PSYC 1010 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Fundamental Attribution Error, Bernard Weiner, Social Perception

• School: York University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 1010
• Professor: Myriam Mongrain

Document Summary

Judgements of others can be distorted by their physical appearance, as we tend to ascribe desirable personality characteristics and competence on those who are good looking. Perceptions of competence based on facial appearance, which can be made in the blink of an eye, are particularly important. Social schemas and stereotypes can influence our perceptions of others and of our own behaviour. Stereotypes tend to be broad overgeneralizations that can lead us to see what we expect to see and to overestimate how often we have seen it (the illusory correlation effect). Stereotypes are widely held beliefs that others will have certain characteristics because of their membership in a particular group. Evolutionary psychologists argue that many biases in person perception, such as the tendency to quickly categorize people into ingroups and outgroups, exist because they were adaptive in humans" ancestral past. Attributions are inferences that people draw about the causes of events and behaviours.