What is person perception?
Person perception means how we form ideas about other people: what they are like and why they act as they do.
We do it fast, often in seconds. We use looks, voice, clothes, what others say, and what we see them do.
These quick ideas help us live with others. But they can also be wrong.
Attribution theory: internal and external causes
To attribute means to give a cause. Attribution theory (first described by Fritz Heider) says people act like everyday scientists: they look for causes of behaviour.
- Internal (dispositional) attribution: the cause is inside the person — their nature, effort, ability. 'She failed because she did not study.'
- External (situational) attribution: the cause is outside — luck, other people, the task, the weather. 'She failed because the paper was very hard.'
A second question is stable or unstable: will the cause stay (ability) or change (a bad day)? A third is controllable or not.
Kelley's covariation model
Harold Kelley said we can judge more fairly by asking three questions:
- Consensus: do other people act the same way here?
- Distinctiveness: does this person act this way only in this situation?
- Consistency: does this person act this way every time?
Low consensus + low distinctiveness + high consistency → we blame the person. High consensus + high distinctiveness + high consistency → we blame the situation.
Biases in attribution
- Fundamental attribution error: when we explain other people's actions, we give too much weight to their character and too little to the situation.
- Actor–observer bias: as the actor, I see the situation around me, so I blame it. As the observer, I see only the person, so I blame them.
- Self-serving bias: I take credit for my successes (internal) and blame failures on outside things (external). It protects our self-esteem.
- Just-world belief: thinking people get what they deserve, which can lead to blaming victims.
Culture matters: studies suggest people in more collectivist cultures (for example in much of Asia) pay more attention to the situation, so the fundamental attribution error is often weaker there.
First impressions and their effects
- Halo effect: one good trait (good looks, a smile) makes us guess other good traits (kind, clever). A bad trait can do the opposite (horn effect).
- Primacy effect: information we get first counts more than what comes later.
- Stereotypes: fixed ideas about a whole group, used as a shortcut to judge one person.
- Self-fulfilling prophecy: if a teacher expects a child to do well and treats them warmly, the child may really do better.
Try it: the P-or-S diary
For one day, each time you judge someone ('he is rude', 'she is lazy'), write it down. Next to it, write one possible situation cause. At night, count: how many of your first guesses were about the person? Then use the scale in the 3D (last step) to test Kelley's three questions.
Key formulas and definitions
- Attribution: the cause we give for a behaviour
- Internal (dispositional): cause is the person's nature, effort or ability
- External (situational): cause is outside — task, luck, other people
- Kelley: consensus, distinctiveness, consistency
- Fundamental attribution error: overblaming others' character
- Actor–observer bias: I blame the situation, you blame me
- Self-serving bias: success = me, failure = not me
- Halo effect: one trait colours the whole impression
Worked examples
1. Meera's friend did not reply to her message. Meera thinks, 'She is ignoring me because she is proud.' Name the attribution and the possible bias.
Meera made an internal (dispositional) attribution: she blamed her friend's character. Ignoring possible situations (phone off, busy, exam) shows the fundamental attribution error.
2. Everyone in class laughs at the teacher's joke, Arjun laughs only at this teacher's jokes, and he laughs at them every time. Using Kelley's model, what is the likely cause?
Consensus is high (everyone laughs), distinctiveness is high (only this teacher), consistency is high (every time). This pattern points to an external cause: the teacher's jokes really are funny.
3. A team wins and the captain says 'great planning by me'. Next week they lose and he says 'the umpire was unfair'. What bias is this and why do people show it?
Self-serving bias: success is given an internal cause, failure an external one. People do this to protect their self-esteem and look good to others.
Common mistakes
- Thinking 'internal' means 'inside the body'. In attribution, internal means the cause is the person's nature, effort or ability.
- Mixing up fundamental attribution error and actor–observer bias. The first is about judging others only; the second compares how we judge ourselves versus others.
- Saying the halo effect only works for good traits. A bad first trait can spread too (the horn effect).
- Believing biases mean people are bad. They are mental shortcuts everyone uses; knowing them helps us judge more fairly.