Social perception

Objectives
In this section you will:
_ Examine the link between visual and social perception
_ Identify the sources, structure and behaviours of individual perceptual frames of
reference, intelligence and personality and
_ Examine ways in which they can be measured and evaluated to provide information for
the management of people.
1.1.1 Introduction
A father and his son were driving to a ball game when their car stalled on the
railroad tracks. In the distance a train whistle blew a warning. Frantically, the
father tried to start the engine, but in his panic, he couldnt turn the key, and the
onrushing train hit the car. An ambulance sped to the scene and picked them
up. On the way to the hospital, the father died. The son was still alive, but his
condition was very serious, and he needed immediate surgery. The moment they
arrived at the hospital, he was wheeled into an emergency operating room, and
the surgeon came in, epecting a routine case. !owever, on seeing the boy, the
surgeon blanched and muttered, "I cant operate on this boy # hes my son.3
hat do you make of this grim riddle! It is common for people to take at least a few
minutes before they get the answer. Is the surgeon the boy"s real father and the driver
the
adopted father or the father a priest! #he answer is that the surgeon is the boy"s
mother.
$s %ofstadter points out, the social assumption about the surgeon is made in &default",
that is, a solution to a problem or the most plausible assumption about a situation or
person
is arrived at automatically based on our expectations. #hese will be determined by what
life
has taught us to expect so that a &frame of reference" is constructed by which we 'udge
the
people and things around us. #he same process of &perception" applies to visual
perception.