The Science Behind Person Perception

Person perception describes how we as humans curate judgements on others. Although impressions are useful for quick analysis of people, it can often lead to biased perceptions of people based on very little evidence to back up these claims.

There are lots of factors which mold these impressions, including context of the situation, past experiences and personal bias. So how exactly do we make these impressions in the first place?

One of the methods is social categorization, which is when we group people into social categories unconsciously, such as age, race, class and occupation. Another method used in person perception are implicit personality theories. When we see that one person displays a certain character trait, through implicit personality theories we associate similar traits with them also.

Realistically, we are not able to form thorough evaluations of everyone we come into contact with, so methods such as social categorization and implicit personality theories are very useful methods to hone. However, we must be keenly aware of how we use these implementations of impression making, as it can lead to enforcing stereotypes, which can lead to many false judgements and unconscious bias.

Furthermore, person perception has an effect on our identity as individuals. A major chunk of our identity comes from how we categorize ourselves. Most often than not, those whom we observe parallels within our own traits with, we label in a more positive light, because we relate with them subconsciously.

We can see this applied with the Social Identity Theory, which states that social identity is a compilation of the groups in which the individual is a part of. This is because we as humans want a sense of belonging, hence why we categorize ourselves and others into social groups, separating “them” from “us”. Unfortunately, although there are many positives to this mode of thinking, this further reinforces the reliance of stereotyping and biases in evaluating others.

All in all, we cannot control our unconscious psyche. Instead, we just must attempt to evaluate ourselves and our thought processes in order to reduce these implicit biases which can lead to misjudgments and missed opportunities.

Picture Source: midlandsenterpriseuniversities.co.uk