Perception is the process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting information

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.

Fundamental attribution error, which refers to our tendency to explain others’ behaviors using internal rather than external attributions.

External attributions connect the cause of behaviors to situational factors.

The self‐serving bias is a perceptual error through which we attribute the cause of our successes to internal personal factors while attributing
our failures to external factors beyond our control.

As we perceive others, we make impressions about their personality, likeability, attractiveness, and other characteristics.

“You never get a second chance to make a good impression” points to the fact that first impressions matter.

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.

The recency effect leads us to put more weight on the most recent impression we have of a person’s communication over earlier impressions.

We make first impressions based on a variety of factors, including physical and environmental characteristics.

• 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; 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.

Personality refers to a person’s general way of thinking, feeling, and behaving based on underlying motivations and impulses.

The Big Five Personality Traits

• Extraversion. Refers to a person’s interest in interacting with others.
• Agreeableness. Refers to a person’s level of trustworthiness and friendliness.
• Conscientiousness. Refers to a person’s level of self‐organization and Motivation
• Neuroticism. Refers to a person’s level of negative thoughts regarding himself or herself.
• Openness. Refers to a person’s willingness to consider new ideas and perspectives.

Key Terms

• Perception
  
• Perception Process
• Attribution
  
• Fundamental attribution error
• Self‐serving bias
  
• selective attention
  
• selective distortion
• halo and horn effects
• Personality
• personality traits
• The Big Five Personality Traits
• primacy effect
• recency effect

A PDF of this Perception Study Guide is available for download here.