1. Hours 1 and 2 - What social factors account for how we explain and justify our actions? Social Psychology 2 Social determinants of behaviour cont: The Stanford Prison Experiment (Philip Zimbardo) Break Attributional biases The fundamental attribution error The actor-observer bias The self-serving bias Explaining and justifying our behaviour: Cognitive consistency Cognitive dissonance

2. Commands 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Frequency Guards Prisoners Insults Deindividuating Reference Aggression Threats Questions Resistance Helping

3. Attributional Biases Fundamental attribution error The tendency to overemphasize internal causes and personal responsibility and underemphasize external influences when observing the behaviour of other people

4. 0 8121620 Age (years) 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 Attribution to internal dispositions India North America Cultural Differences in Attribution

5. Attributional Biases Fundamental attribution error The tendency to overemphasize internal causes and personal responsibility and underemphasize external influences when observing the behaviour of other people Special cases of the fundamental attribution error Actor-observer bias Self-serving bias

6. Cognitive Consistency The match between one’s attitudes and behaviours Explaining and justifying our behaviour when it goes against our belief system Cognitive Dissonance (Leon Festinger) The mismatch between ones attitudes and behaviours

7. -0.5 0 0.5 1.0 1.5 Rating of task How willing am I to do the task again? How enjoyable is the task? $1$20Control Payment for “selling” the task to others Cognitive dissonance: Festinger’s “boring task” experiment

8. Cognitive dissonance happens when: One freely chooses the behaviour You have firmly committed to that particular behaviour Your behaviour has consequences for other people