1.Define what social perception is and describe the mechanisms of social perceptions describing in detail any two.

Social perception is the process by which individuals form impressions of and make inferences about other people and groups. It involves the interpretation of the social cues we get from others. Social perception is a key component of social cognition, the mental processes we use to understand and make sense of our social world.

There are several mechanisms involved in social perception. Here are two of them:

1. Attribution: This is the process of explaining someone's behavior, either by attributing it to their personality or to the situation. For example, if a person is late for a meeting, we might attribute this to their disorganization (a personality trait) or to traffic (a situational factor). The Fundamental Attribution Error is a common bias in this process, where we tend to overestimate the role of personality traits and underestimate the role of situational factors when explaining other people's behaviors.

2. Stereotyping: This is the process of assigning traits to people based on their membership in a certain group. For example, we might assume that all elderly people are frail or that all teenagers are rebellious. Stereotyping can lead to prejudice and discrimination, as it involves oversimplified and generalized beliefs about certain groups of people. It's important to note that stereotypes can be both positive and negative, and they can be about any group – based on race, age, gender, occupation, etc.

Both attribution and stereotyping are automatic processes that help us make sense of the social world, but they can also lead to biases and inaccuracies in our social perceptions.