Perceptions of Situations In addition to the beliefs we hold about persons, we also have preset notions about certain types of situations—“scripts” that enable us to anticipate the goals, behaviors, and outcomes likely to occur in a particular setting.
What is your first impression of this person? Posing during an International Tattoo Exposition in Mexico in 2013, Maria Jose Cristerna, also known as Vampire Woman, set the Guinness World Record for the most changes made to her body.
Based on past experience, people can easily imagine the sequences of events likely to unfold in a typical greeting or at a shopping mall, the dinner table, or a tennis match. The more experience you have in a given situation, the more detail your scripts will contain.