12.1 Social perception and attribution

Social perception shapes how we view and judge others. From first impressions to nonverbal cues, we form opinions quickly. But our perceptions are often biased by mental shortcuts and errors like the fundamental attribution error.

Stereotypes and prejudice further distort our social perceptions. These biases can lead to discrimination and unfair treatment. Understanding these processes helps us recognize and overcome our own biases in how we perceive others.

Social Perception and Attribution

Processes of social perception

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• Social perception involves forming impressions and making judgments about others based on available information such as physical appearance, behavior, and social context
• Impression formation is the process of forming an overall evaluation or judgment of a person influenced by factors like attractiveness (halo effect) and first impressions (primacy effect)
• Nonverbal communication including facial expressions (smiling), body language (crossed arms), and tone of voice (sarcasm) provides additional cues that influence social perception
• Attributions involve assigning causes or explanations to the behavior of others which can be influenced by various biases and heuristics (fundamental attribution error)

Impact of fundamental attribution error

• Fundamental attribution error (FAE) is the tendency to overestimate the influence of internal factors (personality traits) and underestimate external factors (situational constraints) when explaining others' behavior
• FAE leads to biased judgments and misinterpretations of others' actions such as assuming a student failed a test due to lack of intelligence rather than considering difficult questions
• Actor-observer bias contributes to FAE as individuals tend to attribute their own behavior to external factors (traffic jam) while attributing others' behavior to internal factors (reckless driving)
• Self-serving bias influences the way we perceive and judge ourselves and others by attributing successes to internal factors (hard work) and failures to external factors (bad luck)

Heuristics and biases in perception

• Heuristics are mental shortcuts or rules of thumb used to simplify complex social judgments and decision-making but can lead to biases and errors
• Availability heuristic involves judging the likelihood or frequency of an event based on how easily examples come to mind leading to overestimating risks of plane crashes due to media coverage
• Representativeness heuristic involves judging the likelihood of someone belonging to a group based on how well they fit the stereotype leading to assuming a shy person is a librarian
• Confirmation bias is the tendency to seek out and interpret information in a way that confirms one's preexisting beliefs and expectations leading to only considering evidence that supports one's views

Effects of stereotypes and prejudice

• Stereotypes are generalized beliefs or expectations about the characteristics and behaviors of members of a particular group (gender roles) which can lead to biased and inaccurate judgments about individuals
• Prejudice involves negative attitudes or evaluations of a group and its members (racism) which can result in discrimination and unfair treatment of individuals based on group membership
• Stereotype threat is the fear of confirming negative stereotypes about one's group leading to decreased performance (women in math) and self-esteem
• Implicit biases are unconscious attitudes and stereotypes that influence social perception and behavior leading to unintentional discrimination (resume screening) and perpetuation of social inequalities