7 Chapter An Information Processing Model of Perception

7 Chapter An Information Processing Model of Perception n Stereotypes: Perceptions about Groups of People n Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: The Pygmalion Effect n Causal Attribution n Social Perception and Attribution

7 -2 Figure 7 -1 Perception: An Information Processing Model Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Selective Attention/Comprehension Encoding and Simplification Storage and Retrieval and Response Retention A Competing environmental stimuli § People § Events § Objects B C D E Interpretation and categorization A C Memory C Judgments and decisions F F Mc. Graw-Hill © 2004 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Perception n. Mental and cognitive process that enables us to interpret and understand our surroundings n. Select n. Organize n. Interpret

1. Attention n. The process of becoming consciously aware of something or someone

Attention is affected by: n Expectations n Mood n Salience n Novel n Bright n Unusual for the person n Unusual for a person’s social category n Unusual for people in general n Extremely positive or negative n Dominant in the visual field

7 -2 Figure 7 -1 Perception: An Information Processing Model Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Selective Attention/Comprehension Encoding and Simplification Storage and Retrieval and Response Retention A Competing environmental stimuli § People § Events § Objects B C D E Interpretation and categorization A C Memory C Judgments and decisions F F Mc. Graw-Hill © 2004 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

2. Encoding and Simplification n. Cognitive category – mental structure containing a number of objects that are considered equivalent n Help make sense of environment n Limit our attention

7 -3 Schema n Schema mental picture of an event or object n n Network of related information Impact attention, encoding, perception n Provide Mc. Graw-Hill context © 2004 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

7 -2 Figure 7 -1 Perception: An Information Processing Model Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Selective Attention/Comprehension Encoding and Simplification Storage and Retrieval and Response Retention A Competing environmental stimuli § People § Events § Objects B C D E Interpretation and categorization A C Memory C Judgments and decisions F F Mc. Graw-Hill © 2004 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

3. Storage and Retention n Long-term memory n Types n Event n Semantic world n Person – general knowledge about the

7 -2 Figure 7 -1 Perception: An Information Processing Model Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Selective Attention/Comprehension Encoding and Simplification Storage and Retrieval and Response Retention A Competing environmental stimuli § People § Events § Objects B C D E Interpretation and categorization A C Memory C Judgments and decisions F F Mc. Graw-Hill © 2004 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

4. Retrieval and Response n Impacted by: n Attention n Coding n Expectations, mood, salience, etc.

7 -8 Stereotypes n Stereotype is an individual’s set of beliefs about the characteristics of a group of people n n Type of schema Likely to form inaccurate stereotypes n n n Mc. Graw-Hill Little interaction Experienced conflict Enhance our own social identity © 2004 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

7 -9 Characteristics of Stereotypes n n n Are not always negative May or may not be accurate Can lead to poor decisions and discrimination Mc. Graw-Hill © 2004 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

7 -11 Stereotyping is a Four-Step Process 1) Begins by categorizing people into groups Attention 2) 3) 4) Infer that all people in a category possess similar traits or characteristics Form expectations of others and interpret their behavior according to stereotypes Stereotypes are maintained Overestimate frequency of behavior Incorrectly explaining behavior Differentiating group members from self Mc. Graw-Hill © 2004 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

7 -13 Table 7 -2 Perceptual Errors Mc. Graw-Hill Perceptual Error Description Halo A rater forms an overall impression about an object and then uses that impression to bias ratings about the object Leniency A personal characteristic that leads an individual to consistently evaluate other people or objects in an extremely positive fashion Central tendency The tendency to avoid all extreme judgments and rate people and objects as average or neutral Recency effects The tendency to remember recent information. If the information is negative, the person or object is evaluated negatively Contrast effects The tendency to evaluate people or objects by comparing them with characteristics of recently observed people or objects © 2004 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Sex Role Stereotypes n Belief that differing traits and abilities make women and men particularly well-suited to different roles n Women are viewed as more emotional, affectionate, talkative, patient, creative n Men are viewed as more aggressive, courageous, easygoing, ambitious

More commonly stereotyped groups n. Age n. Race n. Disability

7 -14 Self-Fulfilling Prophecy n Self-Fulfilling Prophecy or Pygmalion Effect, is that people’s expectations or beliefs determine their behavior and performance, thus serving to make their expectations come true n n Mc. Graw-Hill Pygmalion effect Golem effect © 2004 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

A Model of the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy 5 Supervisor expectancy 7 -15 Figure 7 -2 1 Leadership Performance 6 2 4 Motivation Mc. Graw-Hill 3 Subordinate selfexpectancy © 2004 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Attributions n Determinations of cause of behavior n Internal n External n Made by observing: n Consensus n Consistency n Distinctiveness

7 -24 Attributional Tendencies n Fundamental Attribution Bias ignoring environmental factors that affect behavior n Self-Serving Bias taking more personal responsibility for success than failure n Actor-observer effect Mc. Graw-Hill © 2004 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.