1. Social Psychology

2. Social Psychology is a broad field devoted to studying:

3. how people relate to each other
the development and expression of attitudes
people’s attributions about their own behavior and that of others
the reasons why people engage in both prosocial and antisocial behavior
how the presence and actions of others influences the way people behave

4. An attitude is a set of beliefs and feelings
One reason that attitudes are difficult to change is due to the Cognitive Dissonance Theory.
People are motivated to have consistent attitudes and behaviors, and when they do not, they experience unpleasant mental tension (dissonance).

5. Social Thinking the situation or… the person’s disposition
Attribution Theory
tendency to give a causal explanation for someone’s behavior, often by crediting either
the situation or…
the person’s disposition

6. Social Thinking
Fundamental Attribution Error
when explaining another’s behavior, we tend to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition

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

8. Attribution
Interestingly, people do more the opposite when attributing successes or failures to themselves (we blame the situation more than ourselves).

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

10. Jesse tells you that he got a perfect score on his psychology test ……
Because Jesse is very good at psychology
Because the psychology test was easy
Jesse has always been good at psychology
Jesse just studied a lot for this particular psychology test
Mr. Baker is an easy psychology teacher
Mr. Baker is a tough psychology teacher who just happened to give one easy test

11. Social Thinking – Some Concepts
Our Attitudes often direct our behavior but sometimes behavior shapes our attitudes
Foot-in-the-Door Phenomenon
tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request
“Doing Becomes Believing”

12. Group Pressure
Social Influence..

13. Social Influence Normative Social Influence
influence resulting from a person’s desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval
Leads to……Conformity
adjusting one’s behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard

14. Social Influence - concepts
Informational Social Influence
influence resulting from one’s willingness to accept others’ opinions about reality
…Leads To Norms
an understood rule for accepted and expected behavior
prescribes “proper” behavior

15. Asch Conformity Experiment
Social Influence
Asch Conformity Experiment
click above for a clip!
Comparison lines
Standard lines 1 2 3

16. Social Influence
Percentage of
conformity
to confederates’
wrong answers 50 40 30 20 10
Low
High
Importance
Slide 1
Slide 2
Difficult judgments
Easy judgments
Participants judged which person in Slide 2 was the same as the person in Slide 1

17. 65% of Milgram’s “teachers” did!
Obedience
Stanley Milgram: People conform, but will they simply obey others?
65% of Milgram’s “teachers” did!

18. A “Shocking Experiment”
Over 400 volts!!

20. Social Influence Milgram’s experiment That’s Almost 70%! Percentage
XXX
( )
Percentage
of subjects
who obeyed
experimenter
100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10
Slight
(15-60)
Moderate
(75-120)
Strong
( )
Very
strong
( )
Intense
( )
Extreme
intensity
( )
Danger
severe
( )
Shock levels in volts
The majority of
subjects continued
to obey to the end

21. Obedience is higher when…
Person giving the orders is perceived as a legit Authority figure. (prof., cop, etc)
“orderer” supported by a prestigious institute (Yale, Government, etc)
Victim is “depersonalized” or distant (no name, in another room, etc)
No role models for defiance

22. Group Interaction

23. Social Influence:somebody’s watching me…
Social Impairment
People tend to perform WORSE on difficult or new tasks in the presence of others
Social Facilitation
People tend to perform simple/well-learned tasks BETTER in the presence of others

24. Social Facilitation Home Advantage in Major Team Sports
Sport Games Home Team
Studied Winning
Percentage
Baseball , %
Football ,
Ice hockey ,
Basketball ,
Soccer ,

25. Social Influence:somebody’s helping me…
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

26. Deindividuation
The loss of self awareness and self restrain occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity

27. presumed available to help
Social Relations
Percentage
attempting
to help 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10
Number of others
presumed available to help
Bystander Effect
tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present

28. Social Influence
Group Polarization
enhancement of a group’s prevailing attitudes through discussion within the group (like AA or KKK) – Yeah! I Agree!

29. Social Influence
High
Prejudice
Low +4 +3 +2 +1 -1 -2 -3 -4
Before discussion
After discussion
Low-prejudice
groups
High-prejudice
If a group is like-minded, discussion strengthens its prevailing opinions

30. Groupthink
the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides realistic appraisal of alternatives (like shuttle disaster or bay of pigs) – Who am I to “rock the boat”? I just want to get out of this meeting…

31. The tendency for people to overestimate the number of people who agree with them is called the false consensus effect. I thought everyone was against the death penalty…

32. IE. If Brianna hates Psychology, she assumes that most people also find it boring, tedious, and utterly useless as well. If Shavanna likes pizza, she assumes that because it’s so good that everyone must like it too. She’s shocked to find people who don’t like it as much as she does.

33. “The activities of married women are best confined to home and family”
Social Influence
Percentage agreeing
“The activities of married women
are best confined to home and family” 70 60 50 40 30 20 10
Percentage
Gender Role
a set of expected behaviors for males and for females
Men
Women
1967 ‘ ‘75 ‘79 ‘ ‘ ‘91 ‘95
Year

34. Social Relations – why do we treat each other differently?
Prejudice
an unjustifiable (and usually negative) attitude toward a group and its members
involves stereotyped beliefs, negative feelings, and a predisposition to discriminatory action
Stereotype
a generalized (often overgeneralized) belief about a group of people

35. Social Influences Culture Personal Space
enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a large group of people
transmitted from one generation to the next
Personal Space
buffer zone we like to
maintain around our bodies

36. Social Relations – why prejudice & social bias?
In-group Bias
tendency to favor one’s own group and dislike or blame things on another “out-group”

37. Scapegoat Theory
Taking responsibility often causes people too much “dissonance”
Better to blame others (maybe even an “out-group”)
prejudice provides an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame

38. Just-World Phenomenon
tendency of people to believe the world is “just”
people get what they deserve and deserve what they get

39. to keep minorities out of
Social Relations
Americans today express much less racial and gender prejudice
Would you vote for
a woman president? 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10
Year
Do whites have a right
to keep minorities out of
their neighborhoods?
Percentage
answering yes

40. Preconceived ideas can affect the way someone acts towards another person.
Our expectations of behavior can be influenced as well. This is called the self-fulfilling prophecy.

41. 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

42. Why are we aggressive?
Genetics – Some people are born to be aggressive
Neural and Biological – Your neural system facilitates aggression – chemicals in your blood stream can change aggression..
What happens if the frontal lobes get damaged?

43. Social Relations
Is there a CORRELATION BETWEEN WEATHER AND AGGRESSION?
Murders
and rapes
per day in
Houston, Texas
8.0
7.5
7.0
6.5
6.0
Temperature in degrees Fahrenheit

44. Social Relations Conflict
perceived incompatibility of actions, goals, or ideas
Social Trap
a situation in which the conflicting parties, pursuing their self-interest, become caught in mutually destructive behavior
(overfishing, near destruction of the buffalo, rainforest logging)

45. Social Relations – conflict reduction
Social Exchange Theory
the theory that our social behavior is an exchange process, the aim of which is to maximize benefits and minimize costs
Superordinate Goals
shared goals that override differences among people and require their cooperation

46. Social Relations – conflict reduction among nations
Graduated and Reciprocated Initiatives in Tension-reduction (GRIT)
a strategy designed to decrease international tensions
one side announces recognition of mutual interests and initiates a small conciliatory act
opens door for reciprocation by other party

47. Social Relations- What attracts us to others?
Proximity
mere exposure effect- repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases liking of them
Physical Attractiveness
youthfulness may be associated with health and fertility
Similarity
friends share common attitudes, beliefs, interests

48. Attractiveness
Worldwide, men prefer youth and health, women prefer resources and social status

49. Social Relations Passionate Love Companionate Love
an aroused state of intense positive absorption in another
usually present at the beginning of a love relationship
Companionate Love
deep affectionate attachment we feel for those with whom our lives are intertwined

50. The key to lasting and satisfying relationships
Equity
a condition in which people receive from a relationship in proportion to what they give to it
Self-disclosure
revealing intimate aspects of oneself to others
Altruism
unselfish regard for the welfare of others