Chapter 16 Social Psychology Definition Subfield of psychology

Chapter 16: Social Psychology Definition: Sub-field of psychology that studies of how others influence our thoughts, feelings and actions Focuses on… - How large social forces such as groups, social roles and norms bring out the best and worst in all of us - Explaining why people act differently in the same situation, and why the same person may act differently in different situations.

Chapter 16: Social Psychology TOPICS Our Thoughts About Others - Attribution - Attitudes Our Feelings about Others - Prejudice & Discrimination - Interpersonal Attraction Our Actions Toward Others - Social Influence - Group Processes - Aggression - Altruism Applying Social Psych. to Social Problems - Reducing Prejudice & Discrimination

Asch - Line test w Conformity - yielding to social pressure • Asch’s Line Conclusions (60%) 1) subjects often conform to a group, even when the group states clearly inaccurate conclusions 2) conformity to a group increases with the size of the group, up to five or six, but only when the group is unanimous in its beliefs

Milgram- Shock Test w Obedience (60% finished) • Milgram’s Shock Conclusions 1) situational pressures can make people obey instructions that go against their belief systems

Obedience Experiment

Attribution Theory Definition: Inferences that people draw about the causes of events, others’ behavior, and their own behavior Dispositional Attribution: we attribute a person’s behavior to an internal state (personality, abilities, etc. ) Situational Attribution: attributing a person’s behavior to an external state (stress, abuse, hardship, wealth, etc. ) w Function: People like to explain and understand behavior and the events that impact their lives w Attributions are made when an event is unusual and personal

Covariation Model of Attribution

Attribution Example

Bias in Attribution w Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE): Observer’s bias in favor of internal attributions in explaining others’ behavior instead of external (Ex: Someone else drops out of college because “they couldn’t handle the pressure or work load” – internal. You may ignore that tuition went up and their family cannot afford it) w Defensive Attribution: Tendency to blame the victim for their misfortune, so that one feels less likely to be victimized in a similar way “JUST WORLD” Self-Serving Bias: Tendency to attribute one’s successes to dispositional factors and one’s failures to situational factors w In-group bias- tendency to favor your own group over the out-group w

Attitudes & Attitude Formation w Components of Attitudes • Cognitive: What you believe • Affective: How you feel about it • Behavioral: What you are willing to do about it - When we observe & respond to the world around us, it is never without the influence of our attitudes (even if we don’t realize it). - Advertisers spend millions because they know that attitudes can be shaped & changed…. to their benefit $$ w Definition Positive, negative, or mixed feelings, based on our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events (selffulfilling prophecy) Ex: A friend tells you that they believe Coach Stove is a mean teacher. You may feel dislike for Coach Stove, and act unfriendly.

Attitudes can Affect Action § Deindividuation- Losing your individuality in a group § Role-playing: people who behaved in certain ways in scripted scenarios have adopted attitudes in keeping with those roles-

Behavior in Groups w Bystander Effect: less likely to help others when in groups than when alone Social Loafing: individuals produce less work (reduced efficiency & effort) when working in groups than by themselves Diffusion of responsibility helps explain both. w Decision Making • Group Polarization - when group discussion leads to a more “polarized” point of view by the group • Groupthink - when feel pressure to conform to the group, stops critical thinking to avoid dissention in the group • Ex: Kennedy and the Bay of Pigs

Group Polarization

Percentage of Bystanders Helping Victims & Time Taken

Cognitive Dissonance & Social Facilitation Cognitive Dissonance Theory: When we act in a way not consistent with our beliefs we feel tension. We then revise our beliefs to align with our behavior. Example: Asked to do hour long boring task Offered $1 or $20 to say it’s fun Results: Larger payment led to less dissonance b/c high payment could account for ‘lying’. $1 was not enough to justify lying so those people changed their attitude to saying they enjoyed the task Example: After you go to all the trouble of buying a new house you start to like it more Social Facilitation Being watched while doing task makes you do better

Tolerant vs Intolerant Is basic human nature tolerant or intolerant? Write a couple points in your notes w It does not mean you are born one way or another, but what behavior is typically shown throughout history. w 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Tolerant Intolerant w

p e C a r t o o n

S h o w i n g B i

Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination Stereotype: Thoughts and beliefs held about people strictly because of their membership in a group (race, gender, occupation…) w Prejudice: A negative attitude held toward members of a group w Discrimination: Negative actions towards a group w

Explanations These often arise from learning, personal experience, mental shortcuts, economic & political competition, & displaced aggression w Outgroup Homogeneity: Judge members of outgroup as more alike w Scapegoat: Blame other groups without as much power w Social Identity (in-group bias): Favor own group w Learning Theory: Classical or operant conditioning w Cognitive: Easier to organize our world if we ‘categorize’

Person Perception w Definition: The process of forming impressions of others w Impressions are influenced by: • Physical appearance • good looking people are seen as intelligent, friendly, and confident • Schemas: Organized clusters of ideas about categories of social events and people • 1 st Impressions: self fulfilling prophecy, primacy

Social Influence w Chameleon Effect: our tendency to unconsciously mimic those around us • • Yawning when others yawn Picking up the mood of a happy or sad person Dress like your friends This automatic mimicry is an ingredient in our ability to empathize with others

Altruism: Actions designed to help others with no obvious benefit to the helper Why are we altruistic? Evolutionary Perspective: favors survival of genes Egoistic Model: motivated by anticipated gain Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis: sometimes for selfish gains, other times truly selfless & motivated by concern for others Kitty Genovese Story…diffusion of responsibility…

Persuasion- changing someone’s attitude w Source: credible, trustworthy, likable, attractive, similarity w Message: Fear vs. logic, one or two sided, repetition w Channel: TV, radio, internet, or in person w Receiver: Personality, expectations, preexisting attitudes, intelligence, needs

Persuasion Techniques w w w w Limited time offer Everyone is buying!!! DEAL!!! Reciprocation Foot in the door Door in the face Low-balling

Results of Attraction w Friendship: An attraction driven by a set of rules that must be followed for the relationship to continue • Examples of rules: • help when needed • trust and confide in each other w Romantic Love: Intense feeling of attraction to another within an erotic context with future expectations w Compassionate Love: Strong and lasting attraction characterized by trust, caring, tolerance, and friendship w Triangular Theory of Love: (see next slide)

Extra Credit w. I have 175 points to give to your class. w. You will write your name on a paper with the number of points requested (10 pts max, 10 raises about 3% ) w. You are not allowed to show anyone how many points you asked for, or look to see how much a classmate is requesting. Only Mr. Reed will know. w. If students ask for more than 175 points, no one will get any points.

Extra Credit w. You may ask for 5 or 10 points. w. I will randomly pair your choice with another student in the class. No one will know who has been paired together besides me. If both people ask for 5 points, both get 5 points If one asks for 5 and the other 10, the 10 gets ten and the 5 gets nothing. If both ask for 10, both get nothing.

Quickymart Robbery Confess 1 year, maybe probation Don’t confess- 15 years

Social Traps Definition- People do what is in their own self interest, even though it may hurt the group. Short term benefits instead of long term. Examples- Overfishing, logging industry, health care (I have mine), union membership, interrogation of suspects), PHX area gas crisis, PED, NFL lawsuit, ball hog

Friends Write down a list of your friends in your notes (try to limit to 10 or less) w Write down two of your strongest values/traits w

Attraction w Contributors to Attraction • Proximity: Physical closeness (mere exposure effect) • Similarity: Commonalities between two people • Reciprocity: The tendency to like those who like you • Physical Attractiveness: Pleasant physical appearance (often different depending on culture), signs of health such as symmetry (universal) • Matching Hypothesis: equally attractive people date

Triangular Conception of Love

Components of Attitudes