Social Psychology the scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another

A. Social Thinking How do we tend to explain others’ behavior and our own? Does what we think affect what we do, or does what we do affect what we think? “She is such a nice person.” If a good friend is rude to you when you arrive at school, how do you tend to explain his or her behavior?

Situational (external) Dispositional (internal) 1. Attributing Behavior to Persons or to Situations Attribution theory: theory that we explain someone’s behavior by crediting either the situation or the person’s disposition How do people use attribution theory to explain the actions of others? “He probably got caught in some bad traffic, and then he was late for a meeting.” “He’s such a careless driver. He never watches out for other cars.”

1. Attributing Behavior to Persons or to Situations –Fundamental attribution error: tendency for observers, when analyzing another’s behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation & to overestimate the impact of personal disposition Examples? –Self-serving bias

1. Attributing Behavior to Persons or to Situations The Effects of Attribution Personal relationships –Happily married vs. unhappily married couples Political relationships –How do you explain poverty or unemployment? Job relationships –Evaluating employees

I think country music is better than any other kind of music. Cognitive Affective Behavior 2. Attitudes and Actions What are attitudes, and how do they relate to behavior? Components of Attitudes I like country music; it's fun and uplifting. Attitudes: feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events I buy country music.

Changing Attitudes: Persuasion a. Attitudes Affect Actions Involves attending to the content of the message itself Involves attending to factors not involved in the message, such as: Appearance of source of message Length of message Elaboration Likelihood Model

Our attitudes are also strongly influenced by our actions. Change an attitude (persuasion) and you can change a behavior.

2. Attitudes and Actions b. Actions Affect Attitudes i. The Foot-in-the-Door Phenomenon: the tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request –“start small and build” Let’s stop to consider some more techniques used to manipulate consumer actions. See iTunesU.

2. Attitudes and Actions b. Actions Affect Attitudes ii. Role-Playing Affects Attitudes –Role: a set of expectations (norms) about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave –

2. Attitudes and Actions b. Actions Affect Attitudes Cognitive dissonance: Discomfort arising when ones thoughts and behaviors do not correspond Lessening cognitive dissonance: Change the conflicting behavior Change the conflicting attitude Form a new attitude to justify the behavior “I am a good, loyal friend.” “I repeated gossip about my friend Chris.” iii. Cognitive Dissonance- Relief from Tension

Cognitive Dissonance Festinger and Carlsmith experiment (1959):