Social Perception

I. Overview: What do we select to perceive?

A. How do we select what we perceive?
B. Searching for predictability and order in perception
via social comparison

II. What influences what we perceive?

A. Selective Attention D. Cultural Norms
B. Needs E. Values
C. Personal History F. Notions Of Structure And Order
 Social Perception
III. What are the Consequences of Perception?
A. Distortions and Incorrect Inferences
B. Development of Categories

IV. Ways In Which Perceptions Can Be Distorted?

A. By Suggestion
B. By Language
C. By the Need to Integrate Information
 Social Perception
V. The Role of Language in Perception
VI. Social Perceptions and Impression Formation
A. How Do We Form First Impressions?
B. Dimensions Affecting Impressions
1. Height
2. Attractiveness of Persons
3. Attractiveness of Companions
C. Later Information and Earlier Impressions
D. Impressions and the Responses of Others
Social Perception
An example of Wilson’s research
findings in the “real world.”
 Social Perception
VII. Accuracy of Judgmental Processes
A. Systematic Types of Inaccuracy
1. Confirming and Disconfirming Information
2. Frequency and Probability Information
3. Baseline Information

B. Overconfidence
 Social Perception
VII. Accuracy of Judgmental Processes (cont.)
C. Why Don't We Learn From Experience?

1. Selective Forgetting
2. Environmental Effects
3. Restriction of Outcome Information
4. Simplification of Outcome Categories
D. Ways of Thinking About How to Investigate
Explanations of Behavior
Lab Experimentation Unaided Judgements
 Social Perception
VII. Accuracy of Judgmental Processes (cont.)
E. "Refencing" to Maintain Consistency

F. How Can We Become More Accurate?

1. Learn How To Search For and Use Disconfirming
Information (Need An Awareness of Principles of
Experimental Design)
2. Use Process As Well As Outcome Feedback
3. Try To Assess The Effects Of Environmental Influences
4. Don't Trust Unaided Memory - Keep Records
Contact Theory
What Could We Be Doing?

A. Contact Theory– Necessary But Not Sufficient Conditions

1. Common Goals/Cooperation
2. Equal Status Contact
3. Contact That Contradicts Stereotypes
4. Long-Term Contact
5. Norms Favoring Contact (authorities, custom or laws)
B. Plus Two More…
1 Arousal of Relevant Identity
2 Reduction of Anxiety
 Study Design: Method
✹ Two Institutions: Augsburg and Villanova
✹ Pre-post test (with partial control group)
✹ Instruments
✹ Student survey: CoBRAS (Neville et al., 2000)

✹ Three CoBRAS Subscales:

● Unawareness of Racial Privilege (.83, .85)

● Unawareness of Institutional Discrimination (.72, .76)

● Unawareness of Blatant Racial Issues (.71, .73)

✹ Instructor survey

✹ Course syllabi (2 raters)

Findings
✹Threefactors emerged: Intergroup
Cooperation, Institutional Support,
and Reflection.
Intergroup Cooperation
✹ The level of cooperation between students and
those whom they serve is significantly
associated with change in unawareness of
institutional discrimination (ID) and
✹ B = .20 t(201)=2.8, p < .01
Institutional Support
✹ The level of institutional support for the
service is significantly associated with change
in unawareness of blatant racial issues (BRI),
and
✹ B = .18 t(201)=2.58, p < .01
Reflection
✹ The extent to which the course encouraged
students to reflect on their own values and
identities is significantly associated with
change in unawareness of blatant racial
issues (BRI), and
✹ B = .19 t(201)=2.69, p < .01
What Does It Mean?
✹ These findings point to the possibility of
breaking down prejudices and biases
through the thoughtful and consistent
application of the tenets of Contact Theory
in your classroom.
✹ No other social contact theory has been
demonstrated to impact learners’ attitudes
and beliefs to the extent that we observe
with Contact Theory.