We notice physical experiences, such as fatigue, body aches, and congestion, and perceive that we are ill.
We notice environmental experiences, such as cold air, wind, and rain, and we perceive that a storm is underway.
When we apply the same process to people and relationships, we engage in interpersonal perception, which helps us to make meaning about people from our own and others' behavior.
1. Physical constructs- emphasize people's appearance, causing us to notice objective characteristics such as height, age, ethnicity, and body shape, as well as subjective characteristics such as physical attractiveness.
2. Role constructs- emphasize people's social or professional position, so we notice that a person is a teacher, an accountant, a father, and so on.
3. Interaction constructs- emphasize people's behavior, so we notice that a person is outgoing, aggressive, shy, or considerate.
4. Psychological constructs- emphasize people's thoughts and feelings, causing us to notice that a person is angry, self-assured, insecure, or carefree.
Whichever constructs we notice about people (we may notice more than one), the process of organization helps us determine the ways in which various pieces of information we select for attention are related to one another (little league softball coach and 3 children)
primacy effect the tendency to emphasize the first impression over later impressions when forming a perception.
first impressions are critical because
they set the tone for all future interactions, more than the second, third, fourth impression do.
person described as "intelligent, industrious, impulsive, critical, stubborn, and envious" was evaluated more favorably than one described as "envious, stubborn, critical, impulsive, industrious, and intelligent
recency effect: the tendency to emphasize the most recent over earlier impressions when forming a perception.