perception-making
Fact or fiction?
More Is More: When It Comes to Forming Perceptions,
More Information Is Always Better
important decision,
person
know
Getting along in our social world depends on our ability to understand others and our
ceptions of ourselves and others. Sometimes, however-like the couple at the UCLA
that influence the way we communicate with them. We often hold well-informed per-
basketball game-we may form perceptions on the basis of very limited information,
selves. Our minds, senses, and experiences help us to form perceptions about people
which may or may not be accurate. The more we learn about the
process, the better we will be at understanding and communicating appropriately with
the people around us.
How We Perceive Others
Many people would call the selection of a romantic partner one of the most conse-
quential social decisions a person can make, since we could be selecting the
you may think most of us would require lots of information to decide whether some-
with whom we'll spend the rest of our lives. Because it's such an
one would be a suitable match.
Speed daters might disagree, however. In speed dating, groups of people get
together so individuals can visit one another one-on-one for 3- to 8-minute "mini-
dates" before moving on to the next person. Whenever two people both want to
more about each other, they each receive the other's contact information and take it
from there. Although these mini-dates may seem too short for participants
serious mate choices
, much research has shown that people are surprisingly accurate se
evaluating others after very brief periods of time. In fact, our impressions and evalut
ations of others can be more accurate if we have less-rather than more—information
to go on, as the “Fact or Fiction?" box explains.
• perception the process
We form our impressions and evaluations of others by engaging in perception,
Shaking meaning from
ronment experience
the process of making meaning from what we experience in the world around us. We
notice physical experiences such as fatigue, body aches, and congestion-and
ceive that we are ill. We notice environmental experiences-such as cold air, wind, and
rain--and we perceive that a storm is underway. When we apply the same process to
people and relationships, we engage in interpersonal perception, which helps us to make
Speed dating relies on short
meaning about people from our own and others' behaviors.?
conversations with multiple
As social beings, we are constantly engaged in interpersonal perception. We form
partners Research shows impressions and evaluations of others-accurate or not-on the basis of the informa-
that people are sometimes tion available to us. Although our perceptions may seem to take shape instantaneously,
surprgy accurate at
evaluating others after very
we'll find in this section that they actually form in stages, though quickly. We'll also
brief periods of time
see that several factors can influence the accuracy of our perceptions, including cul-
ture, stereotypes, primacy and recency effects, and perceptual sets.
People sometimes criticize others for making snap
judgments or arriving at their impressions on the
otherwise, however. Participants described themselves
basis of limited information. After listening to only one
on personality inventories and then asked their close
friends to describe them on the same inventories. As
speech, for example, you decide to vote for a political
you might expect, the friends reports matched the
candidate without learning anything else about him or
her. It's easy to see how such on-the-spot judgments
participants' self-reports fairly well. The researchers
can be misleading and how our perceptions might be
next asked complete strangers to walk through the
participants' residence hall rooms and then descube
more accurate if we had additional information
the participants personalities. That is, they filled out
In many cases, it's true: when we form percep-
descriptions of the participants without even meeting
tions of others, our first impressions can be mislead-
them, based only on the limited information they got
ing Research shows, however, that in certain cases our from browsing around their rooms.
snap judgments are surprisingly accurate. Perhaps even
The strangers were more accurate than the close
more surprising is that, although gathering additional
friends in describing participants' personalities. That
information about someone can make our perceptions
result suggests that having more information about a
more accurate, it can also make them less accurate.
person--as you would if you had known that person
You may think, for instance, that your long-time
for years---does not necessarily make your perceptions
friends would describe you more accurately than
of him or her more accurate. More information is some-
strangers would. An interesting experiment proved times better, but not always.
per-
ASK YOURSELF
. Why are snap judgments sometimes accurate? What clues might we be subconsciously noticing that help
us interpret a situation quickly yet accurately?
. When have you made snap judgments that turned out to be inaccurate? What led you to form those
perceptions?
SOURCE: Gosling, S.D., Ko, S. J., Mannarell, T., & Morris, M. E. (2002). A room with a cue: Personality judgments based on offices and
bedrooms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 379-398
PERCEPTION IS A PROCESS
Our minds usually select, organize, and interpret information so
quickly and so subconsciously that we think our perceptions are
objective, factual reflections of the world. Suppose you had a con-
flict with your roommate before leaving for school or work this
morning, and throughout the day he failed to respond to your
text messages reminding him to pick up dinner. You might
perceive that your roommate is ignoring you because he
is not replying to you. In fact, however, you have created
the perception that he's ignoring you based on
the information you selected for attention (he
doesn't respond to your text messages), the way
you organized that information (he is delib-
erately being inconsiderate because he is
angry about your conflict), and the
you interpreted it (he's ignoring you).' That
isn't the only perception you
however. You might also perceive that he
is having an extremely busy day or that he left his cell phone in his car. The percep-
tion
you
form depends on which pieces of information you attend to and which ones
you ignore.
Selection, organization, and interpretation are the three basic stages of perception.
Let's examine each in turn.
way
Selection Perception begins when one or more of your senses are stimulated. You
enter a bagel store and hear a customer placing her order. You see a puppy chew-
ing on an old tennis ball. You smell a coworker's cologne as he walks past. Those
sensory experiences of hearing, seeing, and smelling can initiate your formation of
perceptions.
could
create,
5
PARTI COMMUNICATION IN PRINCIPLE
CHAPTER 3 Perceiving Ourselves and Others
news
puppy
report
Wchoctawad
you once
people
in a row.
form. A key
Con me process of
attention to a certain
not pay
three characteristics in particular make a given stimulus more
for attention
were
It's impossible, though, to pay attention to everything you're seeing, hearing, smell
In truth, your senses are constantly stimulated by events in your environment.
play with his tennis ball, you're probably not listening carefully to the
ing, tasting, and feeling at any given moment,' When you're watching the
on the radio. Rather than paying attention to all the stimuli in your environment,
you engage in selection, the process by which your mind and body help you isolate
certain stimuli to pay attention to. For example, you notice that your partner didn't
take out the garbage, but you overlook that he made dinner three nights
we
point is that we don't necessarily make conscious decisions about which stimuli to
Clearly, the information we attend to influences the perceptions
notice and which to ignore. How, then, does selection occur? Research indicates that
· likely to be selected
First, being unusual or unexpected makes a stimulus stand out. You might
to take place in the library, it would grab your attention because it is unusual in that envi-
attention to people talking loudly in a restaurant, but if the same loud conversation
stand out. For example, you're more likely to remember commercials you've seen repeat-
their physical appearance and behavior patterns. Third, the intensity of a stimulus affects
about the people you see frequently than about individuals you don't see
of strong odors than weak scents, and
With so much sensory information available to you, how do you avoid becoming
function of helping you focus on certain stimuli while ignoring others. It is the pri-
mary reason why, when you're having a conversation with a friend in a crowded, noisy
stimulus, makes it
characteristics
often, such
as
ronment. Second, repetition, or how frequently you're exposed to a
• organization The process
edly than ones you've seen only once. Similarly, you tend to notice more
of categonting information
that has been selected for
attention
how much you take notice of it. You are more aware
* perceptual schema
of bright and flashy colors than dull and muted hues.?
A mental framework for
organunginformation
overwhelmed? A part of your brain called the reticular formation
plays. Likewise, if you notice that he
seems irritated or angry, those pieces of
information go together as examples of
his psychological state,
Interpretation After noticing
and classifying a stimulus, you have
to assign it an interpretation to fig-
ure out its meaning for you. Let's say
one of your coworkers has been espe-
cially friendly toward you since last
week. She finds numerous occasions
to run into you, brings you treats, and
offers to run errands for you over her
lunch break. Her behavior is definitely
noticeable, and you've probably clas-
sified it as a psychological construct
because it relates to her thoughts and
feelings about you.
What is her behavior communicat-
ing, though? How should you interpret
it? Is she being nice because she's getting ready to ask you for a big favor? Does she
want to look good in front of her manager? Or does she like you? If she likes you, does
she like you as a friend, or is she making a romantic gesture?
To address those questions, you likely will pay attention to three factors: your
personal experience, your knowledge of this coworker, and the closeness of your relationship
with her. First, your personal experience helps you to assign meaning to behavior. If
some coworkers have been nice to you in the past just to get favors from you later, then
you might be suspicious of this person's behavior.'? Second, your knowledge of the
person helps you interpret her actions. If you know she's friendly and nice to everyone,
you might interpret her behavior differently than if you notice she's being nice only
to you. Finally, the closeness of your relationship influences how you interpret a
person's behavior. When your best friend does you an unexpected favor, you probably
interpret it as a sincere sign of friendship. In contrast, when a coworker does you a
favor, you may be more likely to wonder whether the person has an ulterior motive."
serves the important
• interpretation The
process of assigning meaning
to information that has been
selected for attention and
organized
many other
Aloud conversation in a
brary grab your attention
because it is unusual in that
environment
coffee shop, you can focus on what your friend is saying and tune out the
sights and sounds that are bombarding your senses at the time.
stimulus,
orga-
perception process is organization, the classification of information in some way.
larities to and differences from other things you know about. To classify a
your mind applies a perceptual schema to it, which is a mental framework for
According to communication researcher Peter Andersen, we use four types of
1. Physical constructs emphasize people's appearance, causing us to notice objective
subjective
nizing information into categories we call constructs.
schema to classify information we notice about other people:?
10
characteristics such as height, age, ethnicity, and body shape, as well as
characteristics such as physical attractiveness.
2. Role constructs emphasize people's social or professional position,
so we notice that a person is a teacher, an accountant, a father,
and so on.
3. Interaction constructs emphasize people's behavior, so we notice that
a person is outgoing, aggressive, shy, or considerate.
4. Psychological constructs emphasize people's thoughts and feelings,
causing us to notice that a person is angry, self-assured, insecure,
or carefree.
Whichever constructs we notice about people—and we may notice
more than one at a time—the process of organization helps us determine
the ways in which various pieces of information we select for attention are
related to one another.'' If you notice that your neighbor is a Little League
softball coach and the father of three children, for example, then those two
pieces of information go together because they both relate to the roles he
Our interpretations of
another person's beha
rely on personal expen
knowledge, and the
ness of our relationsh
that individual
CHAPTER 3 Perceiving Ourselves and Othe
- PARTI COMMUNICATION IN PRINCIPLE
interpret
a commu-
organizing and interpreting information - all overlap. How we
can also depend on the way we interpret it.
The Circular Nature of Perception Although perception occurs in
nication behavior depends on what we notice about it, for example, but what we notice
stages, the process is far from linear. Instead, the three stages of perception- selecting,
Let's assume, for example, that you're listening to a speech by a political candi-
and speaking style as examples of her intelligence and confidence. If you oppose her
date. If you find her ideas and proposals favorable, you might interpret her demeanor
ideas, however, you might believe her demeanor and speaking style reflect
or incompetence. Either interpretation, in turn, might lead you to select for attention
only those behaviors or characteristics that support your interpretation and to ignore
those that don't. So, even though perception happens in stages, the stages don't always
take place in the same order. We're constantly noticing, organizing, and interpreting
As we consider next, perception, like other skills, takes practice. In addition,
arrogance
OUT
things around us, including other people's behaviors.
perceptions are more accurate on some occasions than others.
WE COMMONLY MISPERCEIVE OTHERS'
COMMUNICATION BEHAVIORS
behaviors, we are hardly experts at it. In fact, perceptual mistakes are easy to make.
Although we constantly form perceptions of others and of their communication
language, values, and norms that distinguish one group of
people such as Russians, South Africans, or Thais-from
another. Co-cultures are smaller groups of people-such as
single parents, bloggers, and history enthusiasts -- who share
values, customs, and norms related to mutual interests or
characteristics besides their national citizenship.
Many characteristics of cultures can influence our per
ceptions and interpretations of other people's behaviors.16
For instance, we saw in Chapter 2 that people from indi-
vidualistic cultures frequently engage in more direct, overt
forms of conflict communication than do people from
collectivistic cultures. In a conflict, then, an individualist
might perceive a collectivist's communication behaviors as
conveying weakness, passivity, or a lack of interest. Like-
wise, the collectivist may perceive the individualist's com-
munication patterns as overly aggressive or self-centered.
Those perceptions can arise even though each person is
communicating in a way that is normal in his or her culture.
Co-cultural differences can also influence perceptions of communication. Teenag-
ers might perceive their parents' advice
as outdated or irrelevant, whereas parents may
perceive their teenagers' indifference to their advice as naive.'' Liberals and conserva-
tives may each see the others' communication messages as rooted in ignorance.18
Stereotypes Influence Perceptions A stereotype is a generalization • stereotype
A generalization about a group
about a group or category of people that can have a powerful influence on how we per-
or category of people that is
ceive others and their communication behavior. Stereotyping is a three-part process:
applied to individual members
of that group
First, we identify a group to which we believe another person belongs ("you are
a gay man").
Second, we recall a generalization others often make about the people in that
group ("gay men are emotionally sensitive”).
Finally, we apply that generalization to the person (“therefore, you must be
emotionally sensitive").
You can probably think of stereotypes for many groups." What stereotypes come
What stereotypes come
to mind for elderly people? How about people with physical or mental disabilities?
to mind when you think of
Wealthy people? Homeless people? Science fiction fans? Immigrants? Athletes? What
people such as these?
stereotypes come to mind when you think about yourself?
The culture and co-cultures
with which we identify often
influence the accuracy of
our perceptions
are not arguing but engaging in behaviors that, in their culture, communicate interest
and involvement.
.
The reason is that each of us has multiple lenses through which we perceive the world.
and recency effects, and our perceptual sets. In each case, those lenses have the poten-
Those lenses include our cultural and co-cultural backgrounds, stereotypes, primacy
perceptions
.
tial to influence not only our own communication behaviors but also our
of the communication of others.
Cultures and Co-Cultures Influence Perceptions One power-
ful influence on the accuracy of our perceptions is the culture and co-cultures with
which we identify. Recall from Chapter 2 that culture is the learned, shared symbols,
holin
UJORK FOR
Food
Per
tasteful or
adaptability Spotting Stereotypes
may
be
SHARPEN Your Skills: Cultural stereotypes
Watch the movie Crash (2005),
which highlights numerous cul-
tural stereotypes. Identify how one
character's stereotypical beliefs
influenced his or her communica-
tion with other characters. Write
a blog or journal entry describing
your findings.
men, but
groups,
The Scene: Your job requires you to interact with customers around the
country. Over e-mail
, one customer is criticizing your service and making demands
you deem unreasonable. The name on the e-mail message leads you to believe this
customer is female and probably Caucasian. When you call the customer on the
telephone, however, the voice leads you to believe it is an African American man
Your Task: Consider how you might have spoken differently to a disgruntled,
demanding customer who is male versus female. How might you have spoken
differently to that customer if he or she were
African American versus Caucasian?
What strategies could you use in this situation to
Be aware of stereotypes you hold about gender and communication?
Identify stereotypes you hold about ethnicity and communication?
• Understand how your stereotypes influence your own communication behavior?
mation that doesn't 23
apologies and signs of remorse.
ever
, you also might be right
. Not ever sin person is a good selectate of children, bu
option bare
Many people find stereotyping dis-
unethical, particularly when
stereotypes have to do with character-
istics such as sex, race, and sexual ori
underestimates the differences among
entation." Unquestionably, because it
lead to inaccurate, even offensive, per
individuals in a group, stereotyping can
ceptions of other people. It
for instance, that gay men are more emo-
tionally sensitive than straight
that doesn't mean every gay man is emo-
tionally sensitive. Similarly, people of
Asian descent may often be more studi
ous than those from other ethnic
but not every Asian is a good student, and not all Asians do equally well in school.2
There is variation within almost every group, but stereotypes focus our attention
bias--to remember information that supports our stereotypes while forgetting infor-
only on the generalizations. In fact, we have a tendency to engage in selective memory
During conflict communication, for instance, both women and
men tend to remember only their partners stereotypical behaviors.24 Men may recall
that women nagged and criticized them but might forget that they also listened care-
fully. Likewise, women may recall that men tuned them out but might overlook their
Although perceptions about an individual made on the basis of a stereotype are
women love taking care of children. If you met a woman and assumed (on the basis of
often inaccurate, they aren't necessarily so.'' For example, consider the stereotype that
that stereotype) that she enjoyed taking care of children, you might be wrong-how-
The point is that just because your perception of someone is consistent with a stereo-
type, that perception isn't necessarily inaccurate. Just as we shouldn't assume that a
Before assuming that your perceptions of others are correct, genuinely get to know
those people, and let your perceptions be guided by what you learn about them as
individuals. By communicating with them, you can begin to discover how well other
people fit or don't fit the stereotypical perceptions you formed of them.
Primacy and Recency Effects Influence Perceptions as the say-
ing goes, you get only one chance to make a good first impression. There's no
of advice on how to accomplish that, from picking the right clothes to polishing your
conversational skills. Have you ever noticed that no one talks about the importance of
making a good second impression?
According to a principle called the primacy effect, first impressions are critical
primacy effect The
dency to emphasize the because they set the tone for all future interactions.." Our first impressions of some-
t impression over later
one's communication behaviors seem to stick in our mind more than our second, third,
bressions when forming a
or fourth impressions do. In an early study of the primacy effect, psychologist Solo-
Deption
mon Asch found that a person described as “intelligent, industrious, impulsive, critical,
stubborn, and envious” was evaluated more favorably than one described as “envious,
stubborn, critical, impulsive, industrious, and intelligent.
Notice that most of those adjectives are negative, but when the description begins
with a positive adjective (intelligent), the effects of the more negative ones that follow
it are diminished.
Asch's study illustrates that the first information we learn about someone tends to
than information we receive
have a stronger effect on how we perceive that person
later.28 That finding explains why we work so hard to communicate competently during
a job interview, on a date, or in other important situations. When people evaluate us
29
favorably at first, they're more likely to perceive us in a positive light from then on.
30
stereotypical judgment is accurate, we should not assume that it's inaccurate.
.
31
As most entertainers know, it's equally important to make a good final impression,
because that's what the audience will remember after leaving. Standup comedians
will tell you that the two most important jokes in a show are the first and the last.
• recency effect The
tendency to emphasize the
That advice follows a principle known as the recency effect, which says that the most most recent impression over
recent impression we have of a person's communication is more powerful than our earlier impressions when
earlier impressions.
forming a perception
Which is most important, the first or the most recent impression? The answer is
that both appear to be more important than any impressions we form in between.
perceptual set
A person's predisposition to
To grasp this key point, consider the last significant conversation you had with
perceive only what he or she
someone. You probably have a bet-
wants or expects to perceve.
ter recollection of how the conversa-
tion started and ended than you do of
what was communicated in between.
Figure 3.1 illustrates the relationship
between the primacy effect and the
recency effect by showing how our
first and most recent impressions of
people overshadow our other percep-
tions of them.
shortage
DOC
927
Perceptual Sets Influence
Perceptions "I'll believe it when
I see it," people often say. However,
our perception of reality is influenced
by more than what we see. Our biases,
expectations, and desires can create
what psychologists call a perceptual
set, or a predisposition to perceive only
what we want or expect to perceive.
An equally valid motto might therefore
be "I'll see it when I believe it."
Many success
understand the
impression the
audience is ju
as the irsti
CHAPTER 3 Perceiving Ourselves an
FIGURE 3.1
PRIMACY EFFECT AND
RECENCY EFFECT
a
a bigger,
as blue or pink baby clothes, we sometimes have a hard time telling whether a
ceive and interact with newborns. Without the help of a contextual cue such
For example, our perceptual set regarding gender guides the ways we per-
dressed infant is male or female. However, research shows that if we're told an
infant's name is David, we perceive that child to be stronger and bigger than
it the same infant is called, say, Diana, 3 Our perceptual set tells us that male
infants are usually bigger and stronger than female ones, so we "see"
communication behavior: We may also hold and talk to the "female baby in
stronger baby when we learn it's a boy. Our perceptions can then affect our
Our perceptual set also influences how we make sense of people, circum-
miracles or answers to prayer, whereas others may describe them as natural
stances, and events. Deeply religious individuals may talk about healings
ers to perceive affectionate communication between men as sexual in nature,
In summary, perception is a complex process, susceptible to many different
biases and patterns. As we'll discover in the next section, we are
mistakes not only when we form perceptions but also when we try to
100
90
80
softer, quieter ways than we do with the "male" baby.
70
likely than oth
60
of time or she's making you wait on purpose. An external attribution you might form
about her is that the traffic is heavy that morning or an earlier meeting she is attend-
ing has run long
Stability A second dimension of attributions is whether the cause of a behavior is
stable or unstable." A stable cause is one that is permanent, semipermanent, or at least
not easily changed. Why was your boss late? Rush hour traffic would be a stable cause
for lateness, because it's a permanent feature of almost everyone's morning commute.
The attribution that she is rarely punctual would likewise be stable, because it identi-
fies an enduring aspect of her behavior. In contrast, a traffic accident or an overly long
morning meeting would be an unstable cause of your boss's lateness, because those
events occur only from time to time and are largely unpredictable.
Controllability Finally, causes for behavior vary in how controllable they are.
You make a controllable attribution for someone's behavior when you believe the cause
of the behavior was under that person's control. In contrast, an uncontrollable attribu-
tion identifies a cause that was beyond the person's control. If you perceive that your
boss is late for your appointment because she has spent too much time socializing with
other coworkers beforehand, that is a controllable attribution because socializing is
under her control. Alternatively, if you perceive she's late owing to a car accident on
the way to work, that is an uncontrollable attribution because she couldn't help but be
late if she wrecked her car.
50
responses to medication." Highly homophobic people are more
40
30
vulnerable to
explain
41
w
20
10
what we perceive.
First Second Third
Fourth Fifth Most Recent
Our first impressions and our
most recent impressions are
more important than those that
come in between
How We Explain Our Perceptions
Moments into her speech accepting the 2009 MTV Video Music Award for
Best Female Video, country singer Taylor Swift-along with her audience-
was stunned when rapper Kanye West suddenly appeared onstage, grabbed
should have won the award instead. "Taylor, I'm really happy for you,” West said. "T'Il
the microphone from her hands, and declared that a video from pop singer Beyoncé
let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time. One of the best vid-
leaving viewers to wonder why he had so rudely interrupted Swift's acceptance speech.
When we perceive social behavior, especially behavior we find surprising, our i
automatic reaction is to try to make sense of it." We need to understand what is happen-
We can attribute a person's
lateness to either internal or
external causes. Was your
boss late because she lost
track of time or because
she got caught in heavy
traffic?
nearly
38
• attribution An explanation
for an observed behavior
important
ing to know how to react to it. Think about it, if you perceive that someone is commu.
nicating out of anger or jealousy, you'llikely react to that behavior differently
than if you perceive it is motivated by humor or sarcasm. The ability to explain
social behavior--including our own behavioris therefore an
aspect of how we perceive our social world. In this section, we'll see that we
explain behaviors by forming attributions for them, and we'll discover how to
avoid two of the most common errors people make when formulating attribu-
tions for communication behavior.
WE EXPLAIN BEHAVIOR
THROUGH ATTRIBUTIONS
An attribution is an explanation, the answer to a "why” question.?? You
notice your brother ignoring his girlfriend, for instance, and
you
wonder
what to attribute his behavior to. Although we can generate countless attri-
butions for a given behavior, they vary along three important dimensions:
locus, stability, and controllability.
AVOIDING TWO COMMON ATTRIBUTION ERRORS
Although most of us probably try to generate accurate attributions for other people's
behaviors, we are still vulnerable to making attribution mistakes.42 Those errors can
create communication problems because, as noted above, our responses to other peo-
ple's behaviors are often based on the attributions we make for those behaviors.
Let's say that Maggie and her stepson Craig argue one night about whether Craig can
go on a school-sponsored overnight trip. After their argument, they both go to bed angry.
When Maggie gets up the following morning, she finds that Craig
hasn't done the dishes or taken out the trash, two chores he is respon-
sible for doing every night before bed. It turns out that Craig was so
upset by the argument that his chores slipped his mind. Maggie makes
a different attribution, however: she perceives that Craig didn't do the
chores because he was deliberately disobeying her. On the basis of her
attribution, she tells Craig he's grounded for a week and is definitely
not going on the trip. Her actions only prolong and intensify the con-
flict between them. Had Maggie correctly attributed Craig's behavior
to an honest oversight, she might have been able to overlook it instead
of making it the basis for additional conflict. In other words, recogniz-
ing a common attribution error ght have equipped Maggie to avoid
a mistake that made a bad situation worse.
We might think we always explain behavior objectively and rationally, but the
truth is that we're all prone to taking mental shortcuts when generating attributions.
As a result, our attributions are often less accurate than they should be. Two of the
most common attribution errors—which we can better prepare ourselves to avoid by
understanding them-are the self-serving bias and the fundamental attribution error.
Self-Serving Bias The self-serving bias, which relates primarily to how we
explain our own behaviors, refers to our tendency to attribute our successes to stable,
internal causes while attributing our failures to unstable, external causes." For instance,
your
if you gave a great informative speech in
class, you say
it was great because you
well prepared, but if your speech went poorly, you say the assignment was unfair
or other students were distracting you. Such attributions are self-serving, because they
suggest
that our successes are deserved but our failures are not our fault.
38
.
self-serving
tendency to att
successes to st
causes and on
unstable exter
Locus Locus refers to where the cause of a behavior is “located," whether
within or outside ourselves." Some of our behaviors have internal loci (the
plural of locus); they're caused by a particular characteristic of ourselves.
Other behaviors have external loci, meaning they're caused by something
outside ourselves. If your boss is late for your 9 A.m. performance review,
an internal attribution you might make about her is that she has lost track
were
CHAPTER 3 Perceiving Ourselves
64 •
PART I COMMUNICATION IN PRINCIPLE
Purchase answer to see full
attachment