer Bias otherwise known as the

“Fundamental Attribution Error”Actors emphasize situational features in their accounts of their behaviorObservers tend to explain Actor behavior as largely due to something ‘dispositional’ of the Actor

Perceptual Account of the bias due to differences in the “perceptual field” of actors and observersActor behavior ‘engulfs’ the Observer

How Knowledgeable?

010

2030

4050

6070

8090

100

Questioner'sRatings

Contestant'sRatings

Observer'sRatings

Questioner

Contestant

Average Student

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Attribution Biases

False-Consensus BiasTendency to see our behavior as more representative than it actually isConversely, we view people’s behavior that is different than ours as less common than it actually isPerceptual and ego defense explanations

One of the most notable examples is the possibly apocryphal quip by The New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael, who reportedly said she couldn't believe Nixon had won since no one she knew had voted for him.

How Common is the Behavior?

Strength of Trait Inferences

Estimated Commonness of Agreement

Estimated Commonness of Refusal

About S who agrees to wear sign

About S who refuses to wear sign

Ss who agree to wear sign (n=48)

62 %

38 %

120.1

125.3

Ss who refuse to wear sign (n=32)

33 %

67 %

139.7

106.8

How unusual is the person who disagrees with us?

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Attribution Biases

Self-serving BiasPeople claim responsibility for success and avoid blame for failure

individuals offer more dispositional accounts for success and more situational accounts for failure‘Midas touch’Benefectanceego enhancement and ego defense

Performance Attributions Stability

Stable Unstable

Location

Internal

Ability

Effort

External

Task

Luck

Ego Enhancement

Claiming credit for success

Ego Defense

Refusing blame for failurevs.

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Attribution Biases

Continuum reflecting information-processing/perceptual accounts versus self-esteem/ego accounts

Perceptual Motivated

Actor/observer False consensus Self-serving

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Attributions & Decisions

Much of decision making involves locating the cause of responsibility in order to facilitate decision making.

ConsistencyConsensusDistinctiveness

Schemas

stereotypes

Observed Behavior

Information Cues

Attributions Decisions

Decision Constraints

Policy

Resources

Kelley’s Covariation Theory

Low High

Consistency

Low High

Consensus

Low High

D istinctiveness

Behavior

Nursing SupervisorsIncident

A patient had recently returned from surgery after a prostatectomy. Nurse Connaly (R.N.) checked this patient’s condition and found him to be doing satisfactorily. However, she failed to tape down a catheter as requested in written order by the patient’s surgeon. The untaped catheter was discovered by the surgeon and he reported this incident to you. The patient had suffered no ill effects.

Work HistoryNurse Connaly has been on the job for 3 months and this is the first time she has made an error of this type, failing to complete a physician’s order. Her performance on other tasks has generally been error free. Other R.N.s on this unit have made similar errors relating to the completion of physicians’ orders and this type of behavior has occurred on several occasions in the last year.

EFFECTIVE – EFFICIENT – ENDURING - ENDEARING

Task/Role/Project Task/Role/Project

New Sales X-Selling CSR Accounts New Sales X-Selling CSR Accounts

Person

Pam 3 2

Person

Pam 3 2

Tom 6 6 Tom 7 6

Sue 3 4 Sue 4 5

Ray 2 7 Ray 6 1

Observation Period 1 Observation Period 3

Task/Role/Project Task/Role/Project

New Sales X-Selling CSR Accounts New Sales X-Selling CSR Accounts

Person

Pam 2 2

Person

Pam 3 3

Tom 4 6 Tom 6 4

Sue 4 3 Sue 4 5

Ray 6 6 Ray 6 2 6

Observation Period 2 Observation Period 4

ANOVA of Time-Project-Person

Fails to meet ≤ 3; meets ≥ 4; exceeds ≥ 6

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Personnel Actions

Experimental Condition

Personnel Actions (percentages)

No Action Pay Raise Promotion ABILITY Male Female

15 20

31 10

54 70

EFFORT Male Female

0 18

77 73

23 9

TASK EASE Male Female

69 60

15 20

15 20

LUCK Male Female

75 73

25 18

0 9

pvFrom: Michael R. Cunningham. The Sociobiology of Beauty, Journal of Personality & Social Psychology

Is beauty in the eye of the beholder or is it universal?• Cross-species standards

• Symmetry as signal of reproductive health

• Neonate features• Mature Features• Expressive Features

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Schemas An associational network that organizes our

Attention, Processing, and Recall of information Deductive theory of how the world works

Spawns hypotheses and suggests credible tests of hypotheses

Several Forms that schema take Stereotypes (group)

• Jim – glasses – geek Prototypes (person)

• Roosevelt – great president (which one & which achievements?) Scripts (event)

• Interview script (interviewer or interviewee)• scene 1: pre-contact activities• scene 2: greeting & establish rapport• scene 3: ask job-related questions• scene 4: answer job-related questions• scene 5: disengagement

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Schema

PINK VIOLENCE Encounters may be schema-congruent or schema-

incongruent

i.e., category ‘familiars’ or ‘unfamiliars’

automatic versus controlled information-processing

Bad Romance (Gaga or Tiger?)

Hollywood (Movies or Politics, Hope versus Despair?)

Pumped up Kicks

Viking Kittens

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Attribution/Schema Summary Reflect processes that organize and interpret

our world Attributions as a naïve epistemology Schemas as theories of the world

hypothesis confirmation bias hypothesis disconfirmation and controlled processing

The source of many prejudices (prejudgments) we have of others and the things we encounter adaptive but potentially dysfunctional