Читать книгу Social Psychology - Daniel W. Barrett - Страница 195

How do we form first impressions? Person perception begins with the initial exposure to information about a target, such as observation of or contact with the person herself, second-hand exposure (e.g., a rumor, a third party, etc.), or some other source, such as the web. Let’s take the case of Emil’s first encounter with Sandra, a fellow college student enrolled in his psychology course. Emil notices Sandra, who is sitting three rows in front of him, on the first day of class. He immediately forms an overall impression of Sandra based on various aspects of her physical appearance (e.g., her skin tone, facial features, style of dress, age, etc.) and her behavior (raising her hand, talking to other students, checking text messages, etc.). Each characteristic facilitates Emil’s effortless categorization of Sandra along a number of dimensions, including what are called the “Big Three” characteristics: race/ethnicity, age, and sex (Fiske, 1998; Zarate & Smith, 1990). Emil will likely begin to interpret her behaviors by ascribing meaning and explanations to them, and relevant stereotypes may be activated and may guide these interpretations. During the course of the class period and subsequent encounters, he may modify his initial impressions of her, add or subtract categorizations, and develop an integrated, more individualized, nuanced, impression (Bos & Dijksterhuis, 2011; Fiske, Lin, & Neuberg, 1999). Research demonstrates that both the configural and the additive models are correct: People use both categorization or top-down processing and additive or bottom-up processing during impression formation (North & Fiske, 2012). In Chapter 10, we will elaborate on the role of stereotypes in person perception. For now we’ll turn our attention to other aspects of person perception: understanding emotional expressions, detecting lies, and determining the causes of social behavior.