In what ways can you observe individuals? - Chapter 3

Forming first impressions

Our knowledge about the characteristics of people and the way they are related to each other is a form of mental / cognitive representation. Such representation is seen as the total knowledge that an individual has stored in his or her memory about, for example, certain people, objects, situations or social groups. We form and remember impressions of others because these impressions help us to behave in such a way that we both receive concrete rewards and create solidarity with other people.

A first impression is formed on the basis of different "ingredients". The perceptions of others begin with visible cues, including the physical appearance of the other person, the non-verbal communication, the environment and the behavior. Familiarity (as in: becoming familiar with someone, being accustomed to someone) also influences our impression, which leads us to find that person generally nicer. Especially cues that attract attention in their specific context play a major role.

The following "ingredients" are discussed:

• The appearance

• The non-verbal communication

• Familiarity

• Environment

• Behavior

Appearance

First impressions are often formed on the basis of the appearance. Physical beauty, especially a beautiful face, is associated with multiple positive expectations. For example, it is expected that physically attractive people are more social, warmer and more interesting and more open to others than those who are physically less attractive. This "attractiveness-is-good" conviction seems to be the same between cultures: people from different cultures often agree on who is physically attractive and about the characteristics that would accompany it. Physical attraction also has more general, positive effects:

• People are more inclined to imitate the behavior of an attractive stranger than the behavior of a less attractive stranger.

• Primary school teachers see physically attractive children as more intelligent, and think they have a greater academic potential.

• More attractive criminals receive a lower deposit in the event of crimes, and, once convicted, they receive less severe prison sentences.

In addition to physical attractiveness, certain patterns of facial features are also influential. Men with a "baby face" (big, round eyes, high eyebrows and a narrow chin) are seen as naive, fairer, nicer and warmer than men with more masculine facial features (making this first group less likely to be recommended for work that requires leadership etc.).

Knapp (1978) concluded that handsome and / or tall men have a higher salary than men who are not handsome and / or tall. In women, however, this effect is reversed. Attractive men are also rated higher in their jobs than less attractive men. This is exactly the opposite for women, because it is assumed that a woman gets attention through her appearance and not through her qualities.

Non-verbal communication

Non-verbal communication is also an important point in forming first impressions. Research has shown that people are considered nicer when they express their feelings non-verbally. In individualistic cultures we find people nicer when their bodies are focused on us, they look at us and nod when we talk, and when we believe they like us. We are also inclined to like people who have large pupils - a sign of interest - even though we do not consciously know this. Basic emotions (sadness, happiness, fear, anger, surprise and disgust) are expressed in very diverse cultures with the same body posture and facial expressions. Emotional expression thus appears to be a universal language, although other studies have found that the interpretation of expressions is culturally sensitive, especially for the emotions surprise, sadness and disgust.

Even after a mere fleeting first observation of a stranger's non-verbal behavior, people are well able to get accurate information about the status and certain characteristics of the person being observed (such as warmth, honesty, reliability and enthusiasm). Non-verbal clues are important cues when assessing whether someone is telling the truth. Research (Bond & DePaulo, 2006) shows that people are not so good at assessing whether someone is lying or not. How can this be, since we often have such accurate first impressions? The answer is that people often pay attention to the wrong cues. People often pay attention to someone's face or the words used, but this is often easy for the cheater to check. Particular attention must be paid to the pitch and the movements made; a trembling or high tone in the voice and troubled movements of hands and feet often indicate lies. It also appears that people in some situations can perceive deception better if they have received little information or if they are distracted by a difficult task.

Another method that is used in assessing lies is a lie detector. A lie detector is a device that, by measuring physiological arousal (such as sweating, faster breathing or increased heart rate), concludes whether or not the answers given are false. Despite the fact that the device is often used, the lie detector does not always appear to be reliable.

Familiarity

Most of us develop positive feelings for people with whom we regularly interact in daily life. Even when there is no interaction, the mere exposure effect ensures that we find someone nice. The mere exposure effect means that we develop positive expectations and feelings for someone else, purely on the basis of regular exposure to each other.

Environment

Hints about a person's personality, behaviors, norms and values ​​can be taken from his / her environment (in the broadest sense of the word), for example: the cleanliness in your room, or the information on your facebook profile. People are reasonably accurate in forming impressions by observing this physical and virtual environment.

Behaviour

In addition to appearance, non-verbal communication and awareness, people are also often assessed on the basis of the behavior they exhibit. According to Gilberg (1998), this is the most valuable source for forming an impression. Visible behavior is automatically linked to certain characteristics on the basis of associations. Which cues stand out in this depends on the context. Salience refers to the skill of a cue (a salient characteristic) to attract attention in that situation, for example, due to its rarity. The attributes are striking in that context, whereas in a different context they are normal. For example, the 2-meter person who rises above everyone else in the cafe stands out (in the context where his height is a salient characteristic), but not when he plays a basketball game with his team.

The interpretation of cues

Cues have no meaning in themselves, but are interpreted on the basis of linked stored information about people, behaviors, characteristics and social situations. It is this association between (at least) two cognitive representations (the cue and the linked information) that generates meaning. Two (or more) cognitive representations are only connected once an association has been formed. At such a moment the one is activated as soon as the other comes into the mind.

In addition to the role of associations, the accessibility of information also has a part in the interpretation of cues. Accessible knowledge (which refers to the ease and speed with which the knowledge can be retrieved) concerns knowledge that is activated at that moment, has been activated recently or is frequently activated. The accessibility of information largely influences the conclusions you draw about other people's behavior. Priming deserves a place in the context of recently activated knowledge. Priming is the activation of a mental representation to increase accessibility and with it the chance that it will be used. Primed concepts remain accessible for 24 hours. The impact of priming is independent of whether the person is aware of the activation; priming can also be achieved subliminally! In subliminal presentation, stimuli are presented in such a way (often very quickly / very short duration) that the person was not aware of it. Even if you have only briefly, unconsciously looked at a Bruce Willis advertising poster (from the corner of your eyes), it can cause you to interpret someone's behavior as being aggressive.

Priming influences the accessibility of cues and therefore influences attitudes, Rudman and Borgida (1995) demonstrated. They showed that sexism priming (which, for example, arises from advertisements on television, newspapers and magazines) has an influence on applications.

Corresponding interferences

People often assume that others possess qualities that match their observable behavior, even when external factors may have influenced the behavior instead. With corresponding inferences, someone is characterized (possibly spontaneously) by linking the behavior shown to a personality trait. What actually happened is that someone's (inner) qualities are attuned to the behavior that that person has. According to Jones and Davis (1965) this corresponding conclusion is only justified if the person:

• Voluntarily shows the relevant behavior

• and when the behavior has few effects that distinguishes itself from other actions

• and when the behavior is unexpectedly displayed

As soon as a corresponding conclusion is unjustified, this is called the correspondence bias or the fundamental attribution error: the tendency to assume that the observed behavior of a person reflects the inner character, whereas in many such cases situational aspects are the cause of the behavior. This fundamental attribution error can have a number of unpleasant consequences and only decreases as soon as you are motivated to counteract it and want to learn more about the actual cause of the behavior.

A remarkable phenomenon is that the correspondence bias often occurs in Western cultures and hardly in Asian cultures. This could be because people in Western cultures are held entirely responsible for their behavior, while in Asian cultures more account is taken of the group context and the environment.

Although we often think that our first impressions of others "happen" to us, we actually put them together without our effort, without any intention and even without any control over the process.

Systematic processing

First impressions that are formed with minimal effort, based on only one or two attributes, are an example of superficial processing. In this way, superficial processing leads to a judgment based on accessible information, where little effort has been made. Systematic processing is the opposite of this. The judgment is formed on the basis of a large amount of information that may possibly be relevant for forming a comprehensive opinion (here, conscious and careful considerations are made). As soon as there is systematic processing, people make use of causal attributions for the behavior. Causal attributions are judgments about the cause of certain behavior or of events.

Causal attributions

To get further than a first impression, people have to think a bit more. People tend to find possible causes of behavior that are salient in the context, generally accessible, or suggested by the pattern of available information. Cultural learning also influences the attributions.

Attributions are made faster when a cause is salient (striking, attention-grabbing). In addition, the accessibility of possible causes also influences the interpretation of the behavior: as soon as a possible cause is very accessible (quickly available), it will be seen more quickly as a cause. Finally, attributions can be formed based on covariate information. Covariation information concerns information about possible causal factors that are present during the behavior (or the event) and absent when the behavior (or the event) is not present. For example, when a student gives the professor a compliment. This behavior only occurs within that context at that moment, whereby an attribution is formed for that specific situation. Often, on the basis of Kelley's idea (1967), a distinction is made between three categories of attributions:

• Distinction: people look for distinctive / characteristic information

• Consensus: one searches for matching information

• Consistency: people look for coherent information

On the basis of these three categories, people are looking for a possible cause that co-varies with the behavior or the event. In addition, three possible causes of social events are distinguished:

• Stimulus / target (person to whom the behavior is shown)

• The one who shows the behavior

• Specific circumstances / situation

The cause of a certain event can either be at person 1, at person 2 or at the situation.

Cultural differences

Generally speaking, people from a Western culture are more focused on statements that are based on people's characteristics, while people from Asian cultures look for more in social relations. This shows once again that people from Western cultures are much more focused on the independent person / individual, while people from Asian cultures focus much more on social groups that consist of interdependent individuals / the collective.

The use of attributes for correcting first impressions

People are inclined to draw conclusions about character traits as soon as they perceive someone's behavior. As soon as external factors prove to be responsible for the behavior shown, it takes a lot of time and effort to correct for the previously drawn conclusion. That is why this correcting does not always happen. If the correction of first impressions does take place, this can be done through the use of attributions and systematic processing will take place in order to form considered impressions. Previous impressions that came about automatically will then be adjusted or totally revised. Attributional thinking can, however, result in discounting. Discounting means that faith in a possible cause is reduced, because there is another good explanatory cause.

In general, three steps can be distinguished when assessing behaviors or events - steps 1 and 2 also take place when forming initial impressions:

• The behavior is labeled

• The person is characterized

• Corresponding interferences are corrected (eg causal reasoning)

Forming complex impressions

In general, one is inclined to think that certain characteristics of people are related. Often someone is judged positive or negative on the basis of one positive or negative trait. But it can also happen that a positive property is linked to a negative property. This is generally dependent on culture, but more specifically, depending on personal experience. As is probably clear now, these association patterns (also called implicit personality traits) can influence our opinions about individuals and their characteristics.

Integrating evaluations

A striking effect is the so-called negativity effect. This means that when integrating information into an overall evaluation, it is likely that negative information weighs more heavily than positive information. An explanation for this is that negative information generally appears more extreme and informative than positive information, because obtaining positive information can be influenced by negative information, whereas the effect of positive information itself is less significant.

The accuracy of considered impressions

Considered impressions are not always completely accurate. When people pay extra attention to forming an impression, distortions can still limit the accuracy, so that the extra effort is only stopped in confirming an existing positive or negative impression. People must therefore be aware of these biases before they can adjust this.

The motivation to be accurate can come from different angles. For example, when you feel responsible. Suppose you have a new friend and want to take him to a party; it is important that your impression of him is accurate, since you are otherwise considered that you have taken him. Two other factors that motivate you to be accurate and therefore carefully construct your impression are 1) anticipating future interactions (such as collaboration at work) and 2) distrust of the information we have received (often through a third party).

In addition to accuracy, there are other reasons why people like to put extra effort into processing information about others. Hope, desires and expectations can influence the obtaining and interpretation of information. Once one realizes that distorted ideas are used, this can lead to extra motivation and effort to correct these impressions. However, this only happens if sufficient time and (cognitive) resources are available for this.

Impressions and judgments

Once an impression has been formed, it serves as the basis for decisions and behaviors. Sometimes decisions are based on simple, superficial processing; sometimes on deep, systematic processing. The difference between superficial and systematic processing is that assessments in the case of superficial processing are based more on salience and accessibility of a property, while in systematic processing many more different factors are combined and we look at underlying evidence.

Protecting impressions

The principle of conservatism starts as soon as impressions are formed: once formed it is difficult to change our convictions about people, partly because the beliefs maintain themselves. One of the principles of conservatism is the primacy effect. The primacy effect is a pattern in which previously obtained information has a greater impact than information that we then take up. For example: if you first see a picture of a partygoer, and you see this boy in a tight suit later on, you are still inclined to see him as a partygoer, since this first impression is difficult to change. Even if we find out that the initial impression turns out to be wrong, the primacy effect can still exist. This is called the perseverance bias: the tendency for information to have a lasting effect on our judgments, even when this information turns out to be incorrect. This bias is best countered by explicitly devising an opposite possibility.

It is noteworthy that people do not always ask biased or leading questions to test their convictions about someone else: when they have a choice, people often opt for diagnostic questions. This does not therefore produce an unjust confirmation of an initial hypothesis. On the basis of impressions that someone has about a certain person, the behaviors towards that person are formed. These behaviors can then also influence the behavior of the person on whom an impression exists. This is called the self-fulfilling prophecy. Research shows that this effect is great for schools, for example: pupils' performance is influenced by their teacher's expectations. There are three ways in which the effects of the self-fulfilling prophecy are weakened:

• When the person who is observed has a strong opinion about himself (in other words, possesses a strong self-image);

• When the person being observed is aware of the expectations of the observer(s);

• When the person who is observed is motivated to leave the right impression (and not so much focused on making the situation go smoothly).

Inconsistent information

In general, it is opted to overcome inconsistent information, so that the impression of the other remains stable. Inconsistent information is not welcome because of two social motives: the information threatens our sense of understanding the other, and it endangers our ability to maintain a social relationship with the person. Only the most important inconsistencies are reconsidered through systematic processing and the associated time and effort. In general, a real change is only possible once people actively look for changes in an individual. This, too, appears to depend on the culture. In Western cultures people are generally less willing to see an individual as changeable than in Asian cultures.