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Social Psychology

the scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another

Social Psychologists want to know why different people may act differently in a given situation

Attribution theory

we explain someone's behavior by crediting either the situation or the person's disposition

Proposed by Fritz Heider

Fundamental attribution error

tendency for observers, when analyzing others' behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and overestimate the impact of a personal disposition

We overestimate other people's personality

We underestimate the power of the situation

Example- is your teacher shy or outgoing? What about you?

Western cultures fall victim to this error more often

People in East Asian cultures are more sensitive to the situation

IMPORTANT- When it is about ourselves we are MORE sensitive to the situation

Real life examples-

A jury must decide if a shooting was malicious or in self-defense

Social and economic effects of attribution

Why is someone poor or unemployed?

Conservatives tend to say- People get what they deserve. Those who don't work are freeloaders

Liberals tend say "If you or I had to live with the same poor education, lack of opportunity, discrimination, would we be any better off"

Attitudes

feelings, often influenced by our beliefs that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people and events

Peripheral route persuasion

occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker's attractiveness

Going around (periphery) the topic in a way that is influential

Central route persuasion

occurs when interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts

Focus is directly on topic, evidence is usually provided

People will believe something more strongly if they have to defend what they believe

Attitude follows behavior

Dozens of experiments researchers coaxes people into acting against their attitudes or moral standards and all have the same result= doing becomes believing

Racial attitudes- right after desegregation in US and passage of Civil rights Act of 1964 white americans expressed diminishing racial prejudice

Moral action strengthens moral convictions

Foot-in-the-door phenomenon

tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request

Door-in-the-face phenomenon

the persuader attempts to convince the respondent to comply by making a large request that the respondent will most likely turn down, much like a metaphorical slamming of a door in the persuaders face.

Role-

set of expectations(norms) about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave

When you become a high school student, or a college student you strive to follow the social prescriptions

At first you may feel phony because you are acting a role, but eventually you become it

Example- Stanford Prison Experiment by Philip Zimbardo

Randomly assigned college students to play a prison guard or a prisoner

Simulation became too real and prisoners broke down and after 6 days the experiment had to be ended

Cognitive dissonance

theory that we act to reduce the discomfort(dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts(cognitions) are inconsistent.

when we become aware that our attitudes and our actions clash we can reduce our resulting dissonance by changing our attitude

For example- purchasing a new car that fuel efficient despite believing they are environmentally conscious

Eating meat while also calling oneself an animal lover

Being against sweatshops but purchasing products made there

Animals, and humans tend to go with what the group does

sometimes called the Chameleon effect

If a monkey yawns so does another monkey- same with humans

If someone yawns, laughs, coughs, stares at something, checks their phone the group will likely do the same

Its automatic without conscious thought

Hearing someone with a sad sounding voice speak, makes us sad

It can be good, but can also be harmful

It helps us to empathize

If a school shooting occurs there is increase in shootings, same with suicide

Mimicry is a type of conformity

Conformity-

adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with group standard

We are more likely to conform when:

Made to feel insecure

In a group with at least 3 people

In group where everyone else agrees

Admire the groups status

From a culture that strongly encourages respect for social standards

Asch's conformity study

1955 experiment where a participant believed he was taking a visual perception test, but was really there to see if he would conform to the other confederates in the group

Confederate- someone in an experiment who is "in on it" and playing a role

In Asch's experiment they were asked to compare lines and find the line that matched.

Each confederate, acting like a participant, verbally responded giving an answer- "number 2"

At first the answers the confederates give were correct, but then the were clearly all the same wrong answer

Results- more than ⅓ of participants gave the wrong answer to conform to group

Normative social influence

influence resulting from a person's desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval

Social norms

understood rules for accepted and expected behavior

We need to belong / we pay for being different

Informational social influence

influence resulting from one's willingness to accept others' opinions about reality

Seeing that everyone is going the other direction on the highway, it can be helpful to assume you are wrong and they are right!

1963

Milgram's obedience study- Stanley Milgram conducted a famous obedience experiment where participants believed they were shocking someone at increasing voltages to see how long they would obey

What happened:

Participant volunteered for a learning experiment (really about obedience)

Participant and a confederate draw straws to see who was the teacher and who was the learner

Teacher gives pairing words and if the learner answers incorrectly the teacher is to push a button to send a shock to the learner (not really shocked!)

With each succeeding error the voltage increases

The learner gets increasingly upset, complains of pain and eventually goes silent

If teacher resists going forward, Milgram's assistant encourages them, "it is absolutely essential you continue this experiment" or "you have no other choice you must go on"

Over 60% fully complied all the up to the last switch

When he did the experiment again and added the participant having a "slight heart condition" results were similar

Up to 65% of the new teachers obeyed all the way up to the full 450 volts

In 10 later studies women obeyed at rates similar to men

Are today's people less likely to conform?

70% in 2009 replication of study obeyed up to 150 volts, only a slight reduction

Milgram found

people are most likely to obey when

Person giving the orders perceived as legitimate

Authority figure was supported by prestigious institution

His results were higher when conducted at Yale

Victim was depersonalized or at a distance, even in another room

There were no role models for defiance

Real life application- obedience alone does not explain Holocaust but does play a role

Those that dissented to kill Jews did so early- similar in milgram's experiment also

When kindness to someone collided with obedience, obedience often

won

Demonstrates that strong social influences can make people commit cruel acts

We often focus on the end point- someone giving another person 450 volts of electricity, and we cannot comprehend doing the same.

but we don't focus on how they got there

In Society great evils sometimes grow out of peoples compliance with lesser evils

When Milgram tried to experiment and had someone else push the button- 93% complied

Many people were a part of the Holocaust despite not directly killing people

It only takes ordinary people corrupted by the situation

Social Facilitation

the improved performance on a task in the presence of others

Research shows that athletes race faster with an audience present or someone else to compete against when compared to racing the clock

This is true when the task is well trained and/or "easy" for the individual to complete

High arousal level for easy tasks

Social Interference

tasks we find difficult may seem impossible with an audience watching

Social Loafing

tendency for individuals in a group to exert themselves less and relying on the rest of the group to do the work

Tendency to think their lack of effort would go unnoticed

Less accountability

Many studies back this up

Deindividuation

the loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occuring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity

Examples

During and After intense games- MLB, NHL, NFL, MLS etc. people say or do things they might not otherwise do

Store lootings, light cars on fire, storm the field, yelling things they would otherwise not say etc.

White supremacist march in University of Virginia campus shouting "blood and soil"

People looting in BLM protests

Group Polarization

enhancement of a groups already-existing attitudes through discussion within the group

Study-

Low-prejudiced groups who discussed racial issues expressed even less prejudice following their discussion of racial issues

Terrorism studies- terrorism does not just suddently erupt- it is a building of extreme views in the absence of any moderating influences

Fanatics grow more fanatical

The internet accelerates these groups on both end of spectrum increasing distrust of the other

Groupthink

mode of thinking when people conform to keep harmony in a decision-making group even overriding their own beliefs

Example:

Challenger Explosion- people saw that rocket seals would not hold in freezing weather but did not discuss it with NASA executives- 7 people died

Bay of Pigs-None of Kennedy's advisors spoke against the plan because they felt most people thought it was the right thing to do

Culture

shared attitudes, beliefs, norms, and behaviors of a group communicated from one generation to the next

CULTURE IS NOT

Race is not a culture

Race is also biologically meaningless (race is the amount of pigment in your skin) race

Nationality is not culture

Ethnicity reflects the traits you have in common with some relatively large group of people with whom you share a history

where do we see culture

Daily decisions

Food

Clothes

Houses we live in

Tech we use

Modes of transportation

Family activities

Religion

Culture is everywhere!

Population Density

Higher pop= more rules for maintaining social order

Climate

Lifestyle adapts to climate

Clothing

Food

Technology

Tech that allows people to work alone without face to face interactions

Altruism

unselfish regard for the welfare of others

Bystander Effect

The tendency for a person to be less likely to give aid if other people are present

Helping involves a 3 step decision making process:

1) Notice the situation

2) Must interpret the situation as an emergency

3) Feel responsible to help

More likely to help if

Are not in a hurry

Believe the victim deserves help

Are in a good mood

Believe the victim is similar to us

Are feeling guilty

Are in a small town or rural area

Just saw someone else being helpful

March 13, 1964 Kitty Genovese went home around 3 am to her Queens, NY apartment after working night shift

A stalker attacked her on and for an hour she tried to fight off the attacker

Reported that at least 38 people (number later disputed but still many people) heard her yell "oh my god he stabbed me!" and "please help me"

Someone yelled at attacker

Police were called at 3:50 am

People were outraged

Researchers found it was not that the people were unkind, it was the power of the situation

Prejudice

An unjustifiable (usually negative) attitude towards a particular group and its members

Stereotype

A generalized (sometimes accurate but often overgeneralized) belief about a group of people

Discrimination

Taking action against a group of people because of stereotyped beliefs and prejudice feelings

Can be subtle or obvious

Example-Over 1000 landlords receive an inquiry from a "Patrick McDougall" and then an identical message from "Sayeed Al-Rahman"

McDougall received a favorable response 89% of time, Al-Rahman 66%

Study on New Jersey Turnpike showed African Americans were 13.5% of drivers but 35% of those pulled over by police

In-group

"us" people with whom we share a common identity

Out-Group

"them"- those perceived as different or apart from "us"

Ingroup Bias

tendency to favor members of our own group, often at the expense of others

Scapegoat Theory

Prejudice offers outlet for anger by giving us someone to blame

Evidence for this is seen in studies where temporary frustration intensifies prejudice against another group

Categorization can lead to developing other-race effect

Other-Race-Effect-

Tendency to recall faces of one's own race more accurately than faces of other races

This can be seen when people say that people of the same race- look or act the same

We often stereotype those we categorize

We often know our in- group well, but generalize about others

Just-World Phenomenon

tendency to believe that people get what they deserve and deserve what they get

belief reflects what many are taught as kids

Good is rewarded and evil is punished

"Unsuccessful people are bad, and the poor get what they deserve" or "the rich deserve their riches"

By thinking the world is fair we justify our prejudiced beliefs

poor people are poor because they don't want to work and therefore deserve poverty

Can't pay for medication because you have a long term illness? Your own fault for not saving enough money

Aggression

Any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt or destroy

People outside U.S. see U.S. as aggressive

5x more likely to be murdered in US than Canada

Psychologists have bred

genetically aggressive rats

Identical twins are more likely to report both having violent tempers than fraternal twins

No one area of the brain

Amygdala plays an important role

Stimulating the amygdala through electrodes can increase aggressive behavior

Biochemistry

Alcohol

Neurotransmitters

Hormones

Primary biochemical player in aggression = Testosterone

Violent criminals tend to be:

Lower intelligence level

Lower serotonin levels

High testosterone levels

In teenage boys, high T levels associated w/ hard drug use, delinquency, and bullying

When T levels drop we can accurately predict drop in aggressive behaviors

Those under the influence commit

40% of all crimes

75% of all spousal abuse

Aggression increases in those who THINK they have been drinking

Watching aggression being rewarded on TV,games or in real life

Children learn through observing

If aggression teaches us we can get what we want, we will use it again (positive reinforcement)

Modeling behaviors: Even parents can display exact behavior they do not want kids to do

By age 18 more time watching TV, viral videos than time in school!

Typical GRADE SCHOOL CHILD WILL HAVE SEEN THE FOLLOWING BEFORE MIDDLE SCHOOL:

8,000 murders

100,000 acts of violence

Rarely do these acts get seen with any sort of consequence for offender

Violent games appear to encourage aggression thought and actions

Studies show:

The most physically aggressive college males were those who played violent video games (compared to those who played nonviolent games such as Sims 4)

Young adolescents who play a lot of violent video games got into fights, arguments, more hostile and achieved lower grades than those who avoid games such as Fortnite and GTA

Correlation

Puts at increased risk not the cause

Leads to desensitization of violence

Correlation between watching violent movies, TV and behaving aggressively

US and Canada homicide rates doubled between 1956- 1974

Period when TV watching boomed

Same increase was seen in white South Africa when TV was introduced in 1975

APA statement after reviewing experimental data

Superordinate Goals

Shared goals that override differences among people and require their cooperation

Muzafer & Carolyn Sherif (1954)

Divided group of similar boys into two groups

Two different spots on camp

Had groups compete and received prizes

Within days groups were raiding cabins, food fights,

Created superordinate goals

Created a water problem

A truck stopped working and all boys were needed to push it

Eventually pooled money to pay for a movie night

Cooperation turns "us vs them" into "we"

Students working on projects together at can promote interracial friendships

Mere Exposure Effect

Phenomenon that repeated exposure to novel stimuli increase one's liking of them.

Think of music- the more you hear a song the more you like it- same with human faces

Study- 4 women considered equally attractive

One attends class never, 2nd women went 5 times, 3rd went 10 and 4th went 15 times

Students judged the women who attended the most the most attractive and the one that never attended as least attractive

Studies indicate appearance is the first filter we use to decide who we want to get to know

Research on speed dating confirms this

Study with blind dates

Researchers rate the participants

Participants took personality and intelligence tests

Talked for 2 hours and danced then rated their dates

Only reliable predictor of whether they liked each other was attractiveness

In America we spend more money on beauty supplies than the COMBINED amount of money spent on education and social services

Attractive people are treated better, helped more, rated higher in their jobs and the list goes on.

We view attractive people as happier, healthier, more successful EVEN if we know nothing about them

If we feel attractive, we date more and we feel more popular (liked)

In movies the heroes are attractive, and often

the villain looks menacing and ugly by the end of the show

Attractiveness does not actually predict happiness or higher self-esteem

Attractive people are more likely to be suspicious that praise of their work is due to appearance

Culture impacts what is beautiful

America- 1920's- ultrathin women

1950's full-figured women

Today we see both

India and Pakistan women had nose rings for many years whereas in American culture it comes and goes in popularity

Mens hair length changes within cultures and differs by cultures

We tend to like people who are similar to us

Share our interests, attitudes, age, intelligence level, economic status, beliefs on religion, smoking, and race relations

The more alike you and your friends are, the more you are likely to stay together

We tend to like people who like us- they respond positively to us and it increases our positively and warm response

If you want a friend, act like a friend

Passionate Love

An aroused state of intense positive absorption in another, usually present at the beginning of a love relationship

Can arousal from another source impact our liking someone new?

Research finds this to be true

A person who is aroused from running, feeling scared, listening to something funny will find their new acquaintance or date more attractive

Passionate love is fleeting

Companionate Love

Deep, affectionate attachment for those with whom our lives are intertwined

Fosters friendship and commitment

Based more on affection than obsession

Companionate love is enduring

If a relationship is in passionate love and expects it to stay that way, the relationship may soon be in trouble

Equity

condition in which people contribute to and receive from a relationship at a similar rate

In 50-50 relationships couples share decision making, possessions and give freely and receive emotional support

Self-Disclosure

revealing intimate aspects of oneself to others

It promotes and deepens intimacy and friendship

Study-

Two groups- one group asked self-disclosing questions (eg. When did you last cry in front of another?) and the other group asked small talk questions (eg. What was your high school like?)

Results- self-disclosing couples felt closer than did small talk couples

Social exchange theory

our social behavior is an exchange process to max benefits and minimize costs

Reciprocity norm

Expectation someone who helps someone will be helped back

Conflict

perceived incompatibility of actions goals ideas

Social traps

Situation conflicting parties become mutually destructive by pursuing self over overall interest

Mirror image perceptions

Mutual views by conflicting people when each side sees self as ethical and peaceful and other side as evil and aggressive

Superordinate goals

Shared goals that can only work by cooperation

Grit

Graduated and reciprocated initiatives in tension reduction-strategy to decrease international tensions