Chapter 2 Social Identity

Social Psychology the study of how people think about, influence, and relate to other people social cognitions social influences social relations

The Self as a Social Object Self-Esteem positive illusions – views of ourselves that are not necessarily rooted in reality self-serving bias – tendency to take credit for success and deny responsibility for failure self-objectification – tendency to see oneself primarily as an object in the eyes of others IM: Self-Serving Bias Activity 3

Self-Perception Theory Individuals make inferences about their own attitudes by perceiving their own behavior, especially if their attitudes are unclear. Both cognitive dissonance and self-perception theory explain the connection between attitudes and behavior.

Social Influence: Conformity Asch’s Experiment (1951) factors that contribute to conformity - informational social influence - normative social influence Cognitive Neuroscience fMRI images - when women found others disagreed, they responded as mistakes

Group Influence Deindividuation Social Contagion Group Performance erosion of personal identity and responsibility anonymity Social Contagion spread of behavior, emotions, and ideas Group Performance social facilitation: arousal with well-learned tasks social loafing: reduced accountability IM: Group Influence Activity

Group Decision Making Risky Shift Group Polarization group decisions are riskier than average individual decisions Group Polarization discussion strengthens the individual’s position

Group Decision Making Groupthink Majority-Minority Influence group harmony impaired decision making and avoidance of realistic appraisal symptoms of groupthink avoiding groupthink Majority-Minority Influence majority: normative and informational pressure minority: informational pressure IM: Groupthink Activity

Intergroup Relations Group Identity - us versus them Social Identity - define ourselves in terms of group membership Social Identity Theory - in-groups versus out-groups Ethnocentrism - favoring one’s own group over other groups

Social Identity