While we believe that we are fully aware of our thoughts and decisions we are helplessly led by our brains subconscious, this allows us to address our self image as well our perception of others in a matter of seconds without realizing the brain activity occurring. In the text Reflect & Relate (Steven McCornack 2007), Chapter 2 describes the process and elements of self understanding and the components that lead us to this analysis of who we are. Chapter 3 applies the same process into the analysis of others and how people go about interacting and building relationships with other individuals. The film The Automatic Brain (2011) addresses the processes discussed in the text and goes into great detail of how the brain handles and processes …show more content…
Much of our first impression is developed before we even communicate. Our first contact with a person leaves us with a gut feeling about that person, this is an example of a gestalt or a general sense of a person being either positive or negative (McCornack 2007 p87). This first impression is derived from our subconscious analysis of the stranger’s characteristics. On the other hand, we can also preform a conscious analysis of someone using calculating algebraic impressions. In this process we make judgments based on every piece of new information about the individual. Even with the use of algebraic impressions our opinions are influenced by subconscious memories and past experiences that form biased stereotypes that we use to classify others. Stereotypes are used when little is known about an individual, we insert the information engraved in our memory to fill the characteristics that we assume that person has. It is easy to use this process to fill unknown information considering that 91% of what we see is added from our subconscious memory (The Automatic Brain 2011). Although we wish to claim we are unbiased, it is human nature to add information from our subconscious to fill the missing
Mirror neurons have been one of the most exciting neurological discoveries in recent years. Some researchers have even gone as far as comparing the discovery of mirror neurons to DNA. Mirror neurons may be analogous to other human sensory systems and some believe that mirror neurons represent their own unique sensory system. Mirror neurons fire when a person or animal performs certain activities as well as when they watch another perform the same activity (Winerman, 2005). Basically, they allow animals and humans to imitate and possibly even learn from others. While the original studies were conducted in monkeys, recent research has extended the theory to humans and other abilities outside of basic motor movements. In this paper, research on mirror neurons in humans, language, and autism will be summarized. In addition, the limitations on this work will be discussed.
For example, working in a surgical ward, a nurse was discussing with other colleagues about a certain patient who was in the holding bay, talking negatively about her lifestyle choices, when approaching the patient for the first time when arriving into the suite, she refused treatment from any of the nurse staff on the shift as she was upset at the things the nurse had said. First impressions influence people’s judgments of others and their willingness to engage in any further communication (Boc and Franklin, 2013).... ... middle of paper ... ...
“The subtlest and most pervasive of all influences ere those which create and maintain the repertory of stereotypes. We are told about the world before we see it. We imagine most things before we experience them. And those preconceptions, unless education has made us acutely aware, govern deeply the whole process of perception. They mark out certain objects as familiar or strange, emphasizing the difference, so that the slightly familiar is seen as very familiar, and the somewhat strange as sharply alien” (Lippmann
Many people’s assumptions are driven by appearance but in some cases the appearance can be
Assumptions influence our perceptions because when assumptions are made, it is often the case that there is not enough information for the assumptions to be accurate. Dillard gives an example that relates to this in her essay when she says, “[We] see what [we] expect” (Dillard 20). When an assumption is formed about a person or situation, then things that agree with that assumption is what is looked for, so that is what will be perceived. This may create inaccurate impressions. Another problem with making assumptions is that it is assumed that there is consistency to others’ behavior and often the focus on negative things about others. When it is assumed that there is consistency to others’ behavior, it is assumed that after seeing them act one way once or twice, they will always act like that. (Beebe 77). These examples relate to another idea that Dillard talks about in her essay. Dillard says, “Peeping through my keyhole I see within the range of only about thirty percent of light that comes from the sun…” (21). This agrees with an idea that people tend to ignore information when making perceptions and only looking at a small portion of the big picture and make perceptions based off of that. An example that relates to all of these would be if someone expects a person to be rude, then whenever those two people interact, rude behavior will be all that is looked for and all that is given any thought. People often form perceptions off of assumptions and small pieces of the big picture which oftentimes makes those perceptions that a person might have
According to Devine (1989), automatic processing involves the unconscious retrieval of obtained associations that develop through memory repetition; this process links with stimulus cues in the environment. The intense nature of automaticity is that an individual cannot escape or try to ignore the process (Devine, 1989). People build and enforce stereotypes through this automatic process and have no conscious control of memory retrievals. Human bodies take a lot of effort to function, but automatic processing requires little effort. People, therefore, mostly rely on automatic thinking, rather than controlled. This is why some researchers argue that automatic processing is why stereotyping is inevitable; because automaticity is easier, it does not mean controlled thinking cannot disband stereotypes (Devine, 1989). Controlled thinking is intentional and requires active participation of an individual. This proce...
The first impression you have when meeting someone is their appearance, which makes it easy to judge people based on how they
Individuals’ mechanical systems for evaluating the world developed over the course of evolutionary history. Such mental operations provide tools for understanding the circumstances, assessing the important concepts, and heartening behavior without having to think or actually thinking at all. These automated preferences are called implicit attitudes.
There have been many experiments done on depth of processing and the self reference effect. The Depth of Processing model of memory maintains that how deep something is encoded into a person's memory depends on using certain types of processing. This relates to the self reference effect because it is believed that people have the tendency to remember something better when they can relate it to themselves. People who can personally relate to something have the tendency to embed it deeper into their memory.
With regards to human behavior, studies show that social perceptions are formed as a mixture of experience and expectations of how a individuals defining physical or overriding characteristics will impact how we imagine that person to be for instance through their ethnicity, nationality, religion, class or if they are living with a disability. These assumptions are often deep-rooted and formed in childhood.
According to Baron, Byrne & Suls in their book Attitudes: Evaluating the social world. (1989) they defined the term Social Psychology as “the scientific field that seeks to understand the nature and causes of individual behavior in social situations”. (p. 6). There are many concepts of social perception, two of these that will be looked at in this essay are Implicit Personality Theory and stereotypes. Implicit personality theory describes the beliefs, biases and assumptions, that an individual uses when he or she forms impressions on a stranger based on limited information. The way we form impressions and the different conclusions we make about other people based upon our individual impressions is also part of this theory. One of the first people to investigate how people form impressions was Solomon Asch in the 1940’s in his experiment ‘Forming Impressions of Personality' he was interested in how people form impressions and if certain traits affected peoples impressions. A good example of Implicit personality theory is if someone who is considered unpredictable they may be considered dangerous. The second Concept of Social Psychology that will be considered is stereotypes. Cardwell (1996) described stereotypes as “...A fixed, over generalized belief about a particular group or class of people.” may have beliefs and thoughts on different social groups and individual people and how they should act, and believe that all people in that group conform and have the same characteristics as the rest. By using stereotypes, it helps us simplify how we think of the social world as having a stereotype reduces our thinking process when we meet new people. An example of stereotyping is saying that all French people wear berets and have garlic a...
Taylor, Pepau, & Sears (2000) explain that first impressions are extremely important because they are the initial idea that an individual forms about another individual and determine whether they decide to pursue any type of relationship. People tend to form impressions of each other relatively quickly and use minimal information such as the gender of the o...
Everyday people use social cognition as a tool to help them thrive in social world. There are many important aspects of social cognition that are helpful to us in making decisions and help us to interpret the world around us. An important aspect that is linked to social cognition is that of thought suppression. Thought suppression is when a person tries to force particular thoughts, memories or feelings out of their minds that may be unpleasant or may cause a great deal of stress for the individual. Many people are unaware how often we use thought suppression in our daily lives, but the truth is we use it in almost every aspect of our day.
Why is one man sad and another man happy? Why is one man fearful and anxious and another full of faith and confidence? Why is one man a great success and other an abject failure? Why is one man healed of so called disease and another isn’t?
First impressions are very important to your every day life. They are the basis of how relationships start and how you are seen by other people. People, based on first impressions, form opinions. The opinions could begin many things and lead towards success or these opinions could be ones that are misleading and have a negative impact on how people relate to you. First impression are very important on people’s social life, in your education and in employment. In your social life, first impressions come from your friends, family, and even new people who come into your life. First impressions for your education consists of your teachers or classmates when you are taking a class. First impressions on employment go from your current co-workers, boss, and former employers. The are very significant in job interviews. First impressions are important, but are not always the final word.