Chapter 3 Understanding Perceptions and Attributions

The Perceptual Process* (esp. Figure 3.1, p. 68) Perceptual Selection* Person Perception* Perceptual Errors*

Attributions: Perceived Causes of Behavior*

Exercise: Truth or Consequences?

Perception

Definition: The process by which people select, organize, interpret, and respond to information from the world around them.

Perception (consciously and unconsciously) involves searching for, obtaining, and processing information in the mind in an attempt to make sense of the world

Selection and organization often account for differences in interpretation/perception between individuals observing the same stimuli
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Basic Elements in the Perceptual Process*

(See Figure 3.1, page 68)

Environmental Stimuli

Observation
* Taste * Hearing * Touch * Smell * Sight

Perceptual Selection
* External factors * Internal factors

Perceptual Organization
* Perceptual grouping

Interpretation
* Perceptual errors * Attributions

Response
* Covert * Overt

Concepts Manifest in the Princeton Case

Selective Screening: the process by which people filter out most information so they can deal with the most important matters Perceptual Set: an expectation of a perception based on past experience with the same or similar objects Pollyanna Principle: the notion that pleasant stimuli are processed more efficiently and accurately than unpleasant stimuli; an effect of motivation on perception Perceptual Grouping: tendency to form individual stimuli into a meaningful pattern by continuity, closure, proximity, or similarity 4

Person Perception

Definition: the process by which individuals attribute characteristics or traits to other people; closely related to attribution Implicit personality theories: personal beliefs about the relationships among others physical characteristics, personality traits, and specific behaviors Impression Management: the attempt people make to manipulate or control the impressions others form about them
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Common Perceptual Errors

Perceptual defense: the tendency for people to protect

themselves against ideas, objects, or situations that are threatening Stereotyping: the tendency to assign attributes to someone solely on the basis of the category of people, of which that person is a member Halo effect: the process by which the perceiver evaluates another person solely on the basis of one attribute, either favorable or unfavorable Projection: the tendency for people to see their own traits in others Expectancy effects: extent to which expectations bias how events, objects, and people are actually perceived

Self-fulfilling prophecy: expecting certain things to happen will shape the behavior of the perceiver in such a way that the expected is more likely to happen

Nature of the Attribution Process*

Definition: The ways in which people come to understand the causes of their own and others behaviors Most often an unconscious process (i.e., people are not normally aware of making attributions) People are constantly attributing the behavior of themselves and others to either internal (i.e., personal) or external (i.e., situational) causes.

The Attribution Process

Antecedents-factors internal to the perceiver Information Beliefs Motivation

Attributions made by the perceiver

Perceived external or internal causes of behavior

Consequences for the perceiver

Behavior Feelings Expectations

Theory of Causal Attributions

Consistency
Does person usually behave this way in this situation?

Distinctiveness
External Attribution
(to persons situation)
Yes

Does person behave differently in different situations?

No

Internal Attribution
(to persons disposition)

Consensus
Do others behave similarly in this situation?

Frequent Attribution Errors*

Fundamental Attribution Error = overestimating the personal causes for others behavior while underestimating the situational causes Self-Serving Bias = attributing personal success to internal factors and personal failure to external factors

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