(UNIT III) PERSON

PERCEPTION
How we see ourselves and others
ASHFAQ AHMAD
SAHIL
LECTURER INS
(KMU)
Objectives
At the end of this unit learners will be able to:
Understand basic principles of social perception.
Understand the process of self and other
perception and sources of errors involved in
formulating such perceptions.
Discuss perceptual inaccuracy with
reference to prejudice.
 Identify ways to approach self and others
positively.
 Social Psychology
The branch of psychology that studies how people
think, feel, and behave in social situations.
Two Basic Areas of Social Psychology:

1. Social cognition is the study of the mental

processes people use to make sense out of their
social environment
2. Social influence is the study of the effect of
situational factors and other people on an
individual’s behavior
Perception
“A way of regarding, understanding, or
interpreting something; a mental impression”

OR
“Perception is the organization,
identification, and interpretation of sensory
information in order to represent and
understand the presented information, or
the environment.”
Person perception
In social psychology, the term person perception
refers to the different mental processes that we use
to form impressions of other people.
This allows us to make snap judgments and
decisions, but it can also lead to biased or
stereotyped perceptions of other people.
There are two types on person perception. Indirect
Person Perception and direct person perception.
 Types of person perception
Indirect Person Perception
Many of the personal attributes that observers may want
to know about another person (e.g., whether the person is
loyal, honest, or contemptible) are not directly observable.

Direct person perception

Many of the personal attributes that observers notice
about another person need not be inferred because
they are directly observable and are therefore noted
immediately.
Some of these attributes include categorical judgments
about other people such as their sex, race, and age.
Situatio
n
You are buying a used car.You
asked the owner whether there
is anything wrong with it. He
looks you in the eye and says,
“No way! This car is in perfect
shape.” Do you believe him?
Situatio
n
Imagine that you are a professor.The
day after you give a midterm exam
to your class, one of the students
comes to see you and, with a look
of pure innocence, says: “I’m sorry
i missed the exam, due to death of
my uncle and I want to take a
makeup exam?” Do you accept this
story?
SOCIAL
PERCEPTION
“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.
We attempt to understand the more lasting causes
behind others’ behavior—the reasons why they have
acted in certain ways—motives, intentions and traits.
Attributio
n 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.
 Attribution helps individuals understand and
rationalize the behavior of others through the use of
information gathered by observation.
Types of Attribution
Dispositional Attribution
Dispositional attribution assigns the cause of behavior
to some internal characteristic of a person, rather than
to outside forces.

Situational Attribution
The process of assigning the cause of behavior to some
situation or event outside a person's control rather than
to some internal characteristic.
Kelley's Covariation Model
Kelley’s (1967) covariation model is the best-
known attribution theory.
He developed a logical model for judging whether a
particular action should be attributed to some
characteristic (dispositional) of the person or the
environment (situational).
He argues that in trying to discover the causes of
behavior people act like scientists. More
specifically they take into account three kinds of
evidence.
 Cont.
…… the extent to which other people behave in the
 Consensus:
same way in a similar situation.
 For example: If everybody in the audience is laughing, the
consensus is high. If only Tom is laughing consensus is
low.
 Distinctiveness: the extent to which the person behaves in the
same way in similar situations.
 For example: If Tom only laughs at this comedian, the
distinctiveness is high. If Tom laughs at everything, then
distinctiveness is low.
 Consistency: the extent to which the person behaves like this
every time the situation occurs.
 For example: If Tom always laughs at this comedian the
 Errors in perception
The mental processes that people use to make sense out
of their social environment.
1. Implicit personality theory
2. Projection
3. Halo effect
4. Stereotypes
5. Selective perception
Implicit Personality Theories
A network of assumptions about the relationship
among various types of people, traits, and
behaviors.
Form cognitive schemas through our previous
experiences that we begin to associate with
different “types” of people.
When we perceive someone to be a particular
“type” we assume the person will display the
traits & behaviors that others of that “type”
display.
A useful shortcut but not always accurate.
For example, the trait honesty is associated with hard
working. All hard working people are perceived to be
Selective Perception
perceptual selectivity refers to the tendency to select
certain objects from the environment.
The objects which are selected are those which are
relevant and appropriate for an individual or those
which are consistent with his existing beliefs, values
and needs.
Selectivity enables the perceiver to screen out others,
but in this there is a risk of drawing an inaccurate
picture.
Because we see what we want to see, we can
draw unwarranted conclusions from an
ambiguous situation.
People, sometimes, distort meanings so that they
may fit with what they want.
Stereotyping
Stereotyping means judging someone on the basis
of one’s perception of the group to which that
person belongs.
This is a basic human tendency to perceive an
individual as belonging to a single class or category
and hence, attributing favorable or unfavorable
characteristics to the individual based upon a widely
held generalization about the group.
Some examples of common stereo types are that
Americans are materialistic, Japanese are
nationalistic and Germans are industrious.
Halo effect
The halo effect refers to the tendency of judging
people on the basis of a single trait which may be
good or bad, favourable or unfavourable.
The halo effect is very similar to stereotyping, whereas
in stereotyping the person is perceived according to a
single category, under the halo effect the person is
perceived on the basis of a single trait.
Sometimes, we judge a person by one first impression
about him or her. For example, if a person is kind he
may also be perceived as good, able, helpful,
cheerful, nice, intelligent and so on.
Projectio
nIt is easy to judge others if we assume that they are

similar to us.When one’s own personal attributes are
assigned to others, then projection takes place.
A manager who loves challenging work may assume
that all others like challenging work too.
 If you yourself are honest and trustworthy you take
it for granted that other people are equally honest and
trustworthy.
Ways to approach self and others
positively
Pay less attention to negative
thoughts.
Be kind to yourself
Change your language
Start a daily gratitude practice
Go outdoors
Give back to others
Exercise regularly
Don’t try so hard!
Just listening
 Cont.
……to take criticism in a healthy way
Learn
Positive Posture
Eat healthy
Get enough quality sleep
Share your issues
Find the positive viewpoint in a negative
situation
Add value and positivity to someone else’s
life.
Leave work at work
Give yourself a break
keep learning