WEEK 8 FORMING IMPRESSIONS

Module 1: Introduction The conscious and unconscious judgments one makes leads to "social perceptions" which influence how one interprets their behaviour and the behaviours of individuals and groups. It's difficult to accurately attribute intentions to observed actions because for every observed behaviour, there are a many possible motivating factors. Why would a person agree to pose for a variety of silly photos? Perhaps he lost a bet, was in an odd mood, or never thought for the life of him that they would actually end up in a web module. Module 2: Attribution Theories One can gain a lot of information about a person by simply observing his or her behaviour. Example, you are in a supermarket and observe a mother and child engaged in a loud shouting match that is drawing attention. This is a behaviour that indicates conflict. You could attribute the mother's behaviour to mean that she is impatient or irritated. Jones and Davis' Correspondent Inference Theory: You actively analyze a person's behaviour to make inferences based on three variables: degree of choice, expectation, and the intended consequences of the behaviour. Degree of Choice: To understand why a person is behaving in a particular way, it helps to know if he chose to act in the observed behaviour in question. For example, imagine you are in a philosophy class that is debating the ethics of the death penalty, and one of the your colleagues is arguing strongly in support of the death penalty. If you knew that he had chosen to be on the team that was arguing in support of the issue, you may infer that he truly believed in his message. However, if you knew that people had been randomly assigned to the difference sides of the argument, you would have much less basis to make such an inference. Despite its logic, you may sometimes have difficulty appreciating the role of degree of choice in a chosen behaviour. And so, you may develop strong emotional feelings for or against a movie actor who you assume is really that romantic or really that slimy in real life. Expectation: Consider that uncommon behaviour gives us a lot more information than common behaviour. If someone behaves in a way typical to what you would expect from them, you do not have any reason to infer an underlying cause to their behaviour. Intention of the Behaviour: You watched a commercial that advocated lower smoking levels which you knew was sponsored by a tobacco company, you may suspect that the motivation behind this message was driven by a hidden goal - perhaps you may suspect that the tobacco company's real goal is to look like caring corporate citizen. You would probably not develop the same suspicion if you heard your sister advocating the same positon. Kelley's Covariation Theory: Predicts how you determine if a given behaviour is due to an individual's personal disposition OR the situation and circumstances. Three variables are considered to determine if a behaviour is dispositional or situational: consistency, distinctiveness, and consensus.

Consistency: Does the individual usually behave this way in this situation? (Same situation # of times) Distinctiveness: Does the individual behave differently in different situations? (Variety of situations) Yes Driven by the situation No Driven by his disposition Consensus: Do others behave similarly in this situation? Yes Situational (Everyone's behaviour is similarly influenced by this situation) No Dispositional (The different behaviours observed in a given situation are likely due to each individual's particular disposition) Module 3: The Fundamental Attribution Error Fundamental Attribution Error: Tendency to overvalue dispositional factors for the observed behaviours of others while under-valuing situational factors. The term itself was coined by the psychologist Ross, who presented an influential argument for the place of the FAE in social psychology. Later, the psychologist Jones wrote that he found Ross' term "overly provocative and somewhat misleading", and added "Furthermore, I'm angry that I didn't think of it first." Fundamental Attribution Error Assume behaviour of others are primarily due to dispositional factors You are more vulnerable to making the fundamental attribution error when determining the causes of the behaviours of others rather than your own behaviour. When attributing the cause of your own behaviour, you are much more aware of situational influences. Actor Observer Effect Consider the situational factors of your own behaviour In general, you as the actor are better aware of the many situational factors contributing to your own behaviour. But when you observe others, you only have the current situation at hand, so you assume the individual's behaviour is representative of what would typically be observed. Harre and Colleagues ( 2004): Young drivers are asked to explain the reasons for their own and their friend's risky behaviour while driving. Although teenagers were more likely to attribute their own risky driving to situational factors, such as being in a hurry or feeling pressure from peers, they were more likely to attribute their friends' risky driving behaviours to eprsonal factors, such as having fun or showing off. Fundamental attribution error is not necessarily a universal finding and instead seems to be influenced by culture. Younger Groups: Graph indicates that American 8 & 11 year olds made similar number of attributions as a result of personal and situational causes Graph indicates that Indian 11 year olds have a tendency to make more situational than personal attributions

Older Groups: Graph indicates that American 15 year olds and adults made more attributions as a result of personal factors than situational factors Graph indicates that Indian 15 year olds and adults made more attributions to situational factors than personal factors Cultural difference in likelihood/tendency of making fundamental attribution error, which develops over time. Morris and Peng (1994): Compared attributions made by Chinese and American graduate students and newspapers. Compared to the Chinese, the American students and newspapers were more likely to make the fundamental attribution error. Generally the FAE is diminished in collectivist societies where there is less focus on individual behaviour and more focus on relationships and roles within society. Self-Serving Bias: This refers to your tendency to perceive yourself favourably. The FAE and AOE can lead to examples of a self-serving bias in a specific context which can lead to errors. One of these is the "above average effect," which causes you to identify dispositional causes for your successes, but situational causes for your failures, giving you an exaggerated view of your abilities. For example: if you won a game of cards you identify personal strategy as a big contributor but if you lose you blame your hand of cards. Positive (Getting an A): Actor "I am brilliant" (Dispositional explanations) Observer "The test was pretty easy" (Situational explanation) Negative (Getting an F): Actor "The test was impossibly hard" (Situational explanations) Observer "She is not smart enough" (Dispositional explanation) Module 4: Cognitive Heuristics Representativeness Heuristic: Classify people by considering how well their behaviour fits with a certain prototype. Example: Jennifer is 27, outspoken, single, intelligent, and lives in Oakville. She majored in psychology when she was in Uni. As a student, she was deeply concerned with social issues and has recently participated in anti-nuclear demonstrations. Jennifer is a bank teller Right answer Jennifer is a bank teller who is active in the feminist movement Representativeness Heuristic Availability Heuristic: Example: Imagine you had two different instructors for a course. Dr. First taught the first term and Dr. Second taught the second. At the beginning of the year you attended all your classes and were enthusiastic. By second term, you feel burned out and tend to only make it to one lecture per week. When you rate the professors, you have great memories of Dr. First but few memories of Dr. Second. Both were equally effective profs but you have different experiences available to your memory. Using

the relative of availability, you will rate Dr. first better than Dr. Second. List two improvements Easily available flaws lower ratings List ten improvements Less available flaws Higher ratings Humans are good at processing social information partly because of the many heuristics that we use. It is important to be aware, however, that these shortcuts can lead to biases, and that our perceptions do not necessarily reflect reality. Module 5: Relationships An important application impressions is the field of attraction. These means that one has a good impression of someone and they are likely to desire their company. There are four factors that make it more likely for someone to be attracted to another person: proximity, familiarity, physical attractiveness, and other's opinions. Physical Proximity: You are more likely to be attracted to or to become friends with those you live or work closely with. Anticipated Interaction Higher Ratings Familiarity (Mere Exposure Effect): This effect describes your tendency to be more positive towards things that are familiar, even if you have only seen them once or twice in the past. Familiarity explains why you tend to rate faces of people you have seen before as being more attractive. Physical Attractiveness: Is often an important factor when it comes to forming a positive impression of other people. You use the physical attractiveness on the presumption that what is beautiful is also good. When compared with less physically attractive people, physically attractive people are often judged as kinder, warmer, intelligent as well as more sensitive and outgoing. Correlational studies have shown that attractive people make more money and date more attractive people. Other's Opinions: Final variable to consider that influences your impressions of others is how much they like us. This is especially true when you need a self-esteem boost. Walster (1965) Study: Lower self-esteem rated high attractiveness of the grad student while raised self-esteem and a control group with no self-esteem rated the attractiveness lower. This experiment shows that having someone like you when your self-esteem is low has more of an effect on your impression on that person than when your self esteem is high or normal. "You like people who like you"