Social Psychology Unit 8

Social Psychology Social Perception Cognition Process individuals use to gather and remember information about others and to formulate inferences from that information First Impressions: First Information ones learns about another ◦ First impressions make one live up or down to the expectations that first meeting set ◦ Primacy Effect: The effect is not on just the person making the impressions but also on the one receiving that impression

Social Psychology Stereotype: Generalized belief or expectation about a group of people Prejudice: Unfavourable stereotype; negative attitude toward a group of people

Attribution Attribution Theory ◦ Set of thought processes used to assign causes to an individuals own behaviour or to the behaviour of others. ◦ Internal Attributions: Explanations focus on individuals personal, stable characteristics such as personality, attitudes, or abilities. Internal attributes are considered dispositional attributes. ◦ External Attributions: Stimuli in the environment, occurrences during the day, and rewards and penalties.

Attribution Harold Kelley: Theory that individuals rely on three types of information. ◦ 1. Consensus Information: How a persons behaviour compares with another's ◦ 2. Consistency Information: Info to determine whether internal or external attributes play a role in person’s behaviour ◦ 3. Distinctiveness: Refers to how a person’s behaviour varies from one object or social partner to another

Attribution Fundamental Attribution Error: The overemphasis on internal explanations that are affecting behaviour. Actor Observer Effect: ◦ In explaining ones conduct, the individual plays the role of the observer yet when the same individual provides reasons for there own behaviour the individual plays the role of the actor ◦ People tend to alter attributions in an effort to present themselves in a favourable light Self Serving Biases: Maximize success and minimize failure Self-Handicapping Strategy: Protecting ones image by putting themselves at a disadvantage

Attitudes and Persuasion Attitude: Like or dislike that has an emotional component Persuasion: An attempt to alter a person’s attitude or behavior A Likert Scale: Named after a psychologist (Rensis Likert) ◦ Evaluations of a specified topic from strongly agree to strongly disagree, by a scale ranging from 1 to 5 or 7 Monitoring: Your level of awareness of your own behavior. ◦ High Self-Monitors: In unfamiliar situations some people look around to determine what others are doing as well as what is expected of them ◦ Low Self Monitors: Pay less attention to what others expect and instead just do what they feel they want to do.

Attitudes and Persuasion Richard Petty & John Cacioppo ◦ There is a distinction between people who spend effort, carefully considering the evidence, and those that put more focus on superficial factors, such as the speakers appearance and reputation, or the sheer number of arguments presented, rather than evaluating the actual content Central Route to Persuasion: Those individuals who invest time to evaluate the evidence Peripheral Route to Persuasion: Those individuals who invest time in the peripheral/superficial factors outside of the individual or their argument.

Delayed Message Influences Sleeper Effect: An instance where a message may be rejected because of peripheral route influences, without much thought given by the individual Minority Influence: The majority rejection of a worthwhile idea because a little respected minority group proposed the idea

Factors Affecting Persuasion Some people are persuaded more easily than others Ease of persuasion is affected by several factors ◦ Forewarning Effect: Knowing that someone is attempting to persuade you may weaken the effect ◦ Ex: informing the audience that they are going to hear a persuasive speech on a particular topic may weaken the effect and attitudes of the audience ◦ Inoculation Effect: Beginning with a weak argument and moving to a strong one  May reject both arguments because they heard the weak one first and formed there own biases

Cognitive Dissonance There is a desire for individuals to want a consistency, or consonance, among their cognitions (beliefs, opinions, elements of knowledge) Dissonance: Inconsistency between attitudes or behaviors, causes discomfort Cognitive Dissonance: When a discrepancy exists between what a person already knows and believes and new information that one has received about a specific topic ◦ Dissonance can be decreased by:  Reducing the importance of the dissonant belief  Making new beliefs that increase consonance  Eliminating the dissonant attitude or behavior

Attraction Proximity Closeness People become friends with people they live with or work with Mere Exposure Affect: The more people make contact with someone or something, the more likely the individual will view the person/object in a positive light Similarity

Attraction The Equity Principle ◦ Exchange or equity theories ◦ Social relationships involve transactions in which people exchange goods and services Partner Selection ◦ Child rearing ◦ Special Considerations ◦ Similar attitudes ◦ Personalities

Interpersonal Influence Conformity Solomon Asch Study Responsibility to others Pluralistic Ignorance Social Loafing A Social Role Obedience

Interpersonal Influence Group Decision Making ◦ Group Polarization ◦ Group Think ◦ Group Therapy ◦ Self-Help Groups ◦ Group Shift  Risky Shift  Cautious Shift Aggression ◦ Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis

Group Processes Conformity ◦ Solomon Asch ◦ Frequent abuse of alcohol and other drugs ◦ History of impulsive acts ◦ Growing up in a violent neighbourhood ◦ Feeling no guilt after harming someone ◦ History of suicide attempts ◦ Watching violence on television

Group Processes Sex-Related Violence Rape Sex Abuse