Social perception involves forming impressions of and making inferences about other people based on verbal and nonverbal cues. This document outlines several key aspects of social perception, including nonverbal communication cues like facial expressions, eye contact, gestures, and body language. It discusses how these cues are used in social competence and forming impressions. Specific nonverbal channels covered include facial expressions, eye contact, gestures including emblems, illustrators, and adaptors, and body movements and postures. Culture can influence the expression and interpretation of emotional cues. Being able to accurately perceive and understand social cues is an important part of social interaction and competence.

1. Social Perception
Perceiving and Understanding Others
Lesson 004
Part I

2. • Introduction
• Definition Of Social Perception
• Social Competence
• Aspects Of Social Perception
A. Non-Verbal Communication
B. Attribution
C. Impression formation and
Impression management
A. Non verbal Communication
• Definition
• Uses Of Non-Verbal
Communication/Behavior
• The Basic Channels
i. Facial expressions
– Affect blend
– Culture influences emotional
expression
ii. Eye contact
– Staring
iii. Body movements
iv. Gestures
– Emblems
– Illustrators
– Adaptors
v. Haptics
– Importance of Haptic
vi. Paralinguistics
vii. Proxemics
• Deception
• Why do people lie?
• Channels to identify Deception
i. Micro expression
ii. Inter-channel discrepancies
iii. Eye contact
iv. Exaggerated facial expressions
v. Linguistic style

4. Introduction
• Social psychology incorporates the study of attitudes and
perceptions, persuasion, and typical behaviors of people in their
relationships with others.
• Social psychology is the discipline that deals with a scientific
analysis of human behavior.
• Social cognition is a mental process by which we:
attend to,
store,
remember,
and use information about other people and the social world.
• In this unit you will be studying about the mental process called
social perception which is one aspect of social cognition.

5. • It is a well documented fact that human beings are:
– social animals whose survival is depending on their ability to
interact with others.
• When humans roam through the social setting, they are
constantly bombarded with variety of information through the
various senses.
• Naturally, human beings are inclined to knowing about others’
personalities which enables them to deal with them.
• We spend a lot of time and energy thinking about:
– other people
– and their behavior ----because doing so helps us understand
and predict our social world.

6. • As we spend a lot of time thinking about others--- trying to understand
– why they do?
– What they do?
– Whether they mean what they say?
– Because we all have fundamental interest with explaining other
people’s behavior
• Unfortunately, we cannot read other people’s minds
• Reasons people behave as they do---- are usually hidden from us.
• To know the reasons behind their acts/behaviour -----we go for
observable behavior, that is,
– What people do?
– What they say?
– Their facial expressions
– Gestures, and
– Tone of voice

7. Definition of Social Perception
• Social perception and cognition are mental processes that help us
to collect and remember information about others, and to make
inferences and judgments based on that information.
• Social perception is, that part of perception that allows us to
understand the individuals and groups of our social world, and
thus is an element of social cognition.
• Social perception is defined as the study of how we form
impressions of and make inferences about other people.
• “Social perception is the process through which we seek to know
and understand other people.”
• In order to know about other people, we depend on information
gained from:
– their physical appearance,
– and verbal and nonverbal communication.

8. Social Competence
• Social perception is one important component of “social
competence” and successful social life.
• Social competence is defined as the ability to handle social
interactions effectively.
• In other words, social competence refers to getting along well with
others, being able to form and maintain close relationships, and
responding in adaptive ways in social settings.
• Being competent in social perception includes three domains of
competence:
1. knowing that other people have thoughts, beliefs, emotions,
intentions, desires, and the like,
2. being able to “read” other people’s inner states based on their
words, behavior, facial expression and the like, and
3. adjusting one’s actions based on those “readings”.

9. • That is, a socially competent person can make note of other
people’s
 facial expressions,
 tone of voice,
 posture,
 gestures,
 words,
 and the like,
and on the basis of these clues, make reasonably accurate
judgments about that person’s state of mind, emotions, and
intentions.
• Socially competent people then use these inferences about
other people’s inner states--- to make good decisions about
how to behave socially.

10. Aspects Of Social Perception
Here three aspects are focused:
A. Non-verbal communication
B. Attributions
C. Impression Formation & management

11. A. Non-verbal Communication
• “The way in which people communicate intentionally or
unintentionally without words.”
• “Communication between individuals that does not involve the
content of spoken language.”
• Non-verbal communication is also called “non-verbal behavior”.
• Nonverbal communication takes place in every social setting.
• It makes up a significant portion of our communicative
experience.
• Much research has been undertaken in recent years to analyze
different kinds of nonverbal communication.

12. Uses Of Non-verbal Communication/Behavior
• Non-verbal communication is used to:
– Express emotions
– Convey attitudes
– Communicate personality traits, and
– To facilitate verbal communication

13. The Basic Channels of Non-verbal Communication
Research findings indicate the following basic
channels of non-verbal communication. These are:
i. Facial expressions
ii. Eye contact
iii. Body movements
iv. Gestures
v. Haptics
vi. Paralinguistics
vii. Proxemics

14. i. Facial Expressions
• This makes up the largest proportion of nonverbal communication. Large
amounts of information can be conveyed through a smile or frown.
• The facial expressions for happiness, sadness, anger, and fear are similar
across cultures throughout the world.
• Facial expressions reveal current moods or feelings.
• It is said “Face is the image of the soul”, means human feelings and
emotions are reflected in the face and can be read in specific expression.
• To learn a great deal about others, current moods and feelings can be
from their facial expressions.
• Six major emotions are represented clearly on the face:
– Anger
– Fear
– Sadness
– Happiness
– Surprise, and
– Disgust

15. Facial expressions (Cont’d)
 Affect Blend
• Facial expressions maybe sometimes hard to interpret accurately
because people may display blends of multiple affect simultaneously,
that is, emotions occur in many combinations called as “Affect blend”.
 Affect Blend Definition:
• Affect blend means a facial expression in which one part of the face
registers one emotion and other part of the face registers a different
emotion.
For example:
 joy together with sorrow,
 fear combined anger, etc.
• Research findings indicate that other people’s facial expressions are
useful guide to their feelings.
• Thus, we rely on such information (facial expressions) as a basis for
forming accurate perceptions of others or at least perceptions of how
they are feeling at the given moment.

16. Facial expressions (Cont’d)
 Culture Influences Emotional Expression
• Paul Ekman and his colleagues have studied the influence of
culture on the facial display of emotions.
• They have concluded that display rules are particular to each
culture and dictate what kinds of emotional expressions people
are supposed to show.
 Display Rules: Display rules are unique to each culture which
dictate when different non-verbal behaviors are appropriate to
display.
 Display rules are norms that tell people whether, which, how, and
when emotions should be displayed.

17. For Example:

18. ii. Eye Contact (Gazes And Stares)
• Eye contact between two people is a powerful act of
communication and may show:
– interest, affection or dominance.
• Eye contact, that is, gazes and stares are also powerful non-verbal
cues.
• It also indicates positive feelings except staring.
• Have you ever had a conversation with someone wearing dark or
mirrored sunglasses?
• If so, you realize this is uncomfortable situation because you
cannot see the other person’s eyes. You are uncertain how he/she
is reacting.
• Taking eyes as an important cue, ancient poets describe eyes as
“Windows to the soul.”
• We often learn about other’s feelings from their eyes.

19. Eye Contact (Cont’d)
For example:
• we interpret a high level of gazing from another person as a sign
of liking or friendliness like our loved ones gaze at us (for example
mother).
• In contrast, if others avoid eye contact with us we may conclude
that they are unfriendly, don’t like us or simply shy.
 Staring:
• There is an exception to the rule of gazing called “Staring”.
• Staring is a form of eye contact in which the person continues to
gaze steadily at another, regardless of what the recipient does.
• A stare is often interpreted (perceived) as a sign of anger or
hostility as in cold stare.
• This is mostly disturbing cue.
• In fact, we quickly terminate social interaction with someone who
stares at us and may even leave the scene.

20. iii. Body Movement (Postures, & positions)
• Try this simple demonstration for yourself.
• First; Remember some incident that made you angry, the angrier the
better. Think about it for a moment. Now try to remember another
incident, one that made you feel sad. Again, the sadder the better.
Compare your behavior in these two contexts.
• Did you change your postures or movement of your hands, arms or legs
as your thoughts shifted from the first event to the second?
• There is a good chance that you did -----because our current moods or
emotions are often reflected---- in the position, posture and movement
of our bodies.
• Consider how your perceptions of other people are affected by the way
they sit, walk, stand up, or hold their head.
• This type of nonverbal communication includes posture, position, and
indirect movements.
• Body movements, postures and positions often reveals other’s emotional
states.
• “Study of body movement and expression is kinesics”

21. Body movements (Cont’d)
• Larger patterns of movements involving the whole body can also be
informative ---such phrases as:
– “she adopted a threatening posture”
– and “he greeted her with open arms.”
• These phrases suggests that different body orientations or postures
indicate distinct emotional states.
• Emotions can also be detected through body postures.
• Research findings indicate that large scale of body movements or
postures can provide important information about other’s:
– emotions
– and their apparent traits.
• Posture: used to determine
– degree of attention or involvement,
– the difference in status between communicators,
– the level of fondness a person has for the other communicator.

22. • Research has shown that body postures are more accurately
recognised when an emotion is compared with a different or
neutral emotion.
For example:
 a person feeling angry would portray dominance over the other,
and their posture would display approach tendencies.
 Comparing this to a person feeling fearful: they would feel weak,
submissive and their posture would display avoidance
tendencies, the opposite of an angry person.
• Sitting or standing postures also indicate one’s emotions.
For Example:
 A person sitting till the back of their chair, leans forward with their
head nodding along with the discussion implies that they are
open, relaxed and generally ready to listen.
 On the other hand, a person who has their legs and arms crossed
with the foot kicking slightly implies that they are feeling
impatient and emotionally detached from the discussion.

23. For Example
 In a standing discussion, a person stands with arms akimbo with
feet pointed towards the speaker could suggest that they are
attentive and is interested in the conversation.
• However, a small difference in this posture could mean a
lot. Standing with arms akimbo is considered rude in Bali.

27. iv. Gestures
• Gestures are a form of nonverbal communication in which visible
bodily actions are used to communicate important messages.
• Gestures are the movements of the hands we use to help
communicate our thoughts.
• More specific information about other’s feelings is often provided
by gestures.
Types of Gestures:
a. Emblems
b. Illustrators
c. Adaptors

28. a. Emblems
• Emblems are non-verbal gestures that have well-understood
definitions within a given culture.
• Emblems are used intentionally.
• Emblems are not universal. Be wary of emblems, they may mean
something different in a different culture.
• Each culture has devised its own emblems and it’s not necessary
for people from other cultures to understand
For Example:
Nodding The Head
In U.S., nodding one’s head up and down means “yes” and
shaking it from side to side means “no”.
In some parts of Africa and India, nodding up and down means
“no” and shaking it to and fro means “yes”.
In Korea, shaking one’s head from side to side means “I don’t
know”.
In U.S., it is communicated by the shrug of the shoulders.

29. Humans have uniquely expressive hands.
For example:
• Apology hand gesture is a Hindu custom to apologize in the form of a hand
gesture.
• “Ok” sign, “victory” sign. They have direct verbal translations...
• We beckon with are index finger to mean “come here.”
• We use an open hand held up to mean “stop.”
• They have a clear, consistent meaning within a particular culture
 Cross my heart
 Peace sign
 I’m crazy

30. Example:
• In the United States, a thumbs-up can mean “I need a ride” or
“OK!”
• In much of the world today, the thumbs up means, "O.K.", "Right
On!", or "I like this”
• But in Iran, Afghanistan, Nigeria and parts of Italy and Greece.. it
is an indecent insult.
Need a ride Right on

31. b. Illustrators
• ILLUSTRATORS accompany and literally 'illustrate' verbal
messages.
• Illustrators are movements that complement verbal
communication by describing or emphasizing or reinforcing what
the speaker is saying
• Illustrators are used intentionally.
• Illustrators are tied to speech.
• Illustrators are most common in face-to-face interaction
• Illustrators are so habitual, people use them when talking on the
phone (Think about how you still gesture when having
conversation on the phone even though the other person can’t
see you).

32. For Example:
• People use illustrators to indicate the size of an object
• or to draw a picture in the air
• or to emphasize a key word in what they are saying.
• These might include:
– pointing to an object in the room
– or pounding on the table.
• The frequency of use of illustrators may vary by culture, but
they are used widely.
• we are never explicitly taught how to use illustrative gestures,
we do it automatically.
• Use of illustrators can help indicate interest, efforts to be clear
or enthusiasm for the topic being discussed.

33. Illustrators (Cont’d)
For example
 Just a pinch
 Hitting one’s fist for emphasis
 A double head nod
 Pointing when giving directions
 I caught a fish this big.
 After you
Taking it to heart
Pointing with the index finger
"I don't know, leave me alone"

34. c. Adaptors
• Adaptors are behavioral response to certain situations.
• Adaptors are being defined as unintentional and lacking awareness of
the individual performing them.
• Adapters signal nervousness, anxiousness, boredom
• Can be targeted towards self, or object,
• Used to relieve tension (stress) and believed to be associated with
negative feeling.
• The role of such actions is to:
– make us more comfortable,
– release excess energy,
– pacify nervousness
– or shift weight to change posture.
• That’s why they’re called adaptors - they adapt our body to a more
adjusted and comfortable state.
• Adaptors are very honest channel of information, although many times
also very useless.

35. Adaptors include movements such as:
 shifting in a chair or postural
changes,
 crossing the legs,
 shake our legs,
during classes, meetings, or while
waiting as a way to do something with
our excess energy.
Self Adaptors includes:
 Playing with one’s hair(twirling
hair),
 Chewing one’s fingernails (biting
fingernails)
 Tapping one’s foot or leg
 Biting one’s lips
 Scratching one’s arm(Scratching)
 Tightening one’s jaw
Object adaptor includes:
 Tapping a pencil
 Drumming one’s fingers
 Adjusting one’s clothing
 Playing with jewelry
 pulling at a shirt collar,
 adjusting a tie,
 Loosening clothing
 click pens,
 adjusting uncomfortable glasses
 or engage in other adaptors
 Smartphones have become
common object adaptors, as people
can fiddle (play) with their phones
to help ease anxiety.

36. Tapping pencil
Drumming ones fingers

37. Pulling ear lobes is elf
adaptor

38. v. Haptics
• Haptic communication is a branch of nonverbal
communication that refers to:
– the ways in which people communicate and interact via the
sense of touch (i.e. communicating through touch).
• Touch is one of our five senses, but, every touch has a different
kind of meaning to it, when nonverbally communicating – its
something you need to know.
Importance of Haptics:
• Communication in relationship is incomplete without touch just
like an eye contact or smile.
• In fact, touch can establish, repair or even ruin a relationship.
• Touch has very crucial importance to express feelings for other
person - from formal to intimate.
• Touch can break boundaries and tie two persons into close
relationship

39. Haptics (Cont’d)
• Suppose that during a brief conversation with another person,
he/she touched you briefly, how would you react?
• What information would this behavior convey?
• The answer to both the questions is “It depends” and what is
depends on is several factors relating to:
– Who does the touching? (A friend, a stranger, or a member of
your own or the other gender).
– The nature of this physical contact. (Brief or prolonged, gentle or
rough, what part of the body is touched), and
– The context in which touching takes place. (A business or social
setting, a doctor’s office).
• Depending on such three factors, five major areas of touch can
suggest:
– Affection (Affectionate touch)
– Caregiving (caring touch)
– Dominance (Power & Control touch)
– aggression (Aggressive touch)
– Ritualistic touch (customary touch)

40. For example:
• Culture is very important in touch…
• USA: handshake is common (even for strangers), hugs, cheek
kisses for those of opposite gender or of family (usually).
(Ritualistic touch)
• Islamic: typically don’t touch with the left hand. Mannerly in
Muslim to break your bread only with your right hand.
• Islamic: cultures generally don’t approve of any touching
between opposite genders, but consider such touching
between same-gender to be appropriate.
• Hindu: Showing respect to elders by touching their feet is
positively viewed by most Indians. (Ritualistic Touch)
• The notion of “seva” by young married women in the family to
the older women largely involves touching, that is, massaging
the feet, attending to personal care and so on.

41. • Handshakes (Ritualistic touch) reveal much about other people,
• For instance:
 their personalities
 and that a firm handshake is a good way to make a favorable
first impression on others.
• The firmer, longer and more vigorous other’s handshakes are, the
higher we tend to rate them in terms of extraversion and openness to
experience and our first impressions of them tends to be more
favorable.
• However, handshaking is more customary for men than women in India.
• In sum, we use this particular kind of touching:
 as a basis for forming social perceptions of others.
• A firm handshake is a valuable asset, at least, in cultures in which
handshakes are used for greetings and departures.
• Non-verbal behavior gives us many information that we can use to
construct our own overall impression or theories about people.
• We can learn a lot about people from their non-verbal behavior, that is,
their attitudes, emotions and personality traits.

42. vi. Paralinguistics
• Language deals with ‘what is said’
• Paralanguage deals with ’how it is
said’
• It is a type of non-verbal
communication (non-verbal clues
of the voice) which includes –
articulation, pronunciation,
volume, pitch, rate and other
vocal qualities.
• This includes factors such as:
— Loudness (Volume of voice)
 Loudness or softness of the
voice( whispering or aloud)
 Slow volume---shyness/lack of
confidence
 High volume---lack of manners
— tone of voice,
 Feelings added while speaking
(attitude of the speaker)
 tone can be sarcastic,
aggressive, critical, nervous,
disappointed, friendly,
enthusiastic, intense or
persuasive
— Pitch(frequency)
 highness or lowness of voice
 Vary your pitch to establish
and reinforce your message.
— Accent/dialect
 pronunciation

43. • Tone of voice can be powerful.
• The same sentence said in different tones can convey different
messages.
• A strong tone of voice may indicate approval or enthusiasm,
whereas ,
• the same sentence said with a hesitant tone of voice may convey
disapproval or lack of interest.
• Vocal Behaviors such as pitch, variation, volume, rate, filler words,
pronunciation, accent, and silence, often reveal considerable
information about others.

44. vii. Proxemics
• Proxemics, or personal space, refers to the space an individual maintains
around him or herself.
• Basically, proxemics is the study of space and how we use it, how it makes
us feel more or less comfortable.
• Edward T. Hall, the cultural anthropologist who coined this term in 1963.
The Hidden Dimension, Hall emphasized the impact of proxemics behavior
(the use of space) on interpersonal communication.
• Proxemics remains a hidden component of interpersonal communication
that is discovered through observation and strongly influenced by culture.
Types of Proxemics
• Intimate Space: embracing, touching or whispering.
• Personal Space: interaction between good friends, family members, etc.
• Social Space: for interactions among acquaintances.
• Public Space: for public speaking
• The distance may vary based on cultural norms and the type of relationship
existing between the parties.

45. • Spatial Proximity is Dependent on :
 the person's cultural background,
 emotional state
 and the activity in which he or she is participating
 Religion
 Gender
• It's important to note that this can vary culturally. These are the
standards we generally find in the United States.
• But this might not be the case everywhere.
• It might be considered rude to stand too close to someone in one
place/culture but not another.
• It might be very common to touch someone's arm or shoulder while
talking in one place/culture, but this could be considered rude in
other places.
• In one country, you might greet someone with a kiss on the cheek,
and in other places this might be considered too intimate.

46.  People in the U.S. tend to need more space than do persons of
other cultures.
• U.S. persons back away when people stand too close.
• Standing too close is interpreted as being pushy or bossy.
 U.S. people need more space than do Greeks, Latin Americans,
or Arabs.
 The Japanese stand even farther away than do U.S. persons.

48. Intimate Distance Personal Distance
Social Distance Public Distance

50. Deception
• Recognizing Deception Through Non-verbal
Cues And Its Effect On Social Relations

51. Deception
• Deception, sometimes referred to as lying or tricking someone, is
an unfortunate reality in most environments and relationships in
life.
• Deception is extensive in the workplace, home and in social
situations.
– Spouses deceive.
– Children lie.
– Friends are deceitful behind our backs.
• Lies are common in interpersonal communication.
• In short, lying is too common part of social life.

52. Why do People Lie?
– For personal gain,
– to avoid negative consequences,
– to avoid being humiliated,
– To avoid tension/conflict
– to make oneself appear better in certain circumstances
– To avoid hurting other’s feelings.
– To hide (one’s own) real feelings or reactions.
– To avoid punishments for misdeeds (to save yourself from
punishments for your misdeeds).... and the list goes on.
• It is important for people to learn ----how to identify the
nonverbal cues that accompany deceptive behaviors or
statements.

53. Non-verbal Cues/Channels to identify
Deception
The following information helps us to identify the deception:
i. Micro expression
ii. Inter-channel discrepancies
iii. Eye contact
iv. Exaggerated facial expressions
v. Linguistic style

54. i. Micro expressions
• Fleeting facial expressions lasting only a few tenths of a second
are called micro-expressions.
• Micro expressions can occur when a person attempts to hide an
emotion.
• This is true if the attempted concealment is intentional
(suppression) or unintentional (repression).
• The micro-expression “leaks” (reveals) information about the
emotion the person is attempting to conceal.
For example:
• If you ask another person whether they like something that you
purchased, watch their faces closely as they respond.
• If you see one expression, for example, a frown, followed quickly
by another, a smile, this can be a sign that they are lying.
• They are stating one opinion or reaction, when in fact, they really
have another.

55. ii. Inter-channel Discrepancies
• Another non-verbal cue revealing of deception is known as inter-
channel discrepancies.
• The term “channel” refers to type of non-verbal cues, that is:
– facial expressions are one channel,
– body movements are another,
– eye contact is third channel and so on.
• There is consistency between these channels.
• People who are lying find it difficult to control all channels at once.
For example
• Liars may manage their facial expressions but may not look into the eye
(eye contact).
• A person who is properly controlling their facial expressions (hiding
deception) but are not looking you in the eyes (which signifies
deception). The inconsistency of inter-channel discrepancies signify that
deception is occurring.

56. iii. Eye Contact
• Deception is often revealed through eye contact.
– People who are lying often blink more
– and show pupils that are more dilated than people
who are telling the truth.
– Deceptors/liars may show low level of eye contact
– or surprisingly/unusually high level of eye contact as
they attempt to fake being truthful.

57. iv. Exaggerated Facial Expressions
• Deceptors/Liars may show exaggerated or
melodramatic facial expressions or emotions.
– They may smile more than usual
– or may show greater sorrow than usual.

58. v. Linguistic Style
• When people are lying the pitch of their voices often rises showing
they are highly motivated to lie.
– They often take longer to begin
– or to respond to a question
– or describe events.
• In other words, people’s linguistic style can be revealing of
deception.
• In sum, through non-verbal cues and other aspects of how people
speak ----
– we can often tell when others are lying
– or trying to hide their feelings from us.
• Some people are skillful liars.
• So benefits of hiring and training such people who can identify
deceptors shall be placed at airports or other locations to identify
terrorists or culprits.

59. Effect Of Deception On Social Relations
• Deception is an all-too-common aspect of social life, what are its
effects?
• Effects of deceptions are largely negative on social relations.
• Research findings indicate that lying weakens the quality of social
relations.
• Once it(lying/deception) begins in a relationship or group, it is
difficult to reverse, and the result may be a serious decline in
mutual trust and faith.
• When people know they have been lied, they react with mistrust
and disliking towards the liar.