PERCEIVING OTHERS

SEX & GENDER

GENDER ROLES - false assumption that we can either be fe/male or
feminine or masculine; often thought as binary
- From an early age we have a clear idea of gender roles
categories
which include what things we like (behaviours &
- some people are born intersexed, with combinations
choices) associated with being male or female.
of genitals, chromosomes and sex hormones that do not
- we conform & identify with them fit neatly with binary constructions of sex.
- Although sex can be quantified by DNA and genetic
- SOURCES:
testing, sometimes the results are difficult to make
1. family
sense of with regard to their social implications.
2. media
3. what we see in the world
SET THE BOUNDARIES
1. non offensive language
- Parents speak diff to boys and girls
2. be sensitive to people’s views
3. let people finish what they are saying before
- Cultural beliefs re-enforce what is seen to be
challenging
acceptable behaviour of males or females. This
QUESTION:
includes what we do, what we like and how we
> ‘What kind of job does this person do?’
behave.
> ‘Do you think they went to university?’

SEX (biological)
STEPS:
- refers to a person’s genitalia, chromosomes and
Step 1 – Recruiting Qualified Applicants. ...
hormones
Step 2 – Application Process. ...
Step 3 – Interviewing the Potential Candidates. ...
SEXUAL ORIENTATION
Step 4 – Hiring the Best Interviewee. ...
- about which gender a person is emotionally,
Step 5 – Training.
romantically and sexually attracted to. ( heterosexual,
gay, lesbian, bisexual )
DISCRIMINATION IN HIRING
SEXUAL BEHAVIOR - occurs when a job applicant is treated unfairly or
- encompasses a wide range of sexual acts a person unequally because he or she belongs to a protected
might engage in with other people class.

GENDER EXPRESSION STEREOTYPES

- way a person shows their gender to the world - one explanation for the elevated level of
(feminine/femme, masculine, androgynous) discrimination observed during this process
- have a significant impact on the process of
GENDER IDENTITY employment recruitment.
- person’s perception or feeling about their own
gender . APPEARANCE DURING JOB INTERVIEW
- 1ST 4 MINS (very important)
LGBT > When looking at another person during a
- community that includes all gender and sexual conversation, your attention is naturally directed in a
minorities triangular pattern around the eyes and mouth
1. HYGIENE
TRANSGENDER - includes all of the actions you perform in order to be
- gender identity and expression differs from what is clean and healthy.
typically associated at birth. - fanciest suit in the world won’t mean much if you wear
it without showering first
- professional physical appearance starts with good
hygiene.
- Practicing good hygiene before the interview includes
taking a shower, brushing and flossing your teeth and
making sure your fingernails are trimmed and clean.
- it’s a good idea to use some form of antiperspirant or
deodorant. (due to high pressure)
2. GROOMING
- look presentable and professional
- Try to keep your makeup to a minimum and keep your
hair style simple
- If you have facial hair, be sure to keep it trimmed and
clean.
- Tattoos and piercings can also be distracting, and they
could also have an impact on your interviewer’s opinion
of you.
- GOAL: present yourself as a clean slate so that the
interviewer can make an assessment of you based on
your words and skills and nothing else.
3. DRESS TO IMPRESS
- DRESS CODE: set of guidelines that explains what is
appropriate to wear to work and what is not; most
companies have this
- try to find out what the dress code is for the company.
- make sure that your clothes are clean and free of
wrinkles.
- RULE OF THUMB: dress a step up from the dress code
for your interview
Ex. 1: if the dress code is “business casual,” it would be
appropriate to wear a suit and tie to the interview.
Ex. 2: If you are applying for job in retail setting,
employer might require you to wear a uniform to work,
so nice pants & a dress shirt will most likely be
appropriate for interview.
4. BODY LANGUAGE (way you carry yourself)
- large part of physical appearance & says a lot about
you, mood, thoughts
- actions in interview in line with message you want to
send
- You want to appear confident to the interviewer, so it
is important to use a firm handshake.
- appear relaxed so the interviewer doesn’t think you
are nervous
- Focus on controlling excess movement,
- avoid fidgeting, talking with your hands and shaking or
tapping your feet.
- Remember to smile (friendly, comfortable, relaxed)
- Show the interviewer that you are paying attention.
> Sit up straight in your chair with your feet resting flat
on the floor.
> Rest your arms at your side or fold your hands on the
table
> avoid slouching or sitting back in your chair
> make eye contact whenever anyone says something
to you and when you are talking to someone. (shows
you are listening & comfortable talking)
IMPLICIT ASSOCIATION TEST (Anthony Greenwald,
Mahzarin Bnaji, Brian Nasek, 1998)
- IMPLICIT BIAS
> unconscious and unintentional
> not plainly expressed
> understood though not clearly or directly stated
- measures the strength of associations between
concepts (e.g., black people, gay people) and
evaluations (e.g., good, bad) or stereotypes (e.g.,
athletic, clumsy).
- measures the extent to which two concepts are
associated
- measures attitudes and beliefs that people may be
unwilling or unable to report.
Ex. you may believe that women & men should be
equally associated with science, but your automatic
associations could show that you associate men with
science more than you associate women with science.
- MAIN IDEA: making a response is easier when closely
related items share the same response key.
Ex. comparing how quickly participants associate
African American cues (black face) with negative and
positive concepts compared to how quickly they
associate European American cues with the same
concepts.
- If someone is consistently slower identifying
something good after seeing a black face than a white
face- indicates a degree of IMPLICIT RACISM.
SOCIAL PERCEPTION
- how we make sense of other people
- a person must understand with some degree of
accuracy.
- involves the processes by which we try to understand
other people and social situations.
- can obviously be flawed - even skilled observers can
misperceive, misjudge, and reach the wrong
conclusions.
- Once we form wrong impressions, they are likely to
persist.
- After impression formation, another major tasks
of social perception consists of our attempts to
explain people’s behavior.
Ex. Suppose neighbor is unemployed. You might judge
that he is lazy, irresponsible or unable (dispositional
attribution). Alternatively, you might attribute
unemployment to racial discrimination, evils of
capitalism, poor state of the economy (situational).
TWO PARTS:
1. IMPRESSION FORMATION
- how we form impressions of other people
- how we integrate information about a person into a
coherent impression.
- OUTCOME: judgment about the qualities of the person
- FIRST IMPRESSION DEVELOPS QUICKLY EVEN WITH
LITTLE INFORMATION
> takes less than 1/10th of a second (face)
> predict all kinds of important characteristics, not just
attractiveness
> not random but shared by majority but doesn’t
necessarily mean they are correct
Ex. people’s snap judgements of a politician’s
competence, based solely on their appearance, can
predict their success in an election
- PHYSICAL FEATURES (face & body); gender, age, build
(height & weight), clothes.
> we focus on this bc it is the MOST EASILY AVAILABLE
INFO about a person
- We tend to focus on whatever is STRIKING OR
UNUSUAL about the physical appearance.
- NON-VERBAL BEHAVIOR – facial expression & eye
contact.
3 UNIVERSAL QUALITIES INFER FROM FACE:
1. attractiveness (mating cue)
2. trustworthiness (useful social charac – care for child)
3. dominance (useful to avoid conflict)
BIASES
a.) IMPLICIT PERSONALITY THEORY
- cognitive schema about what personality traits are
related or tend to occur together in a person
- perception that a person has a particular trait leads to
inferences that the person has other traits associated
with the given trait in the perceiver’s IPT
Ex. 1: MABAIT – infer person is also sincere, honest,
helpful.
Ex. 2: SALBAHE – infer insincere, dishonest and selfish.
b.) STEREOTYPING
- placing persons into categories or groups and then
ascribing to the person our beliefs about the
characteristics of the category or group
2. ATTRIBUTION
- attempt to explain why a person behaved the way
he/she did.
- taking into account what we believe are the traits and
characteristics of the person as well as the situation in
wc the behavior occurs.
- REASON: helps us predict how people will behave
- 2 MOTIVES:
1. form coherent understanding of the world
2. control the environment
- INTERNAL (Dispositional) ATTRIBUTION
> person behaved the way he/she did because of
internal characteristics
Ex. Late to school = lazy
Unemployed = lazy, irresponsible
- EXTERNAL (Situational) ATTRIBUTION
> person behaved the way he/she did because of
external factors such as situation/ social context.
Ex. Late to school = traffic/road accident
Unemployed = racial discrimination, evils of
capitalism, poor state of economy
BASIC CONCEPTS
STEREOTYPING (Sweeping generalizations)
- set of overgeneralized beliefs and expectations about
a particular group regardless of the actual variations of
individuals mostly based on ethnic and racial categories.
- Part of social cognition
> way to make sense bc we get overwhelmed by
stimulus
> we categorize by quickly assigning overgeneralized
qualities, avoiding cognitive exhaustion so we can
respond
- Asians talk abt math, black ppl talks crime, thai ppl
smile a lot
Ex. All Filipinos in HK are DH, prostitute, nurse
- HK ppl = Filipinos are lazy, demanding, lack
commitment, money only, apathetic, poor &
uneducated from backward country.
- Chinese ppl = threat to roles as wives & mothers,
flirtatious, sexual favors = loss of job
PREJUDICE (pre-judgment)
- prae – in advance
- judicium – judgment
- MEDIEVAL: prejudicium = injustice
- unjustified, often negative (positive) evaluations or
judgments (attitudes) of members of a group that are
based primarily on membership in the group.
Ex. I hate them

DISCRIMINATION
- behavioral manifestations of stereotypes and
prejudice
- negative (sometimes positive) action toward members
of a particular group due to their membership in a
particular group.
Ex. Maltreatment, treated like slave, torture from
employer (daily beatings on head with mop handle,
boiling water burns, 21hrs work days, sleeping on floor,
being locked up)

PROCESS
1. Stereotype
- blacks are stupid, violent, worthless, poor & criminals
- all overweight are lazy

2. Prejudice
- I dislike Black people. I hate Blacks. I despise them. I
am disgusted by them. I despise them
- Distaste for people who are lazy.

3. Discrimination
- I will not hire a Black person.
Get f*** out of our country! You nigger! Spics, chinks.
You all make our country stink! (Racial slurs, derogatory
remarks & jokes)
- refuse to hire people who are overweight. Or don’t let
them sit at your lunch counter.