Consider how often you make this kind of judgment every day.
When you meet with a new co-worker, you begin to develop an initial impression of this person.
Person perception allows us to make snap judgments anddecisionsbut can lead to biased or stereotyped perceptions of others.
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Let’s take a closer look at how person perception works and its impact on our daily interactions.
We frequently base our impressions on the roles and social norms we expect from people.
Physical Cues
Physical cues can also play an important role.
Salience
The salience of the information we perceive is also important.
Generally, we tend to focus on the most obvious points rather than noting background information.
The more novel or obvious a factor is, the more likely we are to focus on it.
In this process, we mentally categorize people into different groups based on common characteristics.
Sometimes, this process occurs consciously, but for the most part, social categorizations happen automatically and unconsciously.
The most common social categories are age, gender, occupation, and race.
Realistically, you simply do not have time to get to know every person you come into contact with.
Unfortunately, this can also lead to errors, as well as to stereotyping or evenprejudice.
Imagine that you are getting on a bus.
There are only two seats available.
While social categorization can be useful at times, it can also lead to these kinds of misjudgments.
As with social categorization, implicitpersonality theorieshelp people make judgments quickly but can also contribute to stereotyping and errors.
Two common tactics that can influence how we perceive others include social categorization and our own implicit personality theories.
1996;71(2):230244. doi:10.1037//0022-3514.71.2.230
