1. Chapter 2
Social Identity

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

3. 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

4. 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.

5. 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

6. 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

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

8. 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

9. 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

10. Social Identity