Person Perception

Person perception is of great importance in everyday life and human science. Judgment of other people's characteristics and intentions is important for suc cessfully planning actions within a social environment. Questions about the formation of impressions and causal attributions are central to social psychology and the study of diagnostic judgment formation. The field of per son perception deals with questions of how impression formation proceeds, what characteristics and intentions are attributed to other people, and how preformed schemata and stereotypes influence people's first impressions. Research on person perception developed rapidly after the Second World War. In the 1950s the precision and accuracy of person perception received special interest, but the problems concerning whether an individual's assessment of another personality is exact or not could not be solved. Another approach, which began in the 1940s and was derived from the Gestalt psychological tradi tion, dealt with impression formation based on selected social cues. This ap proach, which proved to be very useful, had considerable influence on both the research methods and the theoretical orientation of the research work. On the one hand, by using a combination of individual cues (like physical characteris tics) researchers tried to ascertain how an impression of a person was formed. On the other hand, the Gestalt psychological orientation led to an interest in the process of person perception, which in the last 10 years has concentrated on questions concerning information reception and processing.

Life becomes difficult for the judges of others when they are presented with a number of facts about someone which all point in different directions, or which point in no direction at all. Originally published in 1984, this volume brings together research on four major issues involved in judging people: the relationship between person perception and personality; inference from multiple cues; methodology of measuring accuracy of perception; and selection for employment. These issues are not only of increasing importance in the study of psychology today, they are also of central relevance to social and business conduct. This edited collection will be a valuable resource for the student of either.

Neither human nature nor personality can be independent of culture. Human beings share certain social norms or rules within their cultural groups. Over 2000 years ago, Aristotle held that man is by nature a social animal. Similarly, Xun Kuang (298-238 B.C.), a Chinese philosopher, pointed out that humans in social groups can not function without shared guidance or rules. This book is designed to provide readers with a perspective on how people are different from, and similar to, each other --both within and across cultures. One of its goals is to offer a practical guide for people preparing to interact with those whose cultural background is different from their own.

What are other people like? How do we decide if someone is friendly, honest or clever? What assumptions do we develop about them and what explanations do we give for their behaviour? The Perception of People examines key topics in psychology to explore how we make sense of other people (and ourselves). Do our decisions result from careful consideration and a desire to produce an accurate perception? Or do we jump to conclusions in our judgements and rely on expectations and stereotypes? To answer these questions the book examines models of person perception and provides an up-to-date and detailed account of the central psychological research in this area, focusing in particular on the social cognitive approach. It also considers and reflects on the involvement of culture in cognition, and includes coverage of relevant research in culture and language that influence the way we think and speak about others. As well as providing a valuable text in social psychology, The Perception of People also offers a direction for the integration of ideas from cognitive and social psychology with those of cultural psychology, anthropology, sociology, philosophy and social history. Clear explanation of modern research is placed in historical and cultural context to provide a fuller understanding of how psychologists have worked to understand how people interpret the world around them and make sense of the people within it. Ideal reading for students of social psychology, this engaging text will also be useful in subject areas such as communication studies and media studies, where the perception of people is highly relevant.

Accuracy in judging personality is important in clinical assessment, applied settings, and everyday life. Personality judgments are important in assessing job candidates, choosing friends, and determining who we can trust and rely on in our personal lives. Thus, the accuracy of those judgments is important to both individuals and organizations. In examining personality judgment, Personality Judgment takes a sweeping look at the field's history, assumptions, and current research findings. The book explores the construct of traits within the person-situation debate, defends the human judge in the face of the fundamental attribution error, and discusses research on four categories of moderators in judgment: the good judge, the judgeable target, the trait being judged, and the information on which the judgment is based. Spanning two decades of accuracy research, this book makes clear not only how personality judgment has come to its current standing but also where it may move in the future. Covers 20 years worth of historical, current and future trends in personality judgment Includes discussions of debatable issues related to accuracy and error. The author is well known for his recently developed theoy of the process by which one person may render an accurate judgment of the personality traits of another

Employing a lively and accessible writing style, author Daniel W. Barrett integrates up-to-date coverage of social psychology’s core theories, concepts, and research with a discussion of emerging developments in the field—including social neuroscience and the social psychology of happiness, religion, and sustainability. Social Psychology: Core Concepts and Emerging Trends presents engaging examples, Applying Social Psychology sections, and a wealth of pedagogical features to help readers cultivate a deep understanding of the causes of social behavior.

This work applies recent theory and research in social cognition to assessments used in personnel selection, appraisal, and development. Key areas such as teamwork, negotiations, and cross-cultural relationships are also discussed.

The contributors to this collection focus on the cognitive processes that take place during the initial acquisition of information about others (on-line processes) rather than later when memory processes begin playing a dominant role (memory-based processes). Utilizing the methods and concepts of social cognition, the book illustrates how the study of on-line cognition can further our understanding of person perception. On-Line Cognition in Person Perception also examines the special cognitive dynamics that are associated with such processes within the domain of social perception.

Originally published in 1979, Perceiving Others is an excellent, short introduction to the area of social psychology known as ‘person perception’, ‘social perception’ or ‘impression formation’ – how people interpret each others’ moods, predict each others’ behaviour and sum up each others’ characters. The way people see each other determines the way they behave towards each other making the study of ‘person perception’ essential to the understanding of social behaviour. Mark Cook poses three questions about how people form opinions of others: what are the processes involved, what information is used and how, and how accurate are they? He provides an answer to these questions in the three main sections of the book, giving a comprehensive survey of the theory and research arising from the issues involved. The topics covered include the meaning of trait descriptions, intuition, social skill and non-verbal communication, the impression formation paradigm, stereotypes, implicit personality theories, attribution theory, Cronbach’s components and psychiatric diagnosis. By drawing many of his illustrations from everyday encounters, the author effectively bridges the gap between theory and reality to create a thoroughly readable and comprehensible study.