Social Psychology Social Psychology is a broad field
Social Psychology
Social Psychology is a broad field devoted to studying:
how people relate to each other l the development and expression of attitudes l people’s attributions about their own behavior and that of others l the reasons why people engage in both prosocial and antisocial behavior l how the presence and actions of others influences the way l
Ø An attitude is a set of beliefs and feelings Ø One reason that attitudes are difficult to change is due to the Cognitive Dissonance Theory. Ø People are motivated to have consistent attitudes and behaviors, and when they do not, they experience unpleasant mental tension (dissonance).
Social Thinking n Attribution Theory – tendency to give a causal explanation for someone’s behavior, often by crediting either the situation or… the person’s disposition
Social Thinking n 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
Social Thinking n How we explain someone’s behavior affects how we react to it Tolerant reaction Situational attribution “Maybe that driver is ill. ” (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)
Attribution n Interestingly, people do more the opposite when attributing successes or failures to themselves (we blame the situation more than ourselves).
Social Thinking n Our behavior is affected by our inner attitudes as well as by external social influences Internal attitudes External influences Behavior
Jesse tells you that he got a perfect score on his psychology test …… Because Jesse is very good at psychology n Because the psychology test was easy n Jesse has always been good at psychology n Jesse just studied a lot for this particular psychology test n Mr. Baker is an easy psychology teacher n Mr. Baker is a tough psychology teacher who just happened to give one easy test n
Social Thinking – Some Concepts – Our Attitudes often direct our behavior but sometimes behavior shapes our attitudes n Foot-in-the-Door Phenomenon – “Doing Becomes – tendency for people who Believing” have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request
Group Pressure n Social Influence. .
Social Influence n Normative Social Influence – influence resulting from a person’s desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval to……Conformity – adjusting one’s behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard n Leads
Social Influence - concepts n Informational Social Influence – influence resulting from one’s willingness to accept others’ opinions about reality n …Leads To Norms – an understood rule for accepted and expected behavior – prescribes “proper” behavior
Social Influence Asch Conformity Experiment click above for a clip! 1 Standard lines 3 2 Comparison lines
Social Influence Percentage of 50 conformity to confederates’ 40 wrong answers Difficult judgments 30 20 10 Easy judgments 0 High Low Importance Slide 1 Slide 2 § Participants judged which person in Slide 2 was the same as the person in Slide 1
Obedience § Stanley Milgram: People conform, but will they simply obey others? 65% of Milgram’s “teachers” did!
A “Shocking Experiment” § Over 400 volts!!
Social Influence n Milgram’s experiment That’s Almost 70%! Percentage 100 of subjects 90 who obeyed 80 experimenter 70 60 50 40 The majority of subjects continued to obey to the end 30 20 10 0 Slight Moderate Strong (15 -60) (75 -120) (135 -180) Very strong (195 -240) Intense (255 -300) Extreme Danger XXX intensity severe (435 -450) (315 -360) (375 -420) Shock levels in volts
Obedience is higher when… n Person giving the orders is perceived as a legit Authority figure. (prof. , cop, etc) n “orderer” supported by a prestigious institute (Yale, Government, etc) n Victim is “depersonalized” or distant (no name, in another room, etc) n No role models for defiance
Group Interaction
Social Influence: somebody’s watching me… – Social Impairment – People tend to perform WORSE on difficult or new tasks in the presence of others n Social Facilitation – People tend to perform simple/well-learned tasks BETTER in the presence of others
Social Facilitation Home Advantage in Major Team Sports Sport Games Studied Home Team Winning Percentage Baseball 23, 034 53. 5% Football 2, 592 57. 3 Ice hockey 4, 322 61. 1 Basketball 13, 596 64. 4 Soccer 37, 202 69. 0
Social Influence: somebody’s helping me… n 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
Deindividuation – The loss of self awareness and self restrain occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity
Social Relations n Percentage 90 attempting to help 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1 2 3 Number of others presumed available to help 4 Bystander Effect – tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present
Social Influence Group Polarization enhancement of a group’s prevailing attitudes through discussion within the group (like AA or KKK) – Yeah! I Agree!
Social Influence High +4 n +3 +2 High-prejudice groups +1 Prejudice 0 Low-prejudice groups -1 -2 -3 Low -4 Before discussion After discussion If a group is like -minded, discussion strengthens its prevailing opinions
n Groupthink – the desire for harmony in a decisionmaking 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…
n 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…
n 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.
Social Influence Percentage agreeing “The activities of married women are best confined to home and family” Percentage 70 60 n Gender Men – a set of expected behaviors for males and for females 50 40 30 20 10 0 1967 ‘ 71 Women ‘ 75 ‘ 79 ‘ 83 Year Role ‘ 87 ‘ 91 ‘ 95
Social Relations – why do we treat each other differently? n Prejudice – an unjustifiable (and usually negative) attitude toward a group and its members – involves stereotyped beliefs, negative feelings, and a predisposition to discriminatory action n Stereotype – a generalized (often overgeneralized) belief about a group of people
Social Influences n Culture – enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a large group of people – transmitted from one generation to the next n Personal Space – buffer zone we like to maintain around our bodies
Social Relations – why prejudice & social bias? n In-group Bias – tendency to favor one’s own group and dislike or blame things on another “outgroup”
n 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
n Just-World Phenomenon – tendency of people to believe the world is “just” – people get what they deserve and deserve what they get
Social Relations n Americans today express much less racial and gender prejudice 90 80 70 Percentage 60 answering yes 50 40 Would you vote for a woman president? 30 20 10 0 1936 1945 1950 Do whites have a right to keep minorities out of their neighborhoods? 1955 1960 1965 1970 Year 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995
ØPreconceived ideas can affect the way someone acts towards another person. ØOur expectations of behavior can be influenced as well. This is called the self-fulfilling prophecy.
Social Relations n Aggression – any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt or destroy n Frustration-Aggression Principle – principle that frustration – the blocking of an attempt to achieve some goal – creates anger, which can generate aggression
Why are we aggressive? n Genetics – Some people are born to be aggressive n Neural and Biological – Your neural system facilitates aggression – chemicals in your blood stream can change aggression. . n What happens if the frontal lobes get damaged?
Social Relations n 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 40 -68 69 -78 79 -85 86 -91 Temperature in degrees Fahrenheit 92 -99
n Social Relations n Conflict – perceived incompatibility of actions, goals, or ideas Social Trap – a situation in which the conflicting parties, pursuing their selfinterest, become caught in mutually –(overfishing, near destruction of the buffalo, rainforest logging)
Social Relations – conflict reduction n Social Exchange Theory – theory that our social behavior is an exchange process, the aim of which is to maximize benefits and minimize costs n Superordinate Goals – shared goals that override differences among people and require their cooperation
Social Relations – conflict reduction among nations n Graduated and Reciprocated Initiatives in Tension-reduction (GRIT) – a strategy designed to decrease international tensions n one side announces recognition of mutual interests and initiates a small conciliatory act n opens door for reciprocation by other party
Social Relations- What attracts us to others? n Proximity – mere exposure effect- repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases liking of them n Physical Attractiveness – youthfulness may be associated with health and fertility n Similarity – friends share common attitudes, beliefs, interests
Attractiveness n Worldwide, men prefer youth and health, women prefer resources and social status
Social Relations n Passionate Love – an aroused state of intense positive absorption in another – usually present at the beginning of a love relationship n Companionate Love – deep affectionate attachment we feel for those with whom our lives are intertwined
The key to lasting and satisfying relationships n Equity – a condition in which people receive from a relationship in proportion to what they give to it n Self-disclosure – revealing intimate aspects of oneself to others n Altruism – unselfish regard for the welfare of others
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