Social Influences

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Social Influences Social Psychology

• Social Perception
• Social Influence
• Social Relations

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Social PerceptionMaking Attributions

• Social Perception
• The processes by which we come to know and
  evaluate other persons
• Attribution Theory
• A set of theories that describe how people
  explain the causes of behavior
• Consensus do others have same opinion
• Distinctiveness how similar is this opinion to
  others from the same person
• Consistency does person react same in similar
  situations

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Social Perception Kelleys Attribution Theory

• For behaviors that are consistent, people make
  personal attributions when consensus and
  distinctiveness are low.
• People will make stimulus attributions when
  consensus and distinctiveness are high.

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Social Perception Fundamental Attribution Error

• A tendency to overestimate the impact of personal
  causes of behavior and to overlook the role of
  situations
• Jones Harris experiment
• Attribute speakers position to his/her attitude
  regardless of actual situation

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Self-serving attributions

• Need to maintain self-esteem
• When students receive exam grades they
• Take credit for doing well (attribute to self)
• Blame the professor or the test for doing poorly
  (attribute to situation)
• We always take credit for our success and
  distance ourselves from our failures.

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Social Perception Fundamental Attribution Error

• A simulated quiz show gave questioners an
  advantage over contestants.
• Observers and contestants still judged
  questioners as more knowledgeable.

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Social Perception Fundamental Attribution Error
A Western Bias?

• U.S. and Indian subjects described the causes of
  several behaviors.
• Cultural differences were not seen in young
  children.
• With age, Americans made more personal
  attributions
• However, Indians made more situational
  attributions.

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Impression formation

• Attributions are the first step in impression
  formation
• Impressions based on weighted averages
• Once we form an impression, we are unlikely to
  revise it even in face of contradictory evidence

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Theories of impression formation

• Cognitive-confirmation Bias
• Primacy effect- first information most important
• Change-of-meaning phenomena change meanings to
  fit impressions
• Behavioral-confirmation Bias
• Like self-fulfilling prophecy beliefs become
  reality.

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Social PerceptionForming ImpressionsMixed
Evidence Does it Extinguish or Reinforce First
Impressions?

• Participants were asked to evaluate a persons
  academic potential and had high or low
  expectations.
• Half watched videotape of person taking
  achievement test.
• Without viewing the tape, expectations influenced
  evaluations.
• Viewing the videotape magnified these initial
  expectations.

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Social PerceptionForming Impressions
Behavioral-Confirmation Process

• We use our existing beliefs to interpret new
  information, which affects our behavior.
• This may create false support for our biases.

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Social PerceptionAttraction

• Two important predictors of attraction are
  similarity and physical attractiveness.
• Mere-Exposure Effect
• The attraction to a stimulus that results from
  increased exposure to it

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Social PerceptionAttraction Media Influences on
the Attractiveness Stereotype

• Participants watched film clips with strong or
  weak link between beauty and goodness.
• Later they judged graduate school applications
  which included photo.
• Those exposed to the stereotype favored the
  attractive applicants more.

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Social Influence Social Influence as
Automatic The Chameleon Effect

• Participants worked with a partner.
• Hidden cameras recorded behavior.
• Participants mimicked their partner without
  realizing it.

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Social InfluenceConformityA Classic Case of
Suggestibility

• Subjects in dark room were shown a light and
  while alone estimated the distance the light
  moved.
• In three group sessions, they again made distance
  estimations.
• Subjects estimates converged on a common value
  thus establishing a group norm.

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Social InfluenceConformityLine-Judgment Task
Used in Aschs Study

• Subjects in a group were asked which comparison
  line is the same length as the standard line.
• Confederates in the group picked the wrong line.
• Subjects went along with the wrong answer on 37
  of trials.

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Social InfluenceConformity

• Informational Influence
• Conformity motivated by the belief that others
  are correct
• Seen in Sherifs study
• Normative Influence
• Conformity motivated by a fear of social
  rejection
• Seen in Aschs study

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Social InfluencePrivate and Public Conformity

• Under conditions of low motivation, the
  difficulty of the task did not influence
  conformity.
• However, when motivated, people conform more when
  the task is difficult and less when it is easy.

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Social InfluenceGroup Size and Conformity

• Conformity increases with group size up to a
  point.
• Fifteen people had no more impact on conformity
  than did four people.

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Social InfluenceObedience to Authority

• In Milgrams studies of obedience, 65 of
  participants fully obeyed the experimenter and
  delivered 450 volts of electric shock.
• Three factors influence obedience.
• The authority
• The victim
• The situation

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Social InfluenceAttitudes and Attitude Change

• Persuasive Communications Involve
• The Source
• Credibility
• Likability
• The Message
• Discrepancy
• Emotional appeal
• The Audience
• Motivation
• Cognitive ability

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Social InfluenceAttitudes and Attitude Change
Two Routes to Persuasion

• If the central route is taken, people are
  influenced by strong arguments and evidence.
• If the peripheral route is used, people are
  influenced by superficial cues (e.g., the
  attractiveness of the source).

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Social InfluenceAttitudes and Attitude Change
Cognitive Dissonance Study

• Behavior that conflicts with attitudes can arouse
  cognitive dissonance.
• Dissonance creates tension, which people are
  motivated to reduce.
• Dissonance can be decreased by changing the
  attitude that conflicts with behavior.
• Group paid 1 to lie about the boring task said
  they liked it more.

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Social InfluenceGroup Processes
Social Facilitation The tendency for the
presence of others to enhance performance on
simple tasks and impair performance on complex
tasks.
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Social InfluenceGroup Processes Social
Loafing

• People tend to exert less effort in group tasks
  for which individuals contributions are pooled.
• The more people in the group, the more each
  individuals effort decreases.

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Social InfluenceGroup ProcessesWays to Decrease
Social Loafing

• Separate each individuals performance from that
  of the groups effort.
• Make each individuals contribution necessary
  for overall group success.
• Reward individual as well as group.
• Increase cohesiveness of group.
• Make tasks personally meaningful.

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Social InfluenceGroupthink

• A group decision-making style by which group
  members convince themselves that they are correct
• A group may over-emphasize unity when members
  suppress their own doubts and open dissent is
  stifled by other group members.
• This can lead to lower-quality decisions made by
  the group.

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Social Relations Aggression

• Behavior intended to inflict harm on another
  person who is motivated to avoid it
• Aggression is influenced by
• Biology (e.g., testosterone)
• Aversive stimulation (e.g., pain)
• Situational Cues (e.g., weapons)
• Media violence

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Social Relations Aggression The Link
Between Heat and Violence
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Social Relations Aggression

• Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis
• The theory that frustration causes aggression
• Deindividuation
• A loss of individuality, often experienced in a
  group, that results in a breakdown of internal
  restraints against deviant behavior

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Social Relations Altruism

• Helping behavior that is motivated primarily by a
  desire to benefit others, not oneself
• Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis
• The theory that an empathic response to a person
  in need produces altruistic helping

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Social Relations Altruism Two Pathways to
Helping

• People have two reactions to someone in need
• Personal distress (guilt, anxiety, and
  discomfort)
• Empathy (sympathy and compassion for the person)
• Both selfish and altruistic motives can lead to
  helping

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Social Relations The Bystander Effect

• The finding that the presence of others inhibits
  helping in an emergency
• Diffusion of Responsibility
• A tendency for bystanders to assume that someone
  else will help

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Social Relations A Model of Bystander
Intervention
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Social Relations Bystander Intervention
Cyberhelping

• Individuals in an online chat room exhibited the
  bystander effect.
• However,when the individuals name was
  identified, the presence of others did not
  decrease helping as measured by the time it took
  people to help.

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