Title: Social%20Psychology
1Social Psychology
2Social Psychology is a broad field devoted to
studying
3- how people relate to each other
- the development and expression of attitudes
- peoples attributions about their own behavior
and that of others - the reasons why people engage in both prosocial
and antisocial behavior - how the presence and actions of others
influences the way people behave
4- An attitude is a set of beliefs and feelings
- One reason that attitudes are difficult to change
is due to the Cognitive Dissonance Theory. - People are motivated to have consistent attitudes
and behaviors, and when they do not, they
experience unpleasant mental tension
(dissonance).
5Social Thinking
- Attribution Theory
- tendency to give a causal explanation for
someones behavior, often by crediting either
the situation or
the persons disposition
6Social Thinking
- Fundamental Attribution Error
- when explaining anothers behavior, we tend to
underestimate the impact of the situation and to
overestimate the impact of personal disposition
7Social Thinking
- How we explain someones behavior affects how we
react to it
8Attribution
- Interestingly, people do more the opposite when
attributing successes or failures to themselves
(we blame the situation more than ourselves).
9Social Thinking
- Our behavior is affected by our inner attitudes
as well as by external social influences
10Jesse tells you that he got a perfect score on
his psychology test
- Because Jesse is very good at psychology
- Because the psychology test was easy
- Jesse has always been good at psychology
- Jesse just studied a lot for this particular
psychology test - Mr. Baker is an easy psychology teacher
- Mr. Baker is a tough psychology teacher who just
happened to give one easy test
11Social Thinking Some Concepts
- Our Attitudes often direct our behavior but
sometimes behavior shapes our attitudes - Foot-in-the-Door Phenomenon
- tendency for people who have first agreed to a
small request to comply later with a larger
request
12Group Pressure
13Social Influence
- Normative Social Influence
- influence resulting from a persons desire to
gain approval or avoid disapproval - Leads toConformity
- adjusting ones behavior or thinking to coincide
with a group standard
14Social Influence - concepts
- Informational Social Influence
- influence resulting from ones willingness to
accept others opinions about reality - Leads To Norms
- an understood rule for accepted and expected
behavior - prescribes proper behavior
15Social Influence
Asch Conformity Experiment
16Social Influence
- Participants judged which person in Slide 2 was
the same as the person in Slide 1
17Obedience
- Stanley Milgram People conform, but will they
simply obey others?
65 of Milgrams teachers did!
18A Shocking Experiment
19(No Transcript)
20Social Influence
21Obedience is higher when
- Person giving the orders is perceived as a legit
Authority figure. (prof., cop, etc) - orderer supported by a prestigious institute
(Yale, Government, etc) - Victim is depersonalized or distant (no name,
in another room, etc) - No role models for defiance
22Whos Fault Is it?
- Who is MOST responsible for the murder?
- Note that the murderer does the exact same thing
in BOTH scenarios! - Did you blame the woman? The boss?
- Did the character of the victim influence your
decision? - Did you make an attribution error?
23DO NOT WRITE YOUR NAME ON THIS SHEET ANSWER
COMPLETELY ANONOMOUSLY!
- If you could be totally invisible for 24 hours
and were completely assured that you would not be
detected or held responsible for your actions,
what would you do?
24Group Interaction
25Social Influencesomebodys watching me
- Social Impairment
- People tend to perform WORSE on difficult or new
tasks in the presence of others
- Social Facilitation
- People tend to perform simple/well-learned tasks
BETTER in the presence of others
26Social Facilitation
27Social Influencesomebodys helping me
- 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
28Deindividuation
- The loss of self awareness and self restrain
occurring in group situations that foster arousal
and anonymity
29Social Relations
- Bystander Effect
- tendency for any given bystander to be less
likely to give aid if other bystanders are
present
30Social Influence
- Group Polarization
- enhancement of a groups prevailing attitudes
through discussion within the group (like AA or
KKK) Yeah! I Agree!
31Social Influence
- If a group is like-minded, discussion strengthens
its prevailing opinions
32- Groupthink
- the desire for harmony in a decision-making 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
33- 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
34- 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 its so good that
everyone must like it too. Shes shocked to find
people who dont like it as much as she does.
35Social Influence
Percentage agreeing The activities of married
women are best confined to home and family
70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
Percentage
- Gender Role
- a set of expected behaviors for males and for
females
Men
Women
1967 71 75 79 83 87 91
95
Year
36Social Relations why do we treat each other
differently?
- Prejudice
- an unjustifiable (and usually negative) attitude
toward a group and its members - involves stereotyped beliefs, negative feelings,
and a predisposition to discriminatory action - Stereotype
- a generalized (often overgeneralized) belief
about a group of people
37Social Influences
- Culture
- enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and
traditions shared by a large group of people - transmitted from one generation to the next
- Personal Space
- buffer zone we like to
- maintain around our bodies
38Social Relations why prejudice social bias?
- In-group Bias
- tendency to favor ones own group and dislike or
blame things on another out-group
39- 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
40- Just-World Phenomenon
- tendency of people to believe the world is just
- people get what they deserve and deserve what
they get
41Social Relations
- Americans today express much less racial and
gender prejudice
Percentage answering yes
42- Preconceived ideas can affect the way someone
acts towards another person.
- Our expectations of behavior can be influenced as
well. This is called the self-fulfilling
prophecy.
43Social Relations
- Aggression
- any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt
or destroy - Frustration-Aggression Principle
- principle that frustration the blocking of an
attempt to achieve some goal creates anger,
which can generate aggression
44Why are we aggressive?
- Genetics Some people are born to be aggressive
- Neural and Biological Your neural system
facilitates aggression chemicals in your blood
stream can change aggression.. - What happens if the frontal lobes get damaged?
45Social Relations
- Is there a CORRELATION BETWEEN WEATHER AND
AGGRESSION?
46Social Relations
- Conflict
- perceived incompatibility of actions, goals, or
ideas
- Social Trap
- a situation in which a group of people act to
obtain short-term individual gains, which in the
long run leads to a loss for the group as a whole.
- (overfishing, near destruction of the buffalo,
rainforest logging)
47Social Relations conflict reduction
- Social Exchange Theory
- the theory that our social behavior is an
exchange process, the aim of which is to maximize
benefits and minimize costs - Superordinate Goals
- shared goals that override differences among
people and require their cooperation
48Social Relations conflict reduction among
nations
- Graduated and Reciprocated Initiatives in
Tension-reduction (GRIT) - a strategy designed to decrease international
tensions - one side announces recognition of mutual
interests and initiates a small conciliatory act - opens door for reciprocation by other party
49Social Relations- What attracts us to others?
- Proximity
- mere exposure effect- repeated exposure to novel
stimuli increases liking of them - Physical Attractiveness
- youthfulness may be associated with health and
fertility - Similarity
- friends share common attitudes, beliefs, interests
50Attractiveness
- Worldwide, men prefer youth and health, women
prefer resources and social status
51Social Relations
- Passionate Love
- an aroused state of intense positive absorption
in another - usually present at the beginning of a love
relationship - Companionate Love
- deep affectionate attachment we feel for those
with whom our lives are intertwined
52The key to lasting and satisfying relationships
- Equity
- a condition in which people receive from a
relationship in proportion to what they give to
it - Self-disclosure
- revealing intimate aspects of oneself to others
- Altruism
- unselfish regard for the welfare of others