PSYC 215 Chapter Notes -Nonverbal Communication, Social Perception, Eye Contact
20 Nov 2012
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Social perception processes by which people come to understand one another. People are both perceivers and targets of others" perceptions. People use indirect cues in order to know others: Our first impressions of people are influenced by a person"s appearance, the colour of their clothing, their name, etc. Physiognomy reading a person"s character from their face. People not only read traits from faces, but also use prior knowledge in order to read traits into faces (ex-when told that a man was kind -> later judged his face to be fuller, rounder, and more attractive). 3 possibilities: genetically programmed inferences, learned judgements followed by generalization, an actual link between physical appearances and behaviour (correlations seen between strangers" judgements and an individual"s self-description). We also hold preset notions about what might occur in a particular setting, these are called scripts. The more experience one has had in a particular situation, the more detailed the script will be.
