Discuss The Main Sources Of Error In Person Percep

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Discuss the main sources of error in person perception with reference to theory Perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of the environment by organizing and interpreting sensory information (Pomerantz, 2003). Our brains accept signals, which we process and then make decisions on these signals. The way in which we process this information and collect the signals can have major out comes on our decisions. We process a lot of this information outside of conscious awareness we can fool the signals and therefore change the decisions that are made. Walter Lippmann first used stereotyping in 1992 to describe bias in perceiving peoples (Buchanan and Huczynski, 1997). Stereotypes are standardized conceptions of groups based on some prior assumptions. Nowadays, our opinions are strongly influenced by the media and outside influences. For instance, last year “Cleveland Leader” published an article, which title attracted many people's attention: ‘Five Arabs Arrested in UK Plot Against the Pope’ (Kent, 2010). Directing ones opinion that Arabs are guilty by the fact they are Arabs. The journalist had the ability to write ‘Five Men Arrested’ but instead he chose to write ‘Five Arabs Arrested’. Journalist preferred to describe their nationalities as though it would be more important than the facts. Trends consistent understanding of the information is called the halo effect (Mullins, 2005). Research has shown that we automatically assign to good-looking individuals such favorable traits as talent, kindness, honesty, and intelligence (Eagly, Ashmore, Makhijani and Longo, 1991). What is viewed positively, gains a positive halo, and it includes good qualities. Otherwise, if someone is assessed negatively, he includes bad qualities. This effect has been illustrated by research conducted 10 years ago, during which the subjects were given photographs of
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