How are social perceptions formed and changed?
• What are some problems and issues in forming impressions of people and situations? • What is the relationship between attribution, stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination? Activities Activity A: What is social perception? Relate: Social perception is the process by which someone infers other peoples motives and intentions from observing their behaviour and deciding whether the causes of the behaviour are internal or situational. Social perception helps people make sense of the world, organize their thoughts quickly, and maintain a sense of control over the environment (Lefton et al., 2000, p. 457). Create: Design an observational research study investigating social perception. Record a series of observations of different social situations, and then decide if the behaviours are internal (e.g., personal characteristics, personality types, attitudes, values, etc.) or situational (e.g., other people, stress, competition, etc.). Record the gender of the participants, to see if males and
