Social Psychology

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

Attitude Survey 1. Texting while driving is dangerous. a. Yes B. No 2.It  important to stay informed about proposed legislation  that  affects  my  community. A.Yes B.No 3.Soft drinks/sodas are unhealthy beverages. 4.Poverty is a serious problem that needs to be addressed. 5.Smoking is an unhealthy behavior.

Social Thinking Attitude belief and feeling that predisposes one to respond in a particular way to objects, people and events Cognitive Behavioral Emotional

Social Thinking Activity Observation #1: A married woman goes to a single man's apartment two nights of every week for three hours. What's your explanation? Observation #2: Two police officers visit your next-door neighbor's house. What's your explanation? Observation #3: A person smelling of stale liquor is buying aspirin at 6 a.m. What's your explanation? Observation #4: When you get home you find your brother's car is dented in on the right side. What's your explanation? Observation #5: You see a man chasing a woman down an alley. What is your explanation? Observation #6: A teenager carrying a heavy backpack runs out the door of a convenience store. What's your explanation? Observation #7: Two clean-cut young men wearing dark slacks and white shirts ring your doorbell. What's your explanation? Observation #8: It's dinnertime and the phone rings. A pleasant person on the line asks for you but mispronounces your name. What's your explanation? Observation #9: Last week a mechanic fixed the vibration in your car's front end. Now you feel the vibration again. What's your explanation? Observation #10: Your boss and the director of personnel are moving boxes out of your friend's office. What's your explanation? Observation #11: You are driving down the street when a car in a side driveway suddenly cuts in front of you. What's your explanation? Observation #12: You're sitting in the airport waiting for a flight. When you reach for your newspaper, the person next to you is reading it. What's your explanation? http://www.thefirefly.org/Firefly/html/News%20Flash/2010/February%202010.htm#activities

Social Psych - Social Thinking Attribution Theory tendency to give a causal explanation for someone’s behavior crediting either the situation OR the person’s disposition

Social Thinking Fundamental Attribution Error tendency for observers, when analyzing another’s behavior to: underestimate the impact of the situation AND overestimate the impact of personal disposition

Social Thinking – Attribution Error How we explain how someone’s behavior affects how we react to it Negative behavior Situational attribution “Maybe that driver is ill.” Dispositional attribution “Crazy driver!” Tolerant reaction (proceed cautiously, allow driver a wide berth) Unfavorable reaction (speed up and race past the other driver, give a dirty look)

Social Psych - Social Thinking How does CAN YOU EXPLAIN IT? challenge our common assumptions? What is the basis of some of the worst assumptions you made in this game? To what extent did your explanations for the observations become more creative and less stereotyped as you played the game? What are some of the potential problems of the fundamental attribution error? Describe some strategies for overcoming the shortfalls of holding onto assumptions. What are the factors that make us vulnerable to making wrong conclusions? What types of real life situations might make us especially susceptible to this type of thinking error? What are the implications of what you have learned for scientists, law enforcement officers, news reporters, managers, and school teachers who rely upon observable data for making conclusions?

Behavior Survey Please indicate whether or not you have performed each of the following behaviors by writing the correct response: 1. I text when I am driving. a. Yes b. No 2. I am able to name at least on bill affecting my community that was passed in the past year by the legislators in my county or my state . 3. I drink soft drinks/sodas. 4. Within the last year I have donated money or engaged in volunteer work to address the problem of poverty. 5. Within the last year I have smoked a cigarette.

Social Thinking Cognitive dissonance When our attitudes do not match our actions Internal conflict We either change attitude or action

Social Thinking Cognitive Dissonance Theory we act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent when we become aware that our attitudes and our actions clash, we can reduce the resulting dissonance by changing our attitudes or by justifying our actions (blaming others)

Social Thinking Cognitive dissonance

Social Thinking So much about Walt and the way he manipulates revolves around the idea of cognitive dissonance – the struggle that takes place when you try to hold two opposing ideas in the mind at once. This happens, too, when our actions contradict our personal beliefs about right and wrong, which often makes us want to resolve our guilt or anxiety by justifying or minimizing the behavior. It’s the same mechanism that engages Walt. How has he has always resolved his cognitive dissonance? By telling himself that he had very good reasons for doing everything he’s done. But cognitive dissonance is a funny thing. It doesn’t just affect us when we actually do things that we believe are wrong, but even when we tolerate them. It turns out that when you fail to confront injustices committed by others, you become more inclined to excuse them in order to make your actions feel consistent with your beliefs. If you don’t stand up against something you believe is wrong, it’s easier to convince yourself that perhaps it wasn’t so wrong after all.

Social Thinking Our behavior is affected by our inner attitudes as well as by external social influences Internal attitudes External influences Behavior

Social Thinking Foot-in-the-Door Phenomenon Role tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request Role set of expectations about a social position defines how those in the position ought to behave

Social Influence – Social Roles Philip Zimbardo studied social roles in an experiment now known as the Stanford prison study. Questions to ask yourself: 1. How do you imagine the experiment would have impacted you if you were a subject in the experiment? - If you were a prisoner? - If you were a guard? - What kind of guard would you have been? - What kind of prisoner?

Social Influence Conformity adjusting one’s behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard

Social Influence - Conformity Asch’s conformity experiments

Asch’s results: On average across trials, 37% of time Ss conformed.

Social Influence Normative Social Influence influence resulting from a person’s desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval

Social Influence – Normative Social Influence

Social Influence – Normative Social Influence

Difficult judgments Easy judgments Conformity highest on important judgments Low High Importance 50% 40 30 20 10 Percentage of conformity to confederates’ wrong answers Participants judged which person in Slide 2 was the same as the person in Slide 1

Social Influence Obedience People comply to social pressures. How would they respond to outright command?

Social Influence - Obedience Milgram’s Obedience Experiment The teacher gives a shock for a wrong answer. What would you do? BBC Recreation – insert link here Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Social Influence - Obedience Milgram’s obedience experiment

Social Influence Individual Resistance Some individuals resist social coercion (do not obey)

Social Influence - Performance Social Facilitation improved performance of tasks in the presence of others occurs with simple or well-learned tasks but not with tasks that are difficult or not yet mastered

Social Facilitation

Social Influence - Performance Social Loafing tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable

Social Influence Deindividuation loss of self-awareness and self-restraint in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity

Social Influence Group Polarization enhancement of a group’s prevailing attitudes through discussion within the group Teams tend to make more extreme decisions than individuals working alone.

Social Influence If a group is like-minded, discussion strengthens its prevailing opinions

Social Influence Groupthink mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides realistic appraisal of alternatives

Social Relations Prejudice an unjustifiable (and usually negative) attitude toward a group and its members involves stereotyped beliefs, negative feelings, and a predisposition to discriminatory action

Social Relations Stereotype a generalized (sometimes accurate, but often overgeneralized) belief about a group of people

Social Relations - Prejudice Does perception change with race?

Social Relations Americans today express much less racial and gender prejudice

Social Relations Ingroup Outgroup “Us”- people with whom one shares a common identity Outgroup “Them”- those perceived as different or apart from one’s ingroup

Social Relations Ingroup Bias Scapegoat Theory Just-World Phenomenon tendency to favor one’s own group Scapegoat Theory theory that prejudice provides an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame Just-World Phenomenon tendency of people to believe the world is just people get what they deserve and deserve what they get

Social Relations Vivid cases (9/11 terrorists) feed stereotypes

Social Relations Aggression Frustration-Aggression Principle any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt or destroy Frustration-Aggression Principle principle that frustration – the blocking of an attempt to achieve some goal – creates anger, which can generate aggression

Social Relations

Social Relations Men who sexually coerce women

Social Relations Conflict Social Trap perceived incompatibility of actions, goals, or ideas Social Trap a situation in which the conflicting parties, by each rationally pursuing their self-interest, become caught in mutually destructive behavior

Social Relations Social trap Optimal outcome Probable Person 1 Choose A Choose B Choose B Choose A Person 2 Social trap by pursuing our self-interest and not trusting others, we can end up losers

Social Relations- Attractiveness Mere Exposure Effect repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases liking of them Conceptions of attractiveness vary by culture Conceptions of taste vary work the same way

Social Relations Bystander Effect tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present

Social Relations The decision-making process for bystander intervention

Social Relations Social Exchange Theory the theory that our social behavior is an exchange process maximize benefits minimize costs

Social Relations Superordinate Goals shared goals that override differences among people and require their cooperation