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Learning Unit 2 Perceptions (The halo effect (People tend to associate one…
Learning Unit 2
Perceptions
Perception of others
Physical Attractiveness
We are drawn to attractive people
We associate positive qualities (kindness) with physical attractiveness
We tend to engage with people who are equal to ourselves in attractiveness (
Matching Hypothesis
)
The less attractive person usually makes up for it by possessing other attractions (more charisma, more money, fame, etc)
The more we like someone, the more attractive they become to us
The less we like someone, the less attractive they become to us
Private theory of personality
We each have a private theory of personality through which we form impressions of what people are all about
Subconscious process
We perceive certain traits and behaviours and associate them with certain personality traits according to our beliefs about which traits go together
Although everyone's private theory of personality is unique, people of the same culture, etc tend to agree with other peoples theories
Central traits
- Personality traits considered by members of a culture to be meaningful and central to a good person
Our private theory of personality is often inaccurate
The halo effect
People tend to associate one positive trait in someone with other positive but often completely unrelated attributes
eg. If you perceive someone to be warm, you may also believe- with no evidence- that they are honest and reliable
Thus, you are making 'an angel' out of the person (halo)
The halo effect is more powerful when the original perceived trait is a central trait
A central trait is important to us in our private theory of personality
The halo effect is a barrier to communication, it leads to inaccurate perceptions of people
eg. If you subconsciously believe that attractive people are happy, you may miss clues that your beautiful friend is depressed
The horn effect
The horn effect is the negative version of the halo effect
Occurs when we extend unfavourable impressions of someone to other unobserved/unrelated negative traits
eg. When you perceive someone to be impolite, and then also regard them as being lazy and dishonest
Thus, you are making 'a devil' out of the person (horn)
The horn effect is stronger when the initial negative impression of the person includes a central trait (same with halo)
The horn effect hinders communication
eg. By avoiding communication with someone of whom we have such negative perceptions, we now remain in the dark about their true character
The primary effect
First impressions have a profound effect on our attitudes and behaviour towards others (the primary effect)
First impressions may have a lingering effect, even if we get contradicting information about them later (the primary effect)
eg. If you meet someone for the first time and they are friendly, you may decide they are friendly by nature. You believe this so strongly that the next time you see them and they are withdrawn, your perception doesn't change
The recency effect
The last information you get about a person has the strongest effect on you perceptions of them (the recency effect)
eg. If you meet someone at first and they don't have much of an impression on you and then later you see how pleasant and brilliant they are, according to the recency effect, your positive impression will overshadow your earlier impression
Often, the recency effect occurs together with the primary effect. Your first and last impression on a person form lasting perceptions than our behaviour in between