Social Psychology

 Branch of psychology concerned with the way individuals’ thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by others.

 Effect of physical appearance ◦ We should know better than to judge on this, but do we? ◦ What do studies reveal?  Why might people do this?

 Attractiveness even influences perceptions of competence:  Research related to jobs:

 People have a tendency to make snap judgments about people  We tend to weigh initial perception much more heavily than later information ◦ Examples  These are especially hard to overcome

 Every person is unique, yet we tend to categorize people ◦ Why?  Stereotype- Widely held belief that people have certain characteristics because of membership to a particular group  Discussion of common stereotypes:

 Why do we stereotype people? Is there some truth to them? Are all stereotypes negative?  It is normal to stereotype people  We have cognitive schemas for how we expect certain people to behave: ◦ Cognitive schema – Organized cluster of ideas about categories of social events and people

 People are likely to interpret what they see in a way that is consistent with expectations  Illusory Correlation- People estimate they have encountered more confirmations of an association between social traits than they have actually ◦ What does this mean ◦ Examples ◦ Research studies

 According to evolutionary perspective, humans are programmed to immediately classify people as members of ingroup or outgroup  Ingroup-  Outgroup –  Discussion: is there truth to this?

 Attributions- Inferences people draw about causes of events, others behavior and own behavior ◦ Why do we need to make these?  People tend to explain their behavior as result of personal or environmental factors: ◦ 1.) Internal Attributions ◦ 2.) External Attributions

 Causes of behavior due to personal dispositions, traits, abilities, and feelings. ◦ Examples

 Causes of behavior due to situational demands and environment ◦ Examples ◦ Examples from class  Give internal and external explanation

 1.) Fundamental Attribution Error- People tend to explain other people’s behavior as a result of internal attributions ◦ In other words….  Examples

 2.) Self-Serving Bias- People tend to attribute their success to personal (internal) factors and their failures to situational (external) factors ◦ Examples

 Physical Attraction ◦ What is the first thing most people notice?  “Get acquainted” study: ◦ What was done  Other studies back up the prominence of physical attractiveness in the initial dating stage  “Friend Zone” Discussion

 Matching Hypothesis- Proposes males and females of approximate equal physical attractiveness are likely to select each other as partners ◦ Class discussion: Is this true? Why or Why not?

 Similarity Effects ◦ Far more support for people being attracted to those who are similar  Married and dating couples tend to be similar in age, race, religion, social class, education, attractiveness, and attitude.  Class thoughts  Attitude Similarity- Similarity seems to cause liking ◦ Study Findings ◦ Discussion

 Hazan and Shaver believe relationships in adulthood follow same forms as attachment during infancy  Think back to attachments: what would children with these attachment styles look for in adult relationships: ◦ Secure ◦ Anxious-Ambivalent ◦ Avoidant

 Learning theory ◦ Classical Conditioning  How might attitudes form (about products for example) ◦ Operant Conditioning  Agreement from others can serve to shape behavior/attitudes ◦ Observational Learning  Observe others attitude and reinforcement

 Cognitive Dissonance – State of tension created when something we say or do contradicts actual beliefs ◦ We thus alter beliefs to reduce tension  Festinger and Carlsmith Study: ◦ Male college students performed excruciating dull tasks for one hour ◦ Afterwards, offered money to tell subjects in waiting room that the study was fun ◦ Wanted participants to do something inconsistent with beliefs (to create dissonance) ◦ Some subjects given $1; some given $20  Which group rated task as more enjoyable?  Other examples

 Conformity- Occurs when people yield to real or imagined social pressure. ◦ Examples  Solomon Asch Line Study ◦ client&rlz=1T4TSHB_enUS304US304&q=milgram&u m=1&ie=UTF- 8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wv#q=conformity+experimen t&hl=en&emb=0 ◦ Young men conformed on 37% of trials

 Variations on Asch Study ◦ What happened if the group size was lower (one person)? ◦ What happened if group size was larger (more people)? ◦ Discussion: What factors make us conform

 Obedience – Form of Compliance that occurs when people follow direct commands, usually from someone in authority

Participants told study concerned with effects of punishment on learning ◦ Randomly assigned to either be “teacher” or “learner”  Participant was always “teacher”; Research accomplice was “learner” ◦ “learner” was strapped to electrified chair and told they would be answering questions from “teacher” ◦ “teacher” taken to adjacent room and given shock generator  Told to shock “learner” for each mistake, increasing voltage each time  Apparatus was fake (although participant did not know)  1T4TSHB_enUS304US304&q=milgram&um=1&ie=UTF- 8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wv# 1T4TSHB_enUS304US304&q=milgram&um=1&ie=UTF- 8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wv#

 DV- level of shock participants willing to administer  15V- slight shock  135V- strong shock  375V- Danger: Severe shock  450 V- XXX (last stage)  How many do you think went all the way to final voltage?  Controversy of study  Class Discussion

 Philip Zimbardo wanted to investigate why prisons tend to become abusive environments  He recruited college aged males for study of prison life through newspaper ads  Coin flip determined who would be “guards” and who would be “prisoners”  “Prisoners” arrested at homes and brought to simulated prison at Stanford U. ◦ There they were stripped, deloused, given uniform, given ID, and put in cell  “Guards” given uniforms, billy clubs, glasses ◦ Told to run prison any way they saw fit, without physical punishment  What happened in study?

 d=navclient&rlz=1T4TSHB_enUS304US304&q =milgram&um=1&ie=UTF- 8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wv#q=zimbardo+priso n&hl=en&emb=0&start=0  Possible explanations: ◦ Social Roles

 Bystander Effect- People are less likely to provide needed help when they are in groups than when they are alone ◦ Diffusion of responsibility