PERSON PERCEPTION: WHEN PERSON PERCEPTION IS MOST CHALLENGING

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Social Psychology (PSY403)

Lesson 15

PERSON PERCEPTION: WHEN PERSON PERCEPTION IS MOST CHALLENGING

Aims:

· Evaluating when person perception can be most challenging

Objectives:

Discussing how perception of baby or mature aces affects people's perceptions.

Describing how to detect lies.

Link to previous two lectures on person perception

When we perceive other people, we start with salient categories such as sex, race, or age. We

use the category to make initial assumptions about the person. If we are willing and able to do so, we

also gather additional verbal or nonverbal information. We often interpret the new information as

consistent with our first impression. If the new information seems inconsistent enough, we sometimes

re-categorize the person or come to regard the person as an individual. Person perception, however, is

slanted toward perceiving people as merely instances of a category rather than as individuals.

Additional verbal information can sometimes undo category-based assumptions, but only when the

perceiver is highly motivated to form an individual impression. Some types of verbal information, such

as knowing how the individual behaves, are as likely as physically salient categories to generate

spontaneous trait inferences. Nonverbal information also offers many cues to forming an impression.

We draw different inferences about people depending on how dominant and attractive their face

appears, how high-pitched their voices seem, how youthfully they walk, and how often and youthfully

they walk, and how often and intimately they touch each other.

"Accuracy" in person perception can be defined as agreement between the perceiver and the target

of perception, agreement between two or more perceivers, or whether the perceiver's impression predicts

the target person's future behavior. By any measure, perceivers are more likely to be accurate about

evolutionarily significant traits than about other traits. Contrary to popular belief, accuracy does not

improve with length of acquaintance.

Person perception from verbal information is subject to several biases. When perceivers learn

about a target person's traits in a specific order, for example, the initial traits affect the final impression

more than do subsequent traits. Initial traits also change the meaning of subsequent traits, because

perceivers use several effective strategies to interpret seemingly inconsistent information in a way that

"fits" the initial impression. Perceivers are also biased by implicit personality theories. They believe that

knowing one fact about a person, especially the person's standing on a "central trait," allows confident

inferences about many other facets of the person's character.

Perceiving people's emotions from nonverbal information is also difficult. Despite some

universals in how people display their emotions, different cultures have different "display rules."

Knowledge of local display rules is necessary for successful "decoding" of a target person's emotions.

Also, people are good at faking facial expressions and other nonverbal cues when they want to mislead

perceivers. Women are better than men at "reading" the valid cues to emotion.

When is person perception most challenging?

Person Perception is the foundation of all social interactions: work, politics, patient-doctor relationship,

romantic attachments, legal decisions, and international diplomacy. Usually it works well, but sometimes

person perception gets very tricky and challenging. Although there could be several instances where person

perception can be demanding, there are particularly two instances where it could be very challenging:

Perceiving baby faces

Detecting lies

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Perceiving baby faces

It becomes very difficult to be objective in case of very attractive characteristics of people with

whom we interact. Similarly for certain people, we feel more sympathetic for example we feel sympathy

toward handicapped. The perception of baby faced people is most tricky. We tend to treat baby faced as

babies, which are considered dependent and fragile. Young of many species can look after themselves after

weeks of their birth, but a human child is dependent for years. Human beings are prepared by their

Evolutionary history to treat baby-faced in the same way as they do with children. Baby faced are

unanimously explained as having large eyes, a small chin, thin eyebrows, and a small nose.

Stability of facial features

Zebrowitz and Montepare (1992) found that the adult's perceivers agreed almost perfectly on which were

the baby-faced persons and which were the more mature-faced persons when they saw photographs of 6

age groups: infants, preschoolers, fifth graders, eighth graders, young adults, and older adults.

People who have baby faces also tend to keep their immature facial features as they move from one age

group to the next. Zebrowitz et al. (1993) showed that the perception about someone having a baby or

mature face was stable over the years. However, women were less likely to retain their baby faces from

high school to their thirties. For both sexes, having a bay face at age 30 did not predict having a baby face

at age 50 though.

Baby faced people may also come to believe they have the traits others assume they have (self-fulfilling

prophecy). Consistent with this, in one study the researchers Berry & Brownlow's (1989) found that baby-

faced women perceived themselves as less likely to carry tasks requiring strength. Baby faced are also

perceived as having some positive traits, e.g., warmth, trustworthy, etc., and this perception is remarkably

stable across cultures. One study showed that baby faced were perceived as weak, naïve, but

interpersonally warm, honest, & dependent by Americans (white, black) and Korean students (Zebrowitz et

al., 1993)

Positive and negative consequences

There are many positive and negative consequences of perceiving baby faced people as this perception will

affect every field of life: media, work, legal system, and interpersonal attractions.

Interpersonal interactions:

It has been found that people behave and speak to baby-faced differently. As people think that children at

younger ages require different treatment because of their cognitive immaturity, they may deal baby-faced in

the same way, like speaking slowly and clearly. In one study, student's teachers taught two complicated

tasks to a preschooler. Some students were shown pictures of baby-faced preschoolers while others saw

those of more mature faces. The telephonic conversation was recorded so that the experimenter could

determine to what extent the student teachers clarified, simplified, tried to get and hold attention, and spoke

slowly. The results showed that the adult teachers were more apt to use baby talk when talking to the baby

faced. (Zebrowitz et al., 1992)

Perception about traits:

Adults may assume that baby-faced are more honest but less intellectually competent. In one study

(Brownlow & Zebrowitz, 1990), videotapes of 150 TV commercials were taken from morning, afternoon

and evening time slots, and it was found that the baby-faced were cast primarily in commercials

emphasizing trust, while mature-faced were shown in commercials emphasizing expertise

Problems in jobs:

Another important consequence of having a baby face occurs when people apply for jobs. Baby-faced

applicants may be at a disadvantage compared to their mature-faced peers when they apply for certain types

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of jobs, most notably higher-status jobs that require leadership. In a study of how facial features might

influence occupational hiring, college students examined resumes that included demographic and academic

details. The examiners attached to each resume a photograph of a person who had either a baby face or

mature face. Both faces were equally attractive. The students made hiring decisions about two jobs at a

children's day care centre: teacher and director. The results showed that the baby-faced were selected more

frequently for teaching job, while the mature-faced were considered appropriate for the post of director

(Zebrowitz et al., 1991). Moreover, women applicants were more likely to be hiding for teacher job and

men for director jobs. These findings indicate that the decision was only based on face, not on the resume.

These results clearly demonstrate that baby-faced individuals may be discriminated against in ways that are

legally prohibited for race and sex.

Double standard of justice:

Research has shown that baby-faced are convicted less for causing intentional harm, but are accused more

for causing negligent harm (Zebrowitz & McDonald, 1991)

Facial maturity and jury decisions

To summarize, baby faced are

perceived differently which affect

Berry et al., 1988

many kinds of interpersonal

interactions. Because babies need

0.9

protection, perceivers assume that

adults who have baby faces also

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have childlike traits. Baby faces are

0.7

easy to identify across cultures and

0.6

across the life span. People who

Mature faced

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defendant

have baby faces are treated as

0.4

Baby faced defendant

though they are warm and

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approachable, but also as though

0.2

they are weak and incompetent.

0.1

Perceivers trust baby faced actors in

television commercials to be honest,

Intentional crime

Negligent crime

hire baby-faced applicants for jobs

that require interpersonal warmth, and treat baby-faced defendants leniently when they are charged

with causing intentional harm. Conversely, perceivers "talk down" to baby faced pupils, avoid choosing

baby faced workers for leadership positions, and consider baby faced defendants likely to have caused

negligent harm.

Detecting Lies

The success or failure of business deals, romantic relationships, international trade, murder trials, depend

importantly on whether perceivers believe that another person is telling the truth. Of all organisms,

however, the most skillful deceiver is the human being who is the acknowledged master of deceit and

speaks lies in love and war and who indulges himself in little white lies. People lie because it is adaptive to

do so, and because people get benefit from it.

Why lying is successful?

Perceivers have a truthfulness bias (Zuckerman et al., 1981).

Most behaviour is accepted uncritically at face value

To doubt a target person's authority often runs the risk of hurting the perceiver's own feelings

Accuracy in judgment

· People, who have access to multiple channels of communication, tend to be more accurate in

judging others' emotions.

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Nonverbal leakage: True emotions tend to "leak" out through nonverbal channels

The body is more likely than the face to reveal deception

Generally, the verbal channel tends to be the most influential.

Lying: The Giveaways

Liars blink more, hesitate more, make more speech errors, speak in higher-pitched voices, and have

more dilated pupils

Tables 1-4 displayed below describe how different forms of clues can be employed to detect lies:

T a b le 1 :C u e s to d e c e p tio n : V e rb a l c u e s

P e rce iv e rs

Is it a v a lid

V e rb a l c u e s

lo o k fo r it

cue?

Yes

N e g a tiv e s ta tem e n ts

Yes

Irre le v a n t s ta tem e n ts

Yes

G e n e ra lizin g

Yes

D istancin g

T a b le 2 : C u e s to d e c e p tio n : V o ca l c u e s

Perceivers

Is it a valid

Vocal cues

look for it

cue?

Hesitation

Yes

Higher pitch

Yes

Speech errors

Yes

Delay before speaking

Yes

Speaking slowly

Yes

Length of speaking

Yes

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Table 3. Cues to deception: Visual Cues

Perceivers

Is it a valid

Visual cues

look for it

cue?

Yes

·Dialated pupils

Yes

·Adaptor behaviour

Yes

·Blinks

Yes

·Shrugs

Yes

·Avoiding eye contact

Yes

·Posture shifts

Yes

·Not smiling

Yes

·Emblems (Prof. accused)

Yes

·Illustrators

Yes

·Manipulators

(People rely usually on wrong ones

Ekman, 1985)

Table 4: Cues to deception:

Miscellaneous cues

Perceivers

Is it a valid

Miscellaneous cues

look for it

cue?

Discrepancies

Yes

Planning time

Yes

Seem rehearsed

Yes

Guilt, heightened emotions:

blinking, shrugging, sweating

Applied Social Psychology Lab

"Always tell the truth. Then you don't have to remember anything" (Mark Twain, 1835-1910)

Paula DePaula's lying figures (1996): In a week a person speaks 10 lies on average; people lie to

one thirds of people they interact

People who are more sociable, manipulative, and concerned about creating favourable self-

impression are more likely to lie.

Analyze yourself that when you lie, how do you conceal it, and what cues you use when you lie in

your everyday life.

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How to detect lie?

One study found that inaccurate judges (30% accuracy or worse) focused on verbal cues, compared

to accurate judges (80% or more) who focused on nonverbal cues (Ekman & Sullivan, 1991)

We are easily deceived when we are involved in discussion

In nonverbal cues, biggest mistake is placing too much emphasis on the face (Ekman et al., 1988)

like on baby or attractive faces.

In one study a sample of female nurses watched disgusting or pleasant short films and they were

instructed to either report their honest feelings about the film or to conceal their feelings. Hidden

video cameras either focused on their faces or their body/behaviour. These tapes were later viewed

by some judges. The results showed that the judges who were focusing on body movement like

fidgeting fingers, shifts of body, etc. were more successful in detecting lies of nurses (Ekman &

Friesen, 1974).

It can be concluded that people lie because they benefit from doing so. Ironically, the more liars have to

gain from lying, the easier they are to detect. Lie detection, however, is far from accurate. Perceivers

rely on cues that are not helpful and ignore cues that would be helpful. One frequently used cue is an

"honest face." Another is expectancy violation. Because expectancies differ from one culture to the next,

lie detection across cultures is very difficult. Within a culture, some people are better than others at

telling and detecting lies.

Readings

Franzoi, S.L. (2006). Social Psychology. New York: McGraw Hill. Chapter 4.

Lord, C.G. (1997). Social Psychology. Orlando: Harcourt Brace and Company. Chapter 3.

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