Social psychology study unit 15.1

Human SociabilityStudy Unit 15.1

By C Settley

Define the concept Social psychology Describe the following basic principles

of human Sociability: 1. Perceiving others: a) Impression formation Primacy effect Central trait Halo effect Self-fulfilling prophecies b) Implicit personality theory c) Attribution theory

Learning Outcomes

2. Affiliation:

3. Attraction: Proximity Familiarity Reciprocal attraction Similarity

4. Co-operation Reciprocal communication Joint task activity Communal relationships

Learning Outcomes

Defined: Concerned with the study of how individual

people think, feel and behave in relation to other people

1. Perceiving others:- Perceive something> perceptual system actively processes it to make sense of it- Two people may perceive the same thing in a

different way due to different experiences and expectations

- Interpretation of what we see depends on our assumptions, etc

- Three aspects of this process: Impression Formation, Implicit Personality & Attribution Theory

Basic principles of human Sociability:

The process of getting a holistic sense of what a person is like, we tend to form a Gestalt (revise unit on perception)

1) Proximity 2) Closure 3) Similarity 4) Continuity 5) Simultaneous Movements

Perceiving Others: Impression Formation


First Impressions:

Luchins (1957) Initial impression on the

basis of the first information they receive

Subsequent information is given less attention

Or more easily explained away

Central Trait:

Used to guide their further expectations about a person

Influences how is behaved towards a particular person/situation

First impressions


Central Trait continued: The halo effect….(the science of

attraction) Refers to the tendency to expect that, if people have one

positive characteristic, they will possess positive attributes Example : people who are physically attractive are

perceived to be more popular, intelligent, kind, sociable People then tend to act positively towards these ‘physically

attractive people’ This enables them to become more socially popular Such perceptions lead to self fulfilling prophecies

Impression Formation, Implicit Personality Theory & Attribution Theory

IMPLICIT PERSONALITY THEORY

How we perceive others is shaped by our beliefs about how personality is organised

Even though they have NOT studied psychology, everybody has an implicit personality theory.

this means that everybody has an unspoken understanding of how human personality works

2 common assumptions: - people have stable and detectable personality traits - certain traits tend to be associated with other traits


IMPLICIT PERSONALITY THEORY continued

Based on the way information is organised Basis for rapid and efficient processing of information


ATTIBUTION THEORY

When we perceive people, inferences are made about their emotions, beliefs and motives

The question : ‘why’ The answers given to these questions are called

attributions

Louw, D.A. & Edwards, D.J.A. 2008.Psychology. An introduction for students in South Africa. 2nd Edition. Cape Town: Heinemann.

http://youtu.be/UEho_4ejkNw

References

Social psychology study unit 15.1

Health & Medicine

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