Chapter 12: Introduction to Social Psychology Concepts

Social Psychology

An individual's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by social situations.

Intrapersonal topics

Emotions and attitudes, the self, and social cognition.

Interpersonal topics

Helping behavior, aggression, prejudice and discrimination, attraction and close relationships, and group processes.

Dispositionism

View that our behavior is determined by internal factors (attribute of a person such as personality traits and temperament).

Situationism

View that our behavior and actions are determined by our immediate environment and surroundings.

Attributions

Evaluation of or feelings toward a person, idea, or object that give us the explanation about other people's behavior.

Locus of control

Refers to the degree to which individuals believe they can control events affecting them (internal versus external).

Stability

Refers to whether an attribution is perceived as stable or unstable.

Controllability

Refers to whether an attribution is perceived as controllable or uncontrollable.

Fundamental Attribution Error

Tendency to overemphasize internal factors as explanations/attributions for the behavior of other people.

Victim-blaming

An attitude or belief suggesting that the victim rather than the perpetrator bears responsibility for the assault.

Just-world hypothesis

The belief that people get the outcomes they deserve.

Actor-Observer Bias

Tendency to attribute other people's behaviors to internal factors and attribute our own behaviors to situational forces.

Self-Serving Bias

Tendency to take credit by making dispositional or internal attributions for positive outcomes but situational or external attributions for negative outcomes.

Social Role

A pattern of behavior that is expected of a person in a given setting or group.

Social Norm

A group's expectation of what is appropriate and acceptable behavior for its members.

Script

The sequence of events expected in a specific setting.

Scripts

Important sources of information to guide behavior in situations.

Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment

Demonstrated the power of social roles, social norms, and scripts.

Stanford Prison Experiment (1971)

Mock prison, participants (male college students), randomly assigned to play the role of prisoners or guards.

Guards' behavior in the experiment

Guards started to harass prisoners in an increasingly sadistic manner.

Prisoners' response in the experiment

Prisoners began to show signs of severe anxiety and hopelessness.

Duration of the Stanford Prison Experiment

The two-week study was ended after six days.

Attitude

Our evaluation of a person, an idea, or an object.

Components of attitude

Three components: Affective component (feelings), Behavioral component (the effect of the attitude on behavior), Cognitive component (beliefs and knowledge).

Change of attitudes

Attitudes can be changed by our own free will or by external sources.

Cognitive Dissonance

Psychological discomfort arising from holding two or more inconsistent attitudes, behaviors, or cognitions.

Example of cognitive dissonance

Believing cigarettes are bad for your health but smoking cigarettes anyway.

Reducing cognitive dissonance

Change behavior, change belief through rationalization or denial, or add a new cognition.

Persuasion

Process of changing our attitudes toward something based on some kind of communication.

Foot-in-the-Door Technique

Persuader gets a person to agree to a large request by having them agree to a modest request first.

Principle of consistency

Past behavior often directs future behavior.

Freedman and Fraser (1966)

Participants who agreed to a small request were more likely to agree to a larger request later.

Conformity

The act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to group norms.

Solomon Asch

Conducted a conformity study using line segments to illustrate judgment tasks.

Judgment task in Asch's study

Participants had to determine which line on the right (a, b, or c) is the same length as line x on the left.

Conformity

the change in a person's behavior to go along with the group, even if they do not agree with the group

Asch effect

the influence of the group majority on an individual's judgement

Factors that make a person more likely to conform

The size of the majority, The presence of another dissenter, The public or private nature of the responses

Obedience

the change of an individual's behavior to comply with a demand by an authority figure

Stanley Milgram

Participants were told to shock 'learners' (confederate) for giving a wrong answer to test items; Participants believed they were giving the learners shocks, which increased all the way up to 450 volts; Two out of three (65%) participants continued to administer shocks to an unresponsive learner

Groupthink

the modification of the opinions of members of a group to align with what they believe is the group consensus

Group Polarization

the strengthening of an original group attitude after the discussion of views within a group

Prejudice

a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience

Discrimination

the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things

Dual Attitudes Model

Explicit attitudes: conscious and controllable; Implicit attitudes: unconscious and uncontrollable

Racism

prejudice and discrimination against an individual based on race

Ageism

prejudice and discrimination toward individuals based solely on their age

Sexism

prejudice and discrimination toward individuals based on their sex

Homophobia

prejudice and discrimination of individuals based solely on their sexual orientation

Transphobia

prejudice and discrimination of individuals who are perceived to break or blur stereotypical gender roles

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

an expectation held by a person that alters his or her behavior in a way that tends to make it true

Confirmation Bias

Tendency to seek out information that supports our stereotypes and ignore information that is inconsistent with our stereotypes

In-groups

a group we identify with or see ourselves as belonging to

Out-groups

a group that we view as fundamentally different from us

In-group bias

prejudice and discrimination against out-group

Scapegoating

the act of blaming an out-group when the in-group experiences frustration or is blocked from obtaining a goal

Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968)

Disadvantaged students who had teachers that expected them to perform well had higher grades than disadvantaged students whose teachers expected them to do poorly

Prosocial behavior

voluntary behavior with the intent to help other people

Altruism

people's desire to help others even if the costs outweigh the benefits of helping

Empathy

the capacity to understand another person's perspective, to feel what he/she feels

Homophily

the tendency for people to form social networks with others who are similar

Matching Hypothesis

people tend to form relationships with those they view as their equal in physical attractiveness and social desirability

Reciprocity

the give and take in relationships

Self-disclosure

the sharing of personal information

Sternberg's Triangular Theory of Love

Seven types of love can be described from combinations of three components: Intimacy, Passion, Commitment

Intimacy

sharing of details and intimate thoughts and emotions

Passion

physical attraction

Commitment

standing by the person

Social Exchange Theory

People keep track of the costs and benefits of forming and maintaining a relationship

Proximity

the people with whom you have the most contact

Similarity

people who are similar to us in background, attitudes, and lifestyle (factor influencing attraction)

Helping

self-serving because our egos are involved, and we receive benefits

Emphatic people

make emotional connections with others and feel compelled to help

Reciprocity:

We contribute to relationships but expect to receive benefits in return

Intimate connections

Leads to more intimate connections through self-disclosure

Benefits of relationships

Typically, only those relationships in which the benefits outweigh the costs will be maintained

Homophily

the tendency for people to form social networks with others who are similar (factor influencing attraction)