ABSTRACT
Social (or person) perception refers to the perception of people (as opposed to physical objects – see Figure 8.1). The focus of this chapter is on interpersonal perception or ordinary personology, the process by which ‘ordinary people come to know about each other’s temporary states (such as emotions, intentions and desires) and enduring dispositions (such as beliefs, traits and abilities) from their actions (Gilbert, 1998). This is included in what Fiske and Taylor (1991) call social cognition, ‘… the process by which people think about and make sense of other people, themselves, and social situations’. According to Fiske (2004), social cognition builds on attribution theory, which is discussed in Chapter 9.
