Impression formation

1. Institute Of Management Studies Indore Presentation On:- Impression Formation From:- Aparna Bakre Jayshree Pateriya

2. Impression Formation

3. What is Impression? An idea, feeling, or opinion about something or someone, esp. one formed without conscious thought or on the basis of little evidence. An effect produced on someone.

4. impression formation  A social psychological term referring to the way in which strangers develop perceptions of each other. A long tradition of (largely experimental) studies have investigated the impact of initial impressions. These have identified phenomena such as  primacy effects  and  halo effects .

5. This breaks down into six influences on how we perceive other people: Self-fulfilling prophecy Implicit personality theory Perceptual accentuation Primacy- R ecency   Consistency Attribution of controllability

6. Six Basic Principles 1. On the basis of minimal information 2. Special attention to salient features than to every thing 3. We use the context of a person’s behavior rather than interpreting the behavior in isolation

7. 4.We organize our perceptions by categorizing or grouping stimuli 5. We use our enduring cognitive structures to make sense of people’s behavior 6. Perceiver's own needs and personal goals influence how he or she perceives others

8. Solomon Asch

9. “We look at a person and immediately a certain impression of his character forms itself in us a glance , a few spoken words are sufficient to tell us a story about a highly complex matter.....”

10. Asch’s research on central and peripheral traits

11. Asch conducted many experiments in which he asked participants to form an impression of a hypothetical person based on several characteristics said to belong to them.

12. Experiment 1-variation in central quality Group A: intelligent-skillful-industrious- warm -determined-practical-cautious Group B: intelligent-skillful-industrious- cold -determined-practical-cautious

13. result Series A ("warm") A person who believes certain things to be right, wants others to see his point, would be sincere in an argument' and would like to see his point won. Series B ("cold") A very ambitious and talented person who would not let anyone or anything stand in the way of achieving his goal. Wants his own way, he is determined not to give in, no matter what happens.

14. Experiment 2- Omission of a Central Quality Group A: intelligent-skillful-industrious-determined-practical-cautious Group B: intelligent-skillful-industrious-determined-practical-cautious

15. result Appears that a more neutral impression has formed.

16. Experiment 3- Variation of a Peripheral Quality A. intelligent—skillful—industrious— polite —determined—practical cautious B. intelligent—skillful—industrious— blunt —determined—practical—cautious

17. Experiment 4-reversing the order of series A. intelligent—skillful—industrious—determined— practical—cautious—evasive B. evasive—cautious—practical—determined—industrious—skillful—intelligent

18. result Series A He seems to be a man of very excellent character, though it is not unusual for one person to have all of those good qualities. Series B This is a man who has had to work for everything he wanted—therefore he is evasive, cautious and practical. He is naturally intelligent, but his struggles have made him hard.

19. Impression formation-a cognitive perspective We pay attention to information abut their traits and values rather than information about their competence

20. Additional research Indicates that impression of others consist of examples of both: 1. Behaviour relating to specific trait 2. Mental abstractions based on observations of many instances of behavior

21. ask yourself? Why do we immediately form impressions of other people on first meeting them ? What factors influence whether we like or dislike someone immediately ? Can we tell when someone is lying or telling the truth?

22. What information do we use? Roles Physical Cues Salience From behavior to traits Central traits Categorization Context effects

23. Roles People tend to think of others within a role context first and only then according to personality traits

24. Physical Cues Appearance and behavior are key determinants of our first impressions

25. Salience People pay attention to the figure rather than to the ground or setting

26. Effects of Salience Draws attention Influences perceptions of causality Produces evaluatively extreme judgments Produce more consistency of judgment

27. FROM BEHAVIOR TO TRAITS We move very quickly from observable information (appearance & behavior) to personality trait inferences Traits are more economical to remember Trait inferences occur automatically

28. Central Traits Some traits may be more central than others, that is, highly associated with many other characteristics “Warm-Cold” appears to be such a trait (Kelley, 1950)

29. Categorization We automatically perceive stimuli as part of a group or category

30. Consequences of Categorization leads to category-based social judgments (stereotyping) speeds processing time can lead to errors

31. The Continuum Model of Impression Formation Impressions range from stereotypic, category-based impressions to individuated impressions ( dual processing)

32. Dual Processing We generally tend to use category-based inference because it is easy and quick We use individuated information when we are motivated to be accurate the person doesn’t fit our categories we have other reasons for wanting to know the person better

33. Context Effects Contrast biases judgments away from the context (sees them as different) Assimilation biases judgments in the same direction as the context (sees them as similar) Assimilation occurs more when people are using category-based processing Contrast occurs more when people are using individuated information

34. Integrating Impressions How do we combine all of these separate inferences about a person into an over all impression?

35. Evaluation Negativity effect Positivity bias

36. Emotional information The averaging principle Imputing meaning

37. Imputing consistency Schemas Prototypes Exemplars

38. Thank you