Review the description of social perception given earlier in this chapter. What do you consider most when forming an impression of a person you have just met? What types of attribution error are you most likely to make? Discuss potential differences in attribution error among different people.

Social Perception:

People use three sets of clues when forming their impression of another person. These clues come from the person, the situation surrounding the person, and the observed behavior of the person.

In developing their first impressions, people use different physical aspects of the person, such as height, weight, hair color, and eyeglasses. Sometimes those impressions are stereotypes based on physical features. For example, some research suggests people perceive thin men as tense, suspicious, and stubborn; blonde women as fun loving; and neatly dressed people as responsible. Such stereotypes result from attributing qualities to people based on previously formed perceptions, despite what is true for the specific person.

We all have preconceptions about the situations in which we see the behavior of other people. Preconceptions develop from our experiences with the same or similar situations. Seeing another person in a given situation raises expectations about the behavior that the situation should cause. For example, when two people are introduced, we expect both parties to acknowledge the other and probably to shake hands.