Lecture 4 COMM 100 1st EditionOutline of last lecturel. Perception Outline of current lecture ll. Attributionlll. Biases IV. Impression FormationV. Implicit Personality theory VI. Forming impressions of othersVll. Stereo Types Vlll. Accuracy of perceptions Current lecture ll. AttributionA. Definition: “ the process of assigning meaning to others behavior.”- We do this continuously.- Why did my boss pass me up for that promotion?- Why did the professor give us a quizlll. BiasesA. Why Biases?- Self-attribution differs from other attribution.- We tend to see our own behavior as governed by the demands of a given situation but to view the same behaviors in others as governed by their disposition.- Attributions differ because we focus on different information.- Info available to “actor” and “observer” is different. As a result…- Sometimes we focus on the person (e.g. personality). - Sometimes we focus on the context or circumstances. B. Kinds of Biases- Dispositional other: - Overuse of personality “reasons” or disposition with others.- Self-serving bias:- Tendency to overuse situational attributions with yourself. - Preserve self-esteem.C. Example - You and your roommate both flunk a test:- Self-serving: “ I flunked because the test was too hard and the questions were unfair.”- Dispositional other: “my roommate flunked because he’s lazy and doesn’t try hard enough.”- What could be the effect of making this kind of attribution about your roommate?IV. Impression Formation A. The way we combine into to get a general “sense” of a person.- When flooded with new info:- Attend to some thing, not others- Need to organize all that info- Form an overall impression through weighted average. B. What Gets the Greatest Weight?- Info about stable traits- Info from a credible source- Primacy Effect:- Info we receive first is remembered best - First impression are very important- Info about extreme or unusual behavior - Info about negative traits V. Implicit Personality Theory A. Solomon Asch- “we select and organize info about others on the basis of what behaviors we think go together.”- Principle of unity:- We make traits organize well - We explain away or avoid inconsistent information. - Central traits: Halo effect? Horned effect?- Asch also found that certain traits are more “central”o More influential than others when forming impressions of personality.o Helps explain our lighting judgments Vl. Forming impressions of othersA. Make impressions easily: hastily?- Impressions in cyberspace…B. The primary effect- We do adapt our impressions - First few weeks or days are influential - We are confident in our initial judgments- Priming can help avoid effect- It is not inevitableC. The role of physical attractiveness- Attractive=the edge-universal!?- Symmetry- Feminine feature- Baby attention, marriage, occupation success, court defendants, teacher evals,power and status, increased self esteem by proxy- Problems for women- Media standards- Bias for attractive women in the workplace- Expressiveness “nonverbal comm. Influence first impression: animation, dynamism, expansiveness, intensity”- Female faces: arched eyebrows, dilated pupils, wide mouths, and full lips- Male faces: Large smileo Both seen as more attractive than less expressive others o Attract more attentiono Create extremely more favorable first impressions- Charisma “personal magnetism that enables an individual to attract and influence people”- Research shoes that expressiveness and charisma are linked - Charisma is harder to operationalize and define- Central to studying strong leaders or leadership Vll. StereotypesA. A generalization about a class of people object or events that is widely held by a given culture - Reducing all members of a given group to a given group to a certain collection of traits or behaviors- Why?- Normal to categorize the world- Tendency to divide into “us” and “then”- Want to do as little cognitive work as possible B. Effects of Stereotypes - Often carry a negative tone- Person is not perceived as an individual but as a member of a category- With out groups, remember less favorable info- With in groups, remember more favorable info- Can result in self-fulfilling prophesies- What about positive stereotypes Vlll. Accuracy of Perception A. Context- we miss this sometimes- Interpersonal sensitivity- decoding V/N messages - Perceiver self-confidence- no so helpful- Intelligence- Draw inference, deduce- Dispositional- Relate personality to behavior - Flexible expectations- Limiting biases- Awareness of limitations- perception limitations- Improvement related to