WHS AP Psychology Unit 12 Social Pyschology Essential

WHS AP Psychology Unit 12: Social Pyschology Essential Task 12 -1: Apply attribution theory to explain the behavior of others with specific attention to the fundamental attribution error, self-serving bias, just-world hypothesis and differences between collectivistic and individualistic cultures

Self-Serving Bias Fundamental Attribution Error Stereotypes Unit 12: Social Psychology 12 -2 Attribution (explain others behavior) Cognitive Dissonance Schema 12 -1 Just-World Hypothesis Primacy Effect Attitude: Formation and change (Persuasion) Social Cognition Foot in the Door Routes to Persuasion Individualistic vs. Collectivistic Culture Social Behavior deindividuation, the self-fulfilling prophecy, bystander effect social facilitation Impact of Others on the Person 12 -3 12 -5 Treatment of group members Attraction In-Group/Out -Group Impact of Others on the Group 12 -6 / 12 -7 Conformity Compliance Group Polarization 12 -4 Group Think

Social Psychology • The scientific study of the ways in which the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of one individual are influenced by the real, imagined, or inferred behavior or characteristics of other people • Today’s class: – How you think about people – How you explain their behavior

Attribution: Why did he do that? • Attribution Theory: tries to explain how people make judgments about the causes of other people’s behavior • Three criteria used to judge behavior – Distinctiveness: Is this how the person treats everyone or are you different? – Consistency: Has the person always treated you this way or is this different? – Consensus: Do other people do this same thing or is this really different?

Attribution: Why did he do that? • Bob walks past you without saying hi. – Distinctiveness: Your explanation as to why Bob did this will be different if he does this to everyone in the hall or just you – Consistency: Your explanation as to why Bob did this will be different if he always says hi to you or if you don’t really know each other. – Consensus: Whether you’re in New York vs. a college of 600 will change how you explain Bob’s behavior.

Biases in Attribution • Fundamental attribution error: when explaining the behavior of others this is the tendency to overemphasize personal causes underemphasize situational causes • Actor-Observer Bias: This is the opposite used by us when we explain our own behavior. We overemphasize situational causes and downplay personality. • Defensive attribution – Self-Serving Bias: Tendency to attribute our successes to our own efforts and our failures to external factors – Just-world hypothesis: Assumption bad things happen to bad people and good things happen to good people • Attribution across cultures varies dramatically

Effects of Attribution How we explain someone’s behavior affects how we react to it.

Collectivistic vs. Individualistic