1. Chapter 20 Social Psychology
Social Cognition

2. Social Cognition…
Refers to the way people think and act in social situations.
Concerned with:
Attitudes
Persuasion
Attraction
Love
First impressions

3. Attitudes
Beliefs and feelings about objects, people and events that lead people to behave in certain ways.
Attitudes develop in many ways:
Conditioning
Observational learning
Cognitive evaluation- evidence and logic
Cognitive anchors- early attitudes

4. Attitudes and Behaviors
Which came first?
The chicken or the egg?
Cognitive dissonance
Uncomfortable tension due to a contradiction between our attitudes and behaviors
Example: “I think bullying is really horrible”
“ha ha- look at her ugly sweater”
- Contradiction between attitude and behavior

5. Persuasion Direct attempt to influence others’ attitudes Methods:
Central route- direct; evidence and logic
Peripheral route - indirect; associations
2 sided argument- both sides
Emotional appeal-

6. Who do you listen to?? The messenger- Sales Resistance Experts
Seem trustworthy
Physically attractive
Similar to you (age, ethnicity etc)
Sales Resistance
Just say no!
self esteem and social anxiety

7. Prejudice- attitude
Discrimination- behavior
Scapegoat-
individual or
group that is blamed
for a complex problem

8. Attribution Theory
People tend to explain others’ behavior based on their personality or the situation
Dispositional- personality
Situational- external
FAE- overestimate the effect of dispositional factors
(Fundamental Attribution Error)
Think of another driving cutting you off-
what do you think about this person?

9. Attraction Matching hypothesis Reciprocity- equal exchange
Triangular model of love
Intimacy
Passion
commitment
Intimacy
Passion
Commitment

10. Serial Position Effect
Primacy Effect
Remember firsts
On a list, events
First impressions are lasting
Recency Effect
Remember last (most recent)
On lists, events
Things that just happened

11. Terms- review (look up)
Serial position effect (primacy & recency)
Triangular model of love
Matching hypothesis
Reciprocity
F.A.E.
Prejudice
Discrimination
Scapegoating
Cognitive dissonance
Emotional appeal
Central route vs. peripheral route
Attitudes
Sales resistance
Cognitive anchors
Cognitive evaluation