Social Perception 1

Social Perception: Making Sense of our Social World

I. Social Cognition

A. Bottom-up (data-driven) and Top-Down (theory driven) Processing

B. Schemas the life-blood of Top-Down processing

1. What a schema is

2. Types of schema

a. Person (or group, i.e., sterotype)

c. Self

d. Role

e. Event

3. How schemas affect social perception

a. Influence Memory of Information

a.1. Remember Schema-Consistent Information

Cohen (1981)

a.2. Remember Schema-Inconsistent (not irrelevant) Information

Cohen (1981)

b. Influence Interpretation of Information

Duncan (1976,

c. Elicit schema-consistent behavior (e.g., Self-fulfilling prophecy)

Snyder, Tanke, & Berscheid (1977, JPSP, 35, 656-666)

C. How are Schemas “Activated?”

1. Categorization

2. Priming (activated by previous information processing)

Bargh and Pietromonaco (1982, JPSP, 43, 437-449)

E. What is the purpose/function of Top-Down processing?

D. When do we use Bottom-up Processing?

- Neuberg & Fiske (1987, JPSP, 53, 431-444)

-Experiment 1: Does outcome dependence increase attention to individuating material?

-Experiment 2: Does outcome dependence increase time spent forming an impression?

II. Attribution

A. Two Sources To Which Behavior Is Attributed

1. Internal or Dispositional Attribution

2. External or Environmental Attribution

B. Theories of Attribution

1. Theory Correspondent Inferences (Jones & Davis, 1965)

1.a. Social Desirability

1.b. Noncommon Effects

2. Covariation Theory (Kelly, 1967)

2.a. Three attributions

(a) reflects a disposition of the actor, (e.g., Bob is lecherous)

(b) was elicited by a characteristic of the stimulus, (e.g., Tracy is irresistible)

(c) or was a function of the situation. (e.g., Bob is drunk)

2.b. Three sources of information

-Consensus: how do other people react to the stimulus?

-Consistency: how does the actor react to the stimulus in other situations?

-Distinctiveness: how does the actor react to similar stimuli?

2.c. How information gained from sources influences attribution

3. Two-step Model of Attribution (Gilbert, )

E.g., Gilbert.

C. Attribution Biases

1. Cognitive Biases

1.a. The Fundamental Attribution Error

E.g., Jones & Harris (1967) pro-Castro or anti-Castro speeches

1.b. The Actor-Observer Effect

Salience Explanation

E.g., Taylor & Fiske (1975) This experiment demonstrates the role of saliency in the attribution process.

2. Motivational Biases

2.a. Self-serving bias

2.b. Severity bias, E.g., Walster (1966)