Person Perception

1. Person Perception “Perception is Reality”

2. Person Perception • In social psychology, the term person perception refers to the different mental processes that we use to form impressions of other people • Includes HOW we form these impressions and the CONCLUSIONS we make about other people based upon our impressions

3. Person Perception • “First Impressions” – Take a minute to think back to the first day of school. What was your first impression of each of your teachers? What did you base it on?

4. What Information Do We Use to Form Impressions of Others? • Very subjective – form impressions quickly • Use Roles and Social Norms • Ex: might form an impression of a coach based on how you would anticipate that a person in that role would behave • Consider individual personality characteristics only after you have formed this initial impression

5. What Information Do We Use to Form Impressions of Others? • Use Physical Cues • How someone looks • What they are wearing • We tend to focus on unique or obvious points

6. Social Categorization • Mental Shortcuts • We mentally categorize people into different groups based on common characteristics (age, gender, occupation and race) • Allows you to make judgments very quickly • BUT leads to stereotyping

7. Social Categorization • Imagine that you are getting on a bus, but there are only two seats available. One seat is next to a petite, silver-haired, elderly woman, the other seat is next to a burly, grim-faced man. • Who would you sit next to? Why?

8. Implicit Personality Theory • A collection of beliefs and assumptions that we have about how certain traits are linked to other characteristics and behaviors • Once we know a key trait, we assume that the person also exhibits other traits that are commonly linked to that trait • Ex: You learn a new co-worker is very happy, you might assume she is also friendly, kind and generous