Social Psychology Social Thinking n Attribution Theory tendency
Social Psychology
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 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
Stanford Prison Experiment n Philip Zimbardo – Will students take on the role of prison guard and prisoner?
n Guards began abusing the prisoners n Experiment was ended after only 6 days!
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 Influence: somebody’s helping me… n Social Loafing – People in groups exert less effort when working toward a common goal than when working individually
Deindividuation – The loss of self awareness and self restrain – Occurring in group situations
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
Kitty Genovese Case n Repeatedly stabbed while 38 people watched from their apartments and did nothing!
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- 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
- Slides: 28