Social Perception

Lesson 004
Part III
Impression Formation
&
Impression Management
 Introduction
• When we meet another person for the first time, we are flooded
with information.
• We can see how they look and dress, how they speak and how
they behave.
• A large set of information is reaching us.
• We somehow combine it into an initial first impression of this
person.
• First impressions, it is widely believed, are very important.
• Initial impressions we make on others will shape the path of our
future relations with them.
• In social psychology, the term person perception refers to:
– the different mental processes that we use----- to form
impressions of other people.
• This includes not just how we form these impressions, but
– the different conclusions we make about other people based on
our impressions.
• Consider how often you make this kind of judgments every day.
For Example:
• When you meet with a new co-worker, you immediately begin to
develop an initial impression of this person.
• When you visit the grocery store after work, you might draw
conclusions about the cashier who checks you out, even though you
know very little about this person.
• This allows us to make instant judgments and decisions, but it can
also lead to biased or stereotyped perceptions of other people.
 What is Impression?

• An idea, feeling, or opinion about something

or someone, especially one formed without
conscious thought or on the basis of little
evidence/information.
• An effect produced on someone.
 What is Impression Formation?
• Impression formation is the process:
– by which we form an overall impression (develop our beliefs
and evaluations of people) of someone’s
– character and abilities
– based on available information about their traits and
behaviors.
For example:
• If a new employee in our office shows up to his first day of work in
a messy, wrinkled outfit, we may judge him negatively and expect
his work to be untidy just like his clothes.
• Initial impressions are not always accurate though.
• If the employee consistently does good work we may start to view
him differently.
 Impression Management (IM)
• Impression Management, also known as “self-presentation”, is
the process by which we try to convey a certain impression of
ourselves (usually positive) to others.
• Impression management is defined as “efforts to produce
favorable first impression on others”.
For example:
• On the first day of work a new employee may wear his best suit
so that his co-workers think he is professional, stylish, and
competent.
• He may avoid discussing aspects of his private life in case any one
finds his lifestyle or hobbies unfavorable, but he may highlight
other aspects of himself that would make him look intelligent or
successful, if that is the image he wants to portray.
• Impression Management is a skillful activity.
• Research indicates that the process of impression management
do generate positive effects;
• People do gain important advantages in many situations such as:
– getting their work done,
– job promotions,
– increased popularity ratings, etc.
 Tactics/ Techniques/ Strategies Of Impression
Management
Individuals use many techniques to boost their image. These are:

a. Self-Enhancement: b. Other Enhancement:

— attempts to boost our own —attempts to make the other
self-image. person feel good.
— “Efforts to increase their —Induce positive mood in
appeal to others”. others.
 Types Of Self-enhancement
There are many tactics of self-enhancement :
i. Boost Physical Appearance
ii. Boast about Abilities
i. Boost Physical Appearance ii. Boast About Abilities
• Strategies to boost physical • Efforts to appear highly skilled or
appearance are: describing oneself in positive
— Through style of dressing. terms that is, flattering yourself
— Personal grooming (use of to enhance impression
cosmetics, hairstyle, use of management.
perfume etc.). – Efforts to describe one in
— People sometimes use props to positive terms,
enhance their appeal (such as – Explaining how they
eye glasses; carry ‘right’ kind of overcame difficult obstacles,
handbag or hold pipe in lecturing and
for professors. – How they faced certain
challenges, which are not
common, etc.
 Types Of Other Enhancement
• Induce positive mood in others i.e. to make the target person
feel good in our presence.
• There are many ways in which we can enhance other’s self
esteem. Some of the types are as follows:
i. Use flattery
ii. Expressing agreements
iii. Express likings.
iv. Association
v. Apologies
i. Use Flattery
– Commonly used tactic for other enhancements that is,
making statements that praise the target person.
– Praise on target person even if they don’t deserve it.
iii. Expressing Agreement
– Opinion conformity: Agreeing with someone else’s opinion in
order to gain his or her approval (Agreeing with the views of
target person).
– Showing high degree of interest in this person.
– Favors: Doing small favors for others to gain that person’s
approval
– Asking for their advice and feedback in some manner.
iii. Express Liking
– Express likings for others non-verbally.
– For example, through high level of eye contact; nodding
agreement and smiling.
• You can easily recall many instances in which you either used or
were the target of such strategies.
iv. Association:
– Enhancing your image by association with favorite people or
things.
Example: A job applicant says to an interviewer,
“What a coincidence. Your boss and I were roommates in college”.
v. Apologies:
— Admitting responsibility for an undesirable event and
simultaneously seeking to get a pardon for the section
Example: Employee to boss, ‘I’m sorry I made a mistake on the
report. Please forgive me’.
 Do IM Techniques Work?
• Research says that yes, it does(IM really works) especially in job
performance ratings and assessments and used for promotion of
employees.
• Research studies have demonstrated that impression management
is a useful tactic during the first six weeks on the job.
• They found that the greater the extent to which the new employees
engaged in other-enhancement (supervisor-focused) tactics of
impression management, the more their supervisors viewed them
as similar to themselves.
• Further, the more the employees engaged in self-enhancement
tactic, the more their supervisors liked them.
• Most important, increased liking and feeling of similarity were
strong predictors of performance ratings; the more supervisors liked
their subordinates and felt similar to them, the higher they rated
their performance.