2.2: Perceiving Others

Learning Objectives

• Differentiate between internal and external attributions.
• Explain two common perceptual errors: the fundamental attribution error and the self-serving bias.
• Discuss how the primacy and recency effects relate to first and last impressions.
• Discuss how physical and environmental factors influence perception.
• Explain the horn and halo effects.
• Recognize the role that personality plays in the perception of others.

As you read this section, keep in mind that principles apply to how you perceive others and to how others perceive you. Just as others make impressions on us, we make impressions on others. We have already learned how the perception process works in terms of selecting, organizing, and interpreting. In this section, we will focus on how we perceive others, with specific attention to how we interpret our perceptions of others.

Attribution and Interpretation

There are some key psychological processes that play into how we perceive others’ behaviors. By examining these processes, attribution in particular, we can see how our communication with others is affected by the explanations we create for others’ behavior. In addition, we will learn some common errors that we make in the attribution process that regularly lead to conflict and misunderstanding.

Attribution

In most interactions, we are constantly running an attribution script in our minds, which means we're trying to come up with explanations for what is happening. Why did my neighbor slam the door when she saw me walking down the hall? Why is my partner being extra nice to me today? Why did my office mate miss our project team meeting this morning? In general, we seek to attribute the cause of others’ behaviors to internal or external factors. Internal attributions connect the cause of behaviors to personal aspects such as personality traits. External attributions connect the cause of behaviors to situational factors. Attributions are important to consider because our reactions to others’ behaviors are strongly influenced by the explanations we reach. Imagine that Gloria and Jane are dating. One day, Jane gets frustrated and raises her voice to Gloria. She may find that behavior more offensive and even consider breaking up with her if she attributes the cause of the blow up to her personality, since personality traits are usually fairly stable and difficult to control or change.

For example, if Jane yells at Gloria, Gloria might react differently depending on her interpretation. If she thinks Jane is just an angry person (internal), she might want to break up. But if she believes Jane is stressed from work (external), she might be more understanding. One common mistake is the fundamental attribution error—we often blame others' actions on their personality, not the situation. For instance, a student might get a parking ticket and assume the officer is just mean, rather than admitting they parked illegally. We also show self-serving bias: when things go well, we credit ourselves ("I passed because I studied"); when they don’t, we blame outside factors ("I failed because the quiz was unfair"). These habits shape how we communicate. If we blame personality, we’re more likely to react strongly or avoid the person. Being aware of these biases helps us better understand others—and ourselves. We’ll explore how to check and improve these perceptions later.

Impressions and Interpretation

As we perceive others, we make impressions about their personality, likeability, attractiveness, and other characteristics. Although much of our impressions are personal, what forms them is sometimes based more on circumstances than personal characteristics. All the information we take in isn’t treated equally. How important are first impressions? Does the last thing you notice about a person stick with you longer because it’s more recent? Do we tend to remember the positive or negative things we notice about a person? This section will help answer these questions, as we explore how the timing of information and the content of the messages we receive can influence our perception.

First and Last Impressions

Image 2.2.1 "First Impressions Last"

The old saying “You never get a second chance to make a good impression” points to the fact that first impressions matter. The brain is a predictive organ in that it wants to know, based on previous experiences and patterns, what to expect next, and first impressions function to fill this need, allowing us to determine how we will proceed with an interaction after only a quick assessment of the person with whom we are interacting (Hargie, 2011). Research shows that people are surprisingly good at making accurate first impressions about how an interaction will unfold and at identifying personality characteristics of people they do not know. Studies show that people are generally able to predict how another person will behave toward them based on an initial interaction. People’s accuracy and ability to predict interaction based on first impressions vary, but people with high accuracy are typically socially skilled and popular and have less loneliness, anxiety, and depression; more satisfying relationships; and more senior positions and higher salaries (Hargie, 2011). So not only do first impressions matter, but having the ability to form accurate first impressions seems to correlate to many other positive characteristics.

First impressions are enduring because of the primacy effect, which leads us to place more value on the first information we receive about a person. So if we interpret the first information we receive from or about a person as positive, then a positive first impression will form and influence how we respond to that person as the interaction continues. Likewise, negative interpretations of information can lead us to form negative first impressions. If you sit down at a restaurant and servers walk by for several minutes and no one greets you, then you will likely interpret that negatively and not have a good impression of your server when he finally shows up. This may lead you to be short with the server, which may lead him to not be as attentive as he normally would. At this point, a series of negative interactions has set into motion a cycle that will be very difficult to reverse and make positive.

The recency effect leads us to put more weight on the most recent impression we have of a person’s communication over earlier impressions. Even a positive first impression can be tarnished by a negative final impression. Imagine that a professor has maintained a relatively high level of credibility with you over the course of the quarter. She made a good first impression by being organized, approachable, and interesting during the first days of class. The rest of the semester went fairly well with no major conflicts. However, during the last week of the term, she didn’t have final papers graded and ready to turn back by the time she said she would, which left you with some uncertainty about how well you needed to do on the final exam to earn an A in the class. When you did get your paper back, on the last day of class, you saw that your grade was much lower than you expected. If this happened to you, what would you write on the instructor evaluation? Because of the recency effect, many students would likely give a disproportionate amount of value to the professor’s actions in the final week of the semester, negatively skewing the evaluation, which is supposed to be reflective of the entire quarter. Even though the professor only returned one assignment late, that fact is very recent in students’ minds and can overshadow the positive impression that formed many weeks earlier.

Physical and Environmental Influences on Perception

We make first impressions based on a variety of factors, including physical and environmental characteristics. Clothing, grooming, and body features all send messages, especially in professional settings. For example, we have expectations for how someone should dress at work, at home, or at a formal event. We also associate certain looks with social groups or professions—like how we might picture a doctor, mechanic, or goth person. These mental images, or schema, come from personal experience and media, and they often include stereotypes. Physical features like facial symmetry and body size also influence how we see others. People seen as more attractive are often judged more positively—they receive more smiles, eye contact, and attention.

Our environment matters too. The objects around us—like the way a bedroom or office is decorated—can shape how others view our personality. For example, a messy office or an unusual poster might affect how seriously someone is taken at work.

Even furniture arrangement can influence perception—a round table may feel more welcoming than a long boardroom table. These physical and environmental cues shape our first impressions and continue to affect how we view people over time, which connects to ideas like the halo effect (assuming someone is good based on one positive trait) and the horn effect (assuming someone is bad based on one negative trait).

The Halo and Horn Effects

We have a tendency to adapt information that conflicts with our earlier impressions in order to make it fit within the frame we have established. This is known as selective distortion, and it manifests in the halo and horn effects. The angelic halo and devilish horn are useful metaphors for the lasting effects of positive and negative impressions.

The halo effect occurs when initial positive perceptions lead us to view later interactions as positive. The horn effect occurs when initial negative perceptions lead us to view later interactions as negative (Hargie, 2011). Since impressions are especially important when a person is navigating the job market, let’s imagine how the horn and halo effects could play out for a recent college graduate looking to land her first professional job. Nell has recently graduated with her degree in communication studies and is looking to start her career as a corporate trainer. If one of Nell’s professors has a relationship with an executive at an area business, his positive verbal recommendation will likely result in a halo effect for Nell. Since the executive thinks highly of his friend the professor, and the professor things highly of Nell, then the executive will start his interaction with Nell with a positive impression and interpret her behaviors more positively than he would otherwise. The halo effect initiated by the professor’s recommendation may even lead the executive to dismiss or overlook some negative behaviors. On the other hand, let’s say Nell doesn’t have a third party to help make a connection and arrives late for her interview. That negative impression may create a horn effect that carries through the interview. Even if Nell presents as competent and friendly, the negative first impression could lead the executive to minimize or ignore those positive characteristics, and the company may not hire her.

Culture, Personality, and Perception

Our cultural identities and our personalities affect our perceptions. Sometimes we are conscious of the effects and sometimes we are not. In either case, we have a tendency to favor others who exhibit cultural or personality traits that match up with our own. This tendency is so strong that is often leads us to assume that people we like are more similar to us than they actually are. Knowing more about how these forces influence our perceptions can help us become more aware of and competent in regards to the impressions we form of others.

Culture

Our perceptions are shaped by cultural identities like race, gender, class, age, ability, nationality, and sexual orientation. As we grow up in different cultures, we adopt shared beliefs and values that influence how we interpret the world. People from different cultures often have different schemata—mental frameworks—that affect how they see things.

Unless we’re exposed to diverse perspectives, we might assume everyone sees the world as we do. Experiencing different cultures doesn’t mean we have to change our views, but it helps us understand where others are coming from—and how our own views were shaped.

Even basic senses like sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell are influenced by culture:

• Sight. People in different cultures “read” art in different ways, differing in terms of where they start to look at an image and the types of information they perceive and process.
• Sound. “Atonal” music in some Asian cultures is unpleasing to some other cultures; it is uncomfortable to people who aren’t taught that these combinations of sounds are pleasing.
• Touch. In some cultures it would be very offensive for a man to touch—even tap on the shoulder—a woman who isn’t a relative.
• Taste. Tastes for foods vary greatly around the world. “Stinky tofu,” which is a favorite snack of people in Taipei, Taiwan’s famous night market, would likely be very off-putting in terms of taste and smell to many foreign tourists.
• Smell. While US Americans spend considerable effort to mask natural body odor, which we typically find unpleasant, with soaps, sprays, and lotions, some other cultures would not find unpleasant or even notice what we consider “b.o.” Those same cultures may find a US American’s “clean” (soapy, perfumed, deodorized) smell unpleasant.

Cultural views also differ on bigger topics like marriage, politics, and privacy. For example, France’s president once lived openly with his unmarried partner—something that would likely be controversial in the U.S. or unacceptable in places like Saudi Arabia or the Vatican.

We tend to see people as “like us” or “different from us,” and we often trust or relate more to those we see as similar. When someone different from us behaves badly, we’re more likely to blame their character than their situation. This kind of rigid thinking can lead to stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination. And since some identities—like sexual orientation or disability—aren’t always visible, we may not even realize someone is culturally different until they tell us.

Gender also affects perception, but much of what we believe about gender differences is socialized, or learned, not biological. Society teaches us to see men and women as very different, but research shows we actually communicate more similarly than we think. Next, we’ll explore how our individual personalities affect perception.

Personality

Employers often ask about a candidate’s personality because it affects how people see themselves, interact with others, and perform at work. Personality is a person’s typical way of thinking, feeling, and behaving. While it can change, most traits stay fairly consistent in adulthood.

Researchers commonly refer to the Big Five Personality Traits:

1. Extraversion – Outgoing and social (extroverts) vs. quiet and reserved (introverts).
2. Agreeableness – Friendly and cooperative vs. suspicious and difficult.
3. Conscientiousness – Organized and dependable vs. careless and unreliable.
4. Neuroticism – Emotionally unstable and anxious vs. calm and steady.
5. Openness – Curious and open-minded vs. rigid and resistant to change.

Companies and media use personality tests to make decisions—from hiring to casting TV roles—because personality strongly influences behavior and audience reactions.

We often notice traits in others that matter to us personally. If you value loyalty, you’ll admire it in others. If you dislike negativity in yourself, you may be critical of it in someone else. We also tend to assume others are like us—a bias called assumed similarity. When we don’t know much about someone, we fill in the blanks with traits we see in ourselves. But people don’t always group based on similar personalities. Shared race, class, or values are usually more influential than personality alone.