Department of Management

Faculty Name - Pooja Nahatkar Subject Code – FT305H Class – MBA 3RD SEM
Department of Management

An active process (or set of processes) through which we seek to know and
understand Others
 It is one of the most basic—and important aspects of social life
We try to understand other person’s current feelings, moods and emotions—
how they are feeling right now, often provided by nonverbal cues involving
facial expressions, eye contact, body posture and movements.
2 We attempt to understand the more lasting causes behind others’ behavior—
the reasons why they have acted in certain ways—motives, intentions and traits.

Faculty Name - Pooja Nahatkar Subject Code – FT305H Class – MBA 3RD SEM
Department of Management

SOCIAL PERCEPTION
Social perception is the study of how people form impressions of and make inferences about
other people.
Refers to the processes through which we use available information to form impressions of
other people, to assess what they are like.
We learn about other's feelings and emotions by picking up on information we gather from
their physical appearance, and verbal and nonverbal communication.
Facial expressions, tone of voice, hand gestures, and body position are just a few examples
3 of ways people communicate without words.
A real world example of social perception would be understanding that someone disagrees
with what you said when you see them roll their eyes.
Social perceptions 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.
Faculty Name - Pooja Nahatkar Subject Code – FT305H Class – MBA 3RD SEM
Department of Management

Faculty Name - Pooja Nahatkar Subject Code – FT305H Class – MBA 3RD SEM
Department of Management

A substantial portion of our communication is nonverbal. Experts

have found that every day we respond to thousands of nonverbal
cues and behaviors including postures, facial expressions, eye gaze,
gestures, and tone of voice. From our handshakes to our hairstyles,
nonverbal details reveal who we are and impact how we relate to
other people.

 Facial Expressions
Facial expressions are responsible for a huge proportion of
nonverbal communication.
Consider how much information can be conveyed with a smile or a
frown. The look on a person's face is often the first thing we see,
5 even before we hear what they have to say.
While nonverbal communication and behavior can vary
dramatically between cultures, the facial expressions for happiness,
sadness, anger, and fear are similar throughout the world.

Faculty Name - Pooja Nahatkar Subject Code – FT305H Class – MBA 3RD SEM
Department of Management

Body Language and Posture

Posture and movement can also convey a great deal of information. Research
on body language has grown significantly since the 1970s, but popular
media have focused on the over-interpretation of defensive postures, arm-
crossing, and leg-crossing, especially after publishing Julius Fast's
book Body Language.
While these nonverbal behaviors can indicate feelings and attitudes, research
suggests that body language is far more subtle and less definitive than
previously believed.

Eye contact
6 Since the visual sense is dominant for most people, eye contact is an especially
important type of nonverbal communication. The way you look at someone can
communicate many things, including interest, affection, hostility, or attraction.
Eye contact is also important in maintaining the flow of conversation and for
gauging the other person’s interest and response.

Faculty Name - Pooja Nahatkar Subject Code – FT305H Class – MBA 3RD SEM
Department of Management

ATTRIBUTION
Attribution is being able to successfully identify a person's behavior based
on the current context of the situation
Attribution is the process through which we link behavior to its causes - to
the intentions, dispositions and events that explain why people act the way
they do.
For example, if you are at a wedding, you attribute everyone's happiness
because getting married is a cause to celebrate.
Most importantly, social perception is shaped by individual's motivation at
7 the time, their emotions, and their cognitive load capacity. All of this combined
determines how people attribute certain traits and how those traits are
interpreted
Attribution refers to the process of understanding and thinking about people
within social situations, as one tends to try and explain the behavior of others.
Faculty Name - Pooja Nahatkar Subject Code – FT305H Class – MBA 3RD SEM
Department of Management

ATTRIBUTION THEORY
Our perceptions of people differ from our perceptions of inanimate objects.
Our perception and judgment of a person’s actions are influenced by these assumptions.
Attribution theory suggests that when we observe an individual’s behaviour, we attempt to determine
whether it was internally or externally caused.
Theory that states that we all have a basic need to understand and explain the causes of other people's
behaviour
for example, If a consumer has had bad experience with a locally made product (and good
experience with an imported one) he or she may conclude that the bad product is bad because it is
locally made.

Attribution theory proposes that the attributions people make about

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events and behavior can be classed as either internal or external.
INTERNAL - dispositional
EXTERNAL - situational

Faculty Name - Pooja Nahatkar Subject Code – FT305H Class – MBA 3RD SEM
Department of Management

 In an internal, or dispositional, attribution, people infer that an event or a person’s behavior is due to
personal factors such as traits, abilities, or feelings.
In an external, or situational, attribution, people infer that a person’s behavior is due to situational factors.
Example: Maria’s car breaks down on the freeway. If she believes the breakdown happened because of her
ignorance about cars, she is making an internal attribution. If she believes that the breakdown happened
because her car is old, she is making an external attribution.

Stable vs. Unstable

Researchers also distinguish between stable and unstable attributions.
When people make a stable attribution, they infer that an event or behavior is due to
stable, unchanging factors.
When making an unstable attribution, they infer that an event or behavior is due to
9 unstable, temporary factors.
Example: Lee gets a D on his sociology term paper.
If he attributes the grade to the fact that he always has bad luck, he is making a stable
attribution.
If he attributes the grade to the fact that he didn’t have much time to study that week,
he is making an unstable attribution.
Faculty Name - Pooja Nahatkar Subject Code – FT305H Class – MBA 3RD SEM
Department of Management

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Faculty Name - Pooja Nahatkar Subject Code – FT305H Class – MBA 3RD SEM
Department of Management

Implicit personality theory

• Implicit personality theory is commonly associated with social perception because it identifies the biases
we exhibit based on the limited information we know about unfamiliar people.
• Every day we interact with unfamiliar people and in those brief moments of interaction we pick up on the
social cues presented and opinions are formed.
Implicit Personality Theory states that people divide the personality traits of others
into two groups:
 Central/Primary traits
Peripheral/Secondary traits

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Faculty Name - Pooja Nahatkar Subject Code – FT305H Class – MBA 3RD SEM
Department of Management

Social Bias
Social bias is defined as "prejudicial attitudes towards particular groups,
races, or religions, including the conscious or unconscious expression of
these attitudes in writing, speaking, etc (social).“
Social bias, also known as attribution error, occurs when we unwittingly or
deliberately give preference to (or alternatively, to look negatively upon)
certain individuals, groups, races, sexes etc., due systemic errors that arise
when people try to develop a reason for the behaviour of
certain social groups
12  Some of the major effects of social bias
1. Self
2. Group
3. Interaction

Faculty Name - Pooja Nahatkar Subject Code – FT305H Class – MBA 3RD SEM
Department of Management

1. Self
Dunning–Kruger effect – an effect by which people may perform badly at a task, but lack
the mental capability to evaluate and recognize that they have done poorly (Hawes).
Egocentric bias – The tendency to give more credit to ourselves from positive outcomes
than an observer.
Overconfidence bias – Overestimating one's own confidence (part of the Dunning–Kruger
effect).
Forer effect (Barnum effect) – Placing high belief in a general description thinking it was
meant specifically for an individual. One example is horoscopes

2. Group
Status quo bias – Tendency to favor certain circumstances because they are familiar.
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In-group bias – Behaving a certain way to become more favorable in a group
Stereotyping – Attributing traits to people based on certain traits of the group.

Faculty Name - Pooja Nahatkar Subject Code – FT305H Class – MBA 3RD SEM
Department of Management

3. Interaction
Halo effect – Tendency to believe in the nature of a person (good/bad) based on
general traits of people
False consensus – Assuming others agree with what we do (even though they may
not).
Projection bias - Assuming others share the same belief as us.
Actor-observed bias - Tendency to blame our actions on the situation and blame the
action of others base on their personalities.

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Faculty Name - Pooja Nahatkar Subject Code – FT305H Class – MBA 3RD SEM
Department of Management

Impression Formation And Impression Management

Impression Management
• It is a goal-directed conscious or unconscious attempt to influence the perceptions of other
people about a person, object or event by regulating and controlling information in social
interaction.
•IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT is how to make a favorable impression, how to perceive
others and evaluate others on the basis of
 Dress, make-up, hairstyle,
 Manner and general behavior,
 Body language.
• The process of portraying yourself to others in a manner that creates a desired impression.
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• Impression Management is the goal- directed activity of controlling and regulating
information in order to influence the impressions formed by an audience

Faculty Name - Pooja Nahatkar Subject Code – FT305H Class – MBA 3RD SEM
Department of Management

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Faculty Name - Pooja Nahatkar Subject Code – FT305H Class – MBA 3RD SEM
Department of Management

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Faculty Name - Pooja Nahatkar Subject Code – FT305H Class – MBA 3RD SEM
Department of Management

Opinion Conformity-agreeing with someone else's opinion to gain his or her

approval; also a form of ingratiation.
Excuses-Explanations of a predicament creating event aimed at minimizing the
apparent severity of the predicament; is a defensive IM technique.
 Apologies-Admitting responsibility for an undesirable event and simultaneously
seeking to get a pardon for the action; is a defensive IM technique.
Self promotion-Highlighting one's best qualities, downplaying one's deficits, and
calling attention to one's achievements; is a self-focused IM technique.
Flattery-Complimenting others about their virtues in an effort to make oneself
appear perceptive and likeable; is an assertive IM technique.
18  Favors-Doing something nice for someone to gain that person's approval; also a
form of ingratiation.
Association-Enhancing or protecting one’s image by managing information about
people and things with which one is associated.
Acclaiming- Give enthusiastic approval to subordinators and peers.
Faculty Name - Pooja Nahatkar Subject Code – FT305H Class – MBA 3RD SEM
Department of Management

Impression Management Finding

 Ingratiation- This method consists of conforming to the expectations of a specific group, opinion, or society.
For instance, a person using ingratiation might say that he likes watching art house films when he actually doesn't
because he thinks it will make him sound smarter around his new friends.
This include:-
 showing interest in the person
 smiling
 eye contact
 agreeing

Tips to Improve Impression Management-

19 Set goals
Commit to the change you want to create
Dress appropriately
Learn how to properly shake hands
Keep your body language open
Fake it until you feel it
Faculty Name - Pooja Nahatkar Subject Code – FT305H Class – MBA 3RD SEM
Department of Management

IMPRESSION FORMATION
A social psychological term referring to the way in which strangers develop perceptions of each other. A long
tradition of (largely experimental) studies have investigated the impact of initial impressions. These have
identified phenomena such as primacy effects and halo effects.

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Faculty Name - Pooja Nahatkar Subject Code – FT305H Class – MBA 3RD SEM
Department of Management

Ask Yourself?
1. Why do we immediately form impressions of other people on first meeting them?
2. What factors influence whether we like or dislike someone immediately?
3. Can we tell when someone is lying or telling the truth?

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Faculty Name - Pooja Nahatkar Subject Code – FT305H Class – MBA 3RD SEM