Summary #7 first impressions
What/why 1st impressions?
1st impression = Raw stroke that we perceive to capture the essence of a person
1st impressions guide behavior in social life without having to put in a lot of effort, because
they are quick/automatic ( use of heuristics). The first impression does leave a permanent
mark.
When constructing 1st impression = determining
- personality
- goals
- values
do we like this?
2 processes to make a first impression.
- Systematic (effort)
only when motivated and able/competent
- Superficial (little effort)
Noticing cues
Cues have to be salient/ obvious/special/attention attracting noticing them.
Especially visual cues come to mind/ attract attention.
Context is important to noticing a cue.
When a cue is out of context + salient.
Formation of 1st impressions
Raw cues/visual cues
- Physical appearance (big role = facial features, skin color)
= halo effect
- Environments
= Experiment; assume personality according to dorm room
- Non-verbal communication
= Experiment; video without sound, rate characteristics of speaker, same as real
audience (with sound).
- Familiarity
= + familiarity + positive 1st impression
- Personal construct (interpretation)
Behavioral cues
- Actions such as stealing/donating money, anything etc.
Interpretation
Interpret according to associations.
= one has various mental representations (knowledge in memory), these come in to play
when we are in a novel situation.
Link mental representations to current observations (if there is any kind of similarity) =
association
, Sources for accessibility of mental representation and thus + association.
- recent activation (priming)
- Frequent activation
- Mood
e.g. (positive mental representations positive association)
- Expectations
Back ground information (= already formed mental representation) associate that
with person/stimulus
- Motives
It is in ones benefit for a person to fit a certain mental representation associate
that with person/stimulus
Characterizing the behaving person
People tend to attribute behavior to personal factors (DISPOSITIONAL factors).
= correspondent inference (jones/davis)
This is justified when:
1. A person had free choice
2. A person shows behavior that is not socially desirable/expected
3. A person shows behavior that is non-common; distinctive.
often happens when:
1. Hedonistic relevance
= behavior impacts us
2. Personalism
= behavior is meant to affect us personally
Motivational biases (1st impressions)
= Conscious or subconscious distortions of judgments and decisions because of self-
interest, social pressures, or organizational context.
Outgroup homogeneity
= Assumption that all members of another group share the same characteristics/personality
traits/situation
Negativity bias
= negative traits weigh heavier
Name discrimination
Gender bias
Self-fulfilling prophecy
= People start to behave in the way that you treat them.
implicit personality theories
= the idea that traits go together. Every personality is characterized by a combination
of certain traits
What/why 1st impressions?
1st impression = Raw stroke that we perceive to capture the essence of a person
1st impressions guide behavior in social life without having to put in a lot of effort, because
they are quick/automatic ( use of heuristics). The first impression does leave a permanent
mark.
When constructing 1st impression = determining
- personality
- goals
- values
do we like this?
2 processes to make a first impression.
- Systematic (effort)
only when motivated and able/competent
- Superficial (little effort)
Noticing cues
Cues have to be salient/ obvious/special/attention attracting noticing them.
Especially visual cues come to mind/ attract attention.
Context is important to noticing a cue.
When a cue is out of context + salient.
Formation of 1st impressions
Raw cues/visual cues
- Physical appearance (big role = facial features, skin color)
= halo effect
- Environments
= Experiment; assume personality according to dorm room
- Non-verbal communication
= Experiment; video without sound, rate characteristics of speaker, same as real
audience (with sound).
- Familiarity
= + familiarity + positive 1st impression
- Personal construct (interpretation)
Behavioral cues
- Actions such as stealing/donating money, anything etc.
Interpretation
Interpret according to associations.
= one has various mental representations (knowledge in memory), these come in to play
when we are in a novel situation.
Link mental representations to current observations (if there is any kind of similarity) =
association
, Sources for accessibility of mental representation and thus + association.
- recent activation (priming)
- Frequent activation
- Mood
e.g. (positive mental representations positive association)
- Expectations
Back ground information (= already formed mental representation) associate that
with person/stimulus
- Motives
It is in ones benefit for a person to fit a certain mental representation associate
that with person/stimulus
Characterizing the behaving person
People tend to attribute behavior to personal factors (DISPOSITIONAL factors).
= correspondent inference (jones/davis)
This is justified when:
1. A person had free choice
2. A person shows behavior that is not socially desirable/expected
3. A person shows behavior that is non-common; distinctive.
often happens when:
1. Hedonistic relevance
= behavior impacts us
2. Personalism
= behavior is meant to affect us personally
Motivational biases (1st impressions)
= Conscious or subconscious distortions of judgments and decisions because of self-
interest, social pressures, or organizational context.
Outgroup homogeneity
= Assumption that all members of another group share the same characteristics/personality
traits/situation
Negativity bias
= negative traits weigh heavier
Name discrimination
Gender bias
Self-fulfilling prophecy
= People start to behave in the way that you treat them.
implicit personality theories
= the idea that traits go together. Every personality is characterized by a combination
of certain traits
