![]() All perceptions begin with energy-producing events, either inside people or from the environment. Social perception is only one manifestation of the general phenomenon of human perception. First there is a brief discussion of perception in general, followed by sections that divide the field into three major realms: self-perception, person perception, and group perception. This article provides an introduction and selective overview of the social perception area, with additional attention to some threads that have been or could be of particular interest within sociology. Review articles have appeared with regularity, and so it is relatively easy to locate the seminal, general, or esoteric references one seeks. Reference lists in books, chapters, and articles under the various headings tend to intersect rather than be isolated. Little of this work will be discussed here, although most of it is easy to access. ![]() Today "social cognition" may be the more popular label, subsuming theory and research indexed under numerous other headings: person perception, social judgment, social representation, schema theory, reference group theory, impression formation, attribution theory, and more. Social perception is best viewed as an umbrella label that covers a range of loosely related and usually loosely formulated theoretical conjectures and associated research. With some notable exceptions, however, the field of social perception traditionally has emphasized the micro side, focusing on individual inferences regarding one individual or a very small number of other individuals. Group attributes can include properties such as size, cohesiveness, cultural traits, stratification patterns, network patterns, legitimacy, and historical elements. Individual attributes may include personality traits, behavioral dispositions, physical characteristics, and ability evaluations. ![]() The content of a perception can be virtually any property. Social perception theories and investigations deal with the nature, causes, and consequences of perceptions of social entities, including one's self, other individuals, social categories, and aggregates or groups to which one may or may not belong.
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