Blog #3-Spotlight Effect

This example is a little middle-school corny, but here it goes. :)

The spotlight effect is the tendency for individuals to overestimate the degree to which others notice them (Gilovich & Savitsky, 1999). That is, people are egocentrically biased, or focused on themselves, and tend to believe that they somehow standout more to others than they actually do (Gilovich & Savitsky, 1999).  

My hair is naturally wavy and very frizzy; most days it takes at least blow-drying if not straightening to make it look halfway decent. It sounds silly, but I remember clearly the day in the eighth-grade that I discovered the magic of a hair-straightener. Apparently I was the only one to notice. I was a little nervous after getting up early to make my newly straightened hair just perfect for school because I was absolutely positive that people would notice. I remember being nervous when I first arrived at school and excited to get to my first class where I knew people would be looking at my new hair. Although a few friends of mine thought my hair looked nice that day, it was definitely not the enthusiastic response that my eight-grade mind was expecting. I think that I honestly thought that a spotlight would be on me that day. :)

I still fall pray to the spotlight effect, but after talking to some of my friends about it this week I feel that I'm not alone. To just see what would happen, I randomly told one of my friends (who looked exactly the same way she does everyday) that she looked different to see what she would say. She told me that she was waiting when I would bring up the fact that her new makeup looked a little much. It is always kind of funny when a friend remarks about how their hair looks that day or how their face is broken out and you look up realizing that you would never have noticed.  

Gilovich, T. & Savitsky, K. (1999). The spotlight effect and the illusion of transparency: Egocentric assessments of how we are seen by others. American Psychological Society, 8, 165-168. 

Blog #2 FAE

The fundamental attribution error occurs when an individual attributes another's behavior to their traits and personality rather than taking the situation into account (Ross, 1977). I know that I have made the fundamental attribution error several times, but the time that stands out most in my mind was the day that I met my best-friend. I had just moved to Texas and was visiting a church for the first time. It was a very small congregation and my family was immediately greeted by the pastor and his youngest daughter, Becca. Once she heard that I was new in town, Becca grabbed my arm, led me to a bench, and assaulted me with tons of questions. All of her questions and her overly bubbly personality immediately led me to believe that she was too perky and intrusive for us to ever be friends. I never paid her much attention after that and focused my attention on meeting other people and finding friends that better matched my personality. My family continued to attend that church and Becca and I were weekly church friends, but it wasn't until much later (I'm talking three years later) that we became best-friends. It was during a summer camp that I was able to sit down and spend some real quality time with her; we have been best-friends ever since. I found out later that it was her job in the youth group to take new people aside, get to know them, and then fill out a card with all of their information. My impression of her being perky and bubble was not entirely incorrect because her being an open and friendly person made her perfect for the job. I had just made some wrong assumptions and never bothered to get to know her after that. 

Ross, L. (1977). The intuitive psychologist and his shortcomings: Distortions in the attribution process. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 10, pp. 174-221). New York: Academic Press. 

Blog #1-Impressions Based on Physical Appearances

First impressions are often formed or influenced by the physical appearances of the individuals being perceived. Zebrowitz and Montepare (2005) concluded from their social perception studies of the human face that having a baby-face, or less mature features, can have a significant effect on the perceptions individuals. In addition, individuals with less mature features are perceived as being kind, naive, and weak than individuals with mature features (Berry & Zebrowitz-McArthur, 1986). Normally, people guess that I am still in high school and are surprised to find that I am in fact old enough to attend college. As an example, one of my friends (who also happens to have a baby-face) and I decided to drive to Florida last summer to visit my grandparents and go to Disney World. We stopped at a hotel after our first day of driving and as soon as the mid-thirties desk clerk took a look at me when I told her we would like to check-in, she called me honey and asked me where my parents were. Apparently it is against hotel policies to have individuals under 16 stay without parental supervision. Kind of annoyed after an eight-hour drive, I told her that I didn't know where my parents were and asked her where hers were. Once she confirmed from my driver's license that I was 20 and not 13 like she originally thought, she gave us our room key. Still not entirely over the fact that my friend and I are able to take care of ourselves, she continued to exclaim how young and innocent we looked and kept offering to give us tips on how to care for ourselves while traveling.

Having individuals form impressions of me based on the way that I look and the age that they think I am is nothing new for me. I am constantly called honey or sweetie by stewardesses and waitresses, I often receive unnecessary help at airports when traveling alone (I was once told by an older gentleman on a plane that I was just too young and fragile to be traveling alone), and I am consistently asked to work as a babysitter for church activities rather than running an event. After reading our textbook and articles I plan to be more aware of the self-fulfilling prophecy. That is, I plan to be more aware of the way that I react to the expectations that people have of me (in my case being naive and weak) so that I do not confirm their impressions and make their expectations a reality (Rosenthal & Jacobson, 1986).

Berry, D. S., & Zebrowitz-McArthur, L. (1986). Perceiving character in faces: The impact of age- related craniofacial changes in social perception. Psychological Bulletin, 100, 3-18. 

Rosenthal, R. & Lenore, J. F. (1968). Teacher expectation for the disadvantaged. Scientific American, 218, 3-9.

Zebrowitz, L. A., & Montepare, J. M. (2005). Appearance DOES Matter. Science, 308, 1565- 1566.