Psych 100 1H Focus Questions Chapter 13 Class 28 10 30 2013 1 Describe how we make attributions about others behavior including the person bias in attributions Describe the attractiveness bias and baby face bias in our perceptions of others a Making Attributions from Observed Behavior i Situational external events determine behavior ii Dispositional personality features determine behavior 1 Fundamental attribution error Person Bias a Win self good qualities others external b Lose self external events others self b Prior Info Physical Looks Effects on Person Perceptions i Attractiveness Bias 1 Biasing based upon prior info physical appearance 2 Clifford and Walster 1973 a Pictures and report cards good looking more intelligent 3 Dion 1972 4 Stewart 1985 a Child misbehavior to environmental good looking a Longer prison sentences to unattractive people 5 Nisbett and Wilson 1977 a Behavior affect physical ii Baby face bias 1 Zebrowitz 1991 a Baby face found innocent more often in court when intentional wrongdoing but not negligence 2 Todorov 2005 3 Lorenz 1971 a Pick mature person for congress a may be survival adaptation to care for young weaker more na ve etc c Forming Impressions on the Internet i McKenna et al 2002 1 initial non visual contact promoted more verbal revealing of self intimacy and openness than first face to face encounter ii 2 Discuss the classic Pygmalion in the classroom effect What effect did this experiment have on students in these classrooms How is this related to self esteem a Classroom Study Rosenthal Jacobson 1968 i Test showing some students would intellectually spurt ii Results students showed higher IQ and achievement iii Conclusions apparent teacher attitude changed and also learning environment apparent boost in self esteem and motivation b Neat and tidy study good at math study Miller 1975 i Self concept boosting three group conditions 1 Attribution 2 Persuasion 3 Control ii Results both attribution groups those neat and tidy and good at math did better than the persuasion you should and control group iii Conclusion groups strived to live up to expectation iv Counter effect sometimes persons try to correct incorrect image of them negative Pygmalion effect c Related to self esteem i 3 How do we use social comparison to construct our self perceptions How can we advance our view of ourselves Include the term self serving attributional bias in your response How do self perceptions differ between Eastern and Western cultures a Social Comparison construct self perception i Effect of the Reference group on self descriptions a Focus on traits most distinguished them from others in their 1 McGuire 1988 groups 1 Marsh 2008 ii Effect of reference group on self evaluations a Pleased when measure up to reference group distressed when not Big fish little pond effect academically able students at non selective schools have higher self concepts than equally able students at selective schools 2 Medvec 1995 a Silver medalists less happy than gold medalists different comparison groups b Advance view of ourselves i Self serving bias 1 Person bias applies when thinking of others but not of ourselves Success INNER QUALITY Failure EXTERNAL CIRCUMSTANCE 2 Bernstein 1979 a Students performed well on exam attribute to ability and hard work performed poorly attribute to bad luck unfairness of test 3 Greenwald 1980 a Car crash reports blame telephone pole ii Accepting praise at face value 1 Positive statements build self concepts because of appraisals 2 Vonk 2002 a Regard praise to others as insincere but honest towards self iii Remembering successes forgetting failures 1 Selective memory long term memory for positive events and successes in their lives than negative failures Van der Linden 2008 iv Defining unique criteria for success 1 Criteria for success are vague people may evaluate themselves by measures favorable to selves Majority of people may be above average if criteria are allowed to vary in view with unique people c Self perceptions differ between Eastern and Western cultures i Greater Focus in the East on Relationships and Roles Less on Independent Self 1 Triandis 1995 a Individualistic emphasize personal freedom self determination individual competition b Collectivistic emphasize interdependence of people with others in their families communities and groups i Describe self in terms of groups and less often in terms of consistent personality traits that cut across groups ii More likely to see different in different social context than Westerners iii More likely to attribute achievements to families than other social groups than to themselves as individuals ii Less Self Enhancement in East or Different Criteria for Self Evaluation 1 Ideal person is modest not someone who thinks highly of him herself Self enhancing biases are small or nonexistent in East Asia and may even be reversed in Japan a Self Effacing bias that was as strong as American s self 2 Cheung 1983 enhancing bias 3 Heine 2000 Canada value vary across cultures a More surprise disbelief for achieving in Japan opposite in 4 Self enhancing biases are universal but traits that most people 4 Differentiate between personal identity and social identity What consequence does this distinction have for self esteem and group enhancing biases a Differentiate i Personal self descriptions that pertain to person as a separate individual ii Social pertain to social categories or groups to which the person belongs b Consequences for self esteem i Hirt 1992 1 Sports fans feelings about themselves when their team wins or loses town uni company receives praise ii Can temporarily raise self esteem depending on whether our social or personal identity is more active 1 Social dominates group is part of us and we experience their success as ours 2 Personal dominates group mates are the reference group against which we measure our own accomplishments so success may diminish view of self c Consequences for group enhancing biases i Strong bias in favor of own group over other groups in all sorts of judgment We exaggerate the virtues of our own groups to build up the part of our self esteem that derives from our social identity 1 Locksley 1980 2 Sherman 2005 a Group assigned by coin toss still favorable to group a Attribute win to great skill taught to think of personal achievement no longer think of team so great ii 5 Distinguish between implicit and explicit stereotypes How do stereotypes affect perception and behavior How are