Psychology: An Introduction Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto © 2005 Prentice Hall Social Psychology Unit 14

Psychology: An Introduction Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto © 2005 Prentice Hall Social Psychology - The scientific study of the ways in which the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of one individual are influenced by the real, imagined, or inferred behavior or characteristics of other people. Social Cognition - How people think about other people. Social perception – how we judge or evaluate others.

Psychology: An Introduction Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto © 2005 Prentice Hall Impression Formation Schemata Ready-made categories Allow us to make inferences about others Also plays a major role in how we interpret and remember information Primacy effect Early information about someone weighs more than later information in forming impressions

Psychology: An Introduction Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto © 2005 Prentice Hall Impression Formation Self-fulfilling prophecy - A person’s expectations about another elicits behavior from the other person that confirms the expectations (Pygmalion effect). Stereotypes: A set of characteristics believed to be shared by all members of a social category. Can become the basis for self-fulfilling prophecies.

Psychology: An Introduction Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto © 2005 Prentice Hall Attribution Attribution Theory - addresses the question of how people make judgments about the causes of behavior. Fritz Heider (1958) argued that a simple explanation for behavior attributes that behavior to either internal or external causes, not both. Three criteria used to judge behavior (Harold Kelley): Distinctiveness (is it unusual?) Consistency Consensus

Psychology: An Introduction Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto © 2005 Prentice Hall Biases in Attribution Fundamental attribution error Tendency to overemphasize personal causes for others’ behavior and underemphasize personal causes for our own behavior. Defensive attribution Tendency to attribute our successes to our own efforts and our failures to external factors (self-serving bias). Just-world hypothesis Assumption bad things happen to bad people and good things happen to good people. Attribution across cultures varies dramatically

Psychology: An Introduction Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto © 2005 Prentice Hall Interpersonal Attraction What determines whether people will like each other? Attraction is closely linked to: Proximity – the closer people live to each other determines how often they come in contact, and the more they come in contact the more likely they are to like one another. Familiar people are predictable and safe, therefore more likeable. Physical attractiveness – we give attractive people credit for more than their beauty. We tend to assume attractive people are more intelligent, interesting, and successful than people who are not attractive or less attractive.

Psychology: An Introduction Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto © 2005 Prentice Hall Interpersonal Attraction (cont’d) Similarity - In attitudes, interests, values, and background underlies interpersonal attractiveness. When someone shares the same beliefs as us, we tend to have more positive feelings about them. What about people who seem to be opposite? They are not necessarily opposites, but the their traits compliment each other (complimentary traits). Exchange - We like people who appreciate us (reward theory of attraction). The reward theory of attraction is based on the concept of exchange. The gain-loss theory of exchange states that increases in rewarding behavior influence attractiveness more than a constant rewarding behavior does. Intimacy – is the quality of genuine closeness and trust in another person. Most relationships start off in a “safe” mode, talking about superficial topics and then gradually move toward more personal issues.

Psychology: An Introduction Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto © 2005 Prentice Hall Attitudes The Nature of Attitudes Attitude - relatively stable beliefs, feelings, and behaviors. Beliefs include facts, opinions, and knowledge. Feelings include love, hate, like, and dislike. Behavior tendencies include how you act toward an object. Self-monitoring High self-monitors look for cues about how they are expected to behave Makes using attitudes to predict behavior difficult Low self-monitors express and act on their attitudes consistently making prediction easier

Psychology: An Introduction Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto © 2005 Prentice Hall Attitude Development What contributes to a person’s attitude? Many factors contribute to the development of attitudes: Parents Imitation Reward Teachers Peers Mass media

Psychology: An Introduction Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto © 2005 Prentice Hall Prejudice and Discrimination Prejudice - An intolerant, unfavorable, and rigid attitude toward a group of people. Discrimination - An act or series of acts that denies opportunities and social esteem to an entire group of people or individual members of that group.

Psychology: An Introduction Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto © 2005 Prentice Hall Sources of Prejudice Frustration-aggression theory (Allport)- People who are frustrated in their goals may turn their anger away from the proper target toward another, less powerful target. Authoritarian personality (Adorno) - Personality pattern characterized by rigid conventionality, exaggerated respect for authority, and hostility toward those who defy social norms. Racism - Prejudice and discrimination directed at particular racial group.

Psychology: An Introduction Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto © 2005 Prentice Hall Strategies for Reducing Prejudice Recategorization - Try to expand our schema for a particular group. Controlled processing - Train ourselves to be more mindful of people who differ from us. They have found that tolerance can be taught. Improving contact between groups. Contact between members of two groups can work to undermine prejudicial attitudes, but only if certain conditions are met: Group members must have equal status Need one-on-one contact with other group Relations are improved when groups come together to cooperate, such as in sports teams. Social norms should encourage contact

Psychology: An Introduction Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto © 2005 Prentice Hall Some researchers have suggested that the primary difference between someone who is prejudiced and someone who is not is the ability to suppress prejudiced beliefs. Changing behavior is the first step in changing attitudes.

Psychology: An Introduction Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto © 2005 Prentice Hall Attitude Change: How and why do attitudes change? Process of persuasion Must pay attention to the message Must comprehend the message Comprehension leads to acceptance Advertisers have become creative in gaining your attention by using humor or something that is highly emotional

Psychology: An Introduction Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto © 2005 Prentice Hall Attitude change (cont’d) Communication model Source – who is the message coming from? Message – what is the message about? Researchers have found that we are more likely to tune out a message that contradicts our own point of view. Medium – how is the message delivered? Face to face contact is most effective. Audience – certain characteristics make some people more susceptible to attitude change than others. People with low self-esteem are more easily influenced and highly intelligent people tend to resist persuasion because they can think of counterarguments more easily.

Psychology: An Introduction Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto © 2005 Prentice Hall Attitude Change Cognitive Dissonance (Leon Festinger, 1957) Perceived inconsistency between two cognitions (two thoughts that contradict one another). Dissonance can be reduced through attitude change. The most effective way to change attitude is through self-persuasion.

Psychology: An Introduction Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto © 2005 Prentice Hall Social Influence Social influence refers to the process by which others affect our perceptions, attitudes, and actions.

Psychology: An Introduction Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto © 2005 Prentice Hall Cultural Influence Culture greatly influences our attitudes and behaviors. Cultural truism - Beliefs or values that most members of a society accept as self-evident.

Psychology: An Introduction Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto © 2005 Prentice Hall Cultural Assimilators Norm – a shared idea or expectation about how to behave or not to behave. Cultural assimilator – a strategy for perceiving the norms and values of another group. It is a technique of asking why people behave a certain way. It encourages maintaining an open mind about other cultures’ norms and values

Psychology: An Introduction Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto © 2005 Prentice Hall

Psychology: An Introduction Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto © 2005 Prentice Hall Conformity Conformity - voluntarily yielding to social norms, even at the expense of one’s own preferences A certain amount of conformity is necessary if social groups are to function effectively. Nature of a task is a variable that affects conformity. If a task is difficult or poorly defined, there is a higher rate of conformity. Personal characteristics also affect conformity. If an individual is attracted to a group, has a position of low status, does not feel completely accepted by a group, the more that person tends to conform.

Psychology: An Introduction Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto © 2005 Prentice Hall Conformity across cultures Tends to be higher in collectivist cultures

Psychology: An Introduction Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto © 2005 Prentice Hall Compliance Change in behavior in response to an explicit request from another person or group. Foot-in-the-door effect Get them to say yes to a small request first Lowball procedure Get compliance then raise price of compliance Door-in-the-face effect Get them to decline large request then ask something smaller

Psychology: An Introduction Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto © 2005 Prentice Hall Obedience Obedience – a change in behavior in response to a command from another person, typically an authority figure. Milgram’s studies on obedience show willingness to follow commands. Another factor in obedience is surveillance (being watched). Why do people willingly obey an authority figure, even if it means violating their own principles? Milgram suggested that people see themselves as agents of other people’s wishes and therefore not responsible for their own actions or the consequences.

Psychology: An Introduction Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto © 2005 Prentice Hall Social Action Deindividuation - Loss of personal sense of responsibility in a group. People act as an anonymous part of a larger group. Typified in mob behavior, such as in urban riots. Another factor is called the snowball effect – where a persuader convinces just a few people, who then go on to convince a few more, etc. Large groups offer protection. Anonymity makes it hard to press charges. Research suggests that when people get together they become more destructive and irresponsible than they would be individually.

Psychology: An Introduction Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto © 2005 Prentice Hall Social Action (cont’d) Helping Behavior: What are some factors that can promote helping behavior? One would be self-interest, or personal gain. It is influenced by two things: the individual and the situation. Altruistic behavior - Helping behavior that is not linked to personal gain Bystander effect - Helpfulness decreases as bystanders increase Mood can affect willingness to help. Cultures differ in amount of help offered in response to requests for minor help.

Psychology: An Introduction Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto © 2005 Prentice Hall Group Decision Making Polarization in group decision making - Shift toward more extreme position following group discussion. Risky shift - an individuals greater willingness to take risks in decision making in a group than as an individual. The effectiveness of groups – depends on 3 factors: 1. nature of the task, 2. the resources of group members, 3. interaction between group members. Social loafing - Tendency to expend less effort when part of a large group. Groupthink - Pressure to conform to group.

Psychology: An Introduction Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto © 2005 Prentice Hall Leadership Great person theory - Personal qualities qualify one to lead Right-place-at-the-right-time – person became a leader not only because of personal qualities, but because he/she was at the right place at the right time. Contingency Theory (Fred Fiedler) – personal characteristics are important to the success of a leader. Task-oriented – concerned with the task Relationship-oriented – concerned with group cohesiveness and harmony.

Psychology: An Introduction Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto © 2005 Prentice Hall Organizational Behavior Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology – area of psychology concerned with using psychological principles in large organizations, such as the workplace. Productivity can be influenced by psychological and social factors Hawthorne effect - Just the attention of the experimenter changed behavior. Found that small, cohesive work groups are more productive than large, impersonal ones. Communication and responsibility Centralized communication is effective for simple problems Complex problems require decentralized structure

Psychology: An Introduction Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto © 2005 Prentice Hall Extra Credit

Psychology: An Introduction Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto © 2005 Prentice Hall Rules On your slip of paper, write down your name and the number of extra credit points you want, 5 or 10. If the whole class writes “5” everyone gets 5 extra credit points. If one – three people write “10” only those people get the 10 extra credit points. If four or more people write “10” no one gets points.

Psychology: An Introduction Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto © 2005 Prentice Hall This was a “Social trap” experiment!

Psychology: An Introduction Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto © 2005 Prentice Hall

Psychology: An Introduction Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto © 2005 Prentice Hall In preparation for tomorrow’s pre-AP administration please let your student’s know that they will need to know the following information (this may seem silly, but every year we have students that don’t know one or both of the following required pieces of information): Phone Number COMPLETE mailing address – including zip code

Psychology: An Introduction Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto © 2005 Prentice Hall

Psychology: An Introduction Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto © 2005 Prentice Hall Social Psych Projects You will either pick a topic or be assigned a topic from the list on the next slide. Working in groups, you will: 1. read about the assigned topic, 2. take notes (which will need to be handed in), 3. figure out a creative way to present your topic to the class, 4. create an experiment, 5. carry it out and 6. present findings to the class.

Psychology: An Introduction Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto © 2005 Prentice Hall Topics 1. Impression formation 2. Attribution 3. Interpersonal Attraction 4. Nature of Attitudes 5. Prejudice and discrimination 6. Attitude change 7. Social Influence (cultural influence, cultural assimilators, conformity, compliance, obedience) 8. Social action (deindividuation, helping behavior) 9. Social action (group decision making, leadership, organizational behavior)