Social Perception

Social perception is that part of perception that allows people to understand the other people in their social world. This sort of perception is defined as a social cognition which is the ability of the brain to store and process information. Social perception allows individuals to make judgments and impressions about other people. It is primarily based on observation, although pre-existing knowledge influences how we perceive an observation.

Social perception gives individuals the tools to recognize how others affect their personal lives. They help individuals to form impressions of others by providing the necessary information about how people usually behave across situations. One proposal to explain how social perceptions provides information needed for impression formation is by approaching the behavior with an implicit personality theory outlook. Implicit personality theories state that if an individual observes certain traits in another person, s/he tends to assume that his or her other personality traits are concurrent with the initial trait. These assumptions help us to make quick judgments about the character of an individual. It also helps us to "categorize" people so that we can infer additional information about them and predict their behavior.

Social perception refers to the initial stages in which people process information in order to determine another individual's mind-set and intentions. It is combined with the cognitive ability to pay attention to and interpret a range of different social factors that may include: verbal messages, tone, non-verbal behavior, and knowledge of social relationships and an understanding of social goals. Social perception is a key component of social interaction and social skills. A key aspect of social interaction is the process of figuring out what others are thinking and feeling which is also referred to as Theory of Mind (ToM).