Social Psychology

Chapter 11

Social Psychology

The scientific study of thinking, feeling, and behavior in relation to/under the influence of other people How do social factors influence the individua

Areas of Psychology

• Social cognition

• Social influence

• Group Influence

• Social Behavior

• Intergroup Relations

• Close relationships

Social Cognition

An area of Social Psychology that explores how people think about others

Attribution

(making sense of what we see) (Social cognition) 

Assumed causes/reasons/explanations for why something happened

• Dispositional

• Situational

Dispositional Attribution 

Individuals fault for why something occurred 

(due to personality of individual and stable traits) 

(Internal)

ex: they didn’t pass the test because they were lazy and didn’t study.

Situational Attribution

Environment/circumstances fault for why something occurred

(External)

ex: they were sick the day of the test so they failed 

Attribution style is…..

Typically consistent for each individual, and impacted heavily by the culture of an individual .

The 2 Main Culture Structures and their Attribution style correlation

• Individualistic: favor dispositional attribution

  • Emphasize personal identity 

  • Competition and personal achievement 

  • value independence and self reliance 

• Collectivist: favor situational attribution

  • Groups>Individuals 

  • value cooperation, connection, and conformity

Fundamental Attribution Error/Correspondence Bias

When attributing a reason for something, there is a tendency to

• Overestimate dispositional factors

• Underestimate situational factors

Common in individualistic societies,

often done to strangers

Self Serving Bias

Goal is to maintain self esteem

• Take Credit for success (dispositional when good) 

• Blame others for failure (situational when bad)

(more common in individualistic cultures)

Self Effacing Bias

“Modesty Bias”

• give credit to others for success (Situational when good)

• take responsibility for failure (individualistic when bad)

(more common in collectivist cultures) 

Attitudes

An individuals evaluation of a person, group, object, or idea that contains 3 components,

• cognitive 

• Affective/feeling

• Behavioral 

(implicit or explicit)

Prejudice

Predetermined, unjustified ATTITUDE towards a group

• Cognitive: stereotype (+)(-)(/)

• Affecive/feeling: Judgement (+)(-)(/)

• Behavior: Discrimination (+)(-)(/)

Stereotype

(belief) 

• the assignment of characteristics to all members of a group (+)(-)(/)

• Leads to Preconceptions 

(Cognitive component to prejudice)

Preconceptions

Things you think/assume about a person before meeting them

• can be wrong/over exaggerated for a group

• Often are wrong for an individual 

(cognitive component to prejudice)

Prejudgments

Things you feel before meeting

(affective component to prejudice)

Discrimination

treatment of people differently soley based on their social group

(Behavioral component of prejudice)

Privilege is a form of

discrimination

Implicit vs Explicit Attitude

Implicit: unconscious association (difficult to verbalize)

Explicit: Conscious association (easy to verbalize)

Typically in synch/match, but can be incoherent.

Situations are a

better predictor for behavior than attitude

When do Attitudes predict behavior

• When attitude is

  • Specific

  • Strong

  • Stable

  • Salient (forefront of mind)

  • little outside pressure 

• Self Fulfilling Prophecy 

When does behavior predict attitude

• self perception theory (attitude formation)

• cognitive dissonance theory (attitude change)

Self perception theory 

(attitude formation) (behavior—→attitude) 

when unsure of our attitude on something, we look to our own behavior to determine our attitude 

(attitude follows behavior principal)

Foot in the door phenomenon 

the tendency to say yes to a larger request after agreeing to a smaller request

Self perception theory contributes to

• foot in the door phenomenon

• low balling

• changes after role-play 

• facial feedback hypothesis 

• moral action strengthens moral conviction 

facial feedback hypothesis

We look at our own facial expressions to determine our attitude

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

(attitude change) (behavior——>attitude)

discomfort felt when behavior and attitude (or 2 attitudes) clash 

if we can not change our behavior, we might change attitude, rationalize, distract, or change focus.

UNCONSCIOUS 

Social Influence

The presence of others can effect behavior of an individual

Persuasion

process used to change someone’s belief, attitude, or behavior

• Peripheral route persuasion 

• Central route persuasion 

Peripheral route persuasion 

the utilization of attention getting cues to trigger speedy emotion based judgements

(Influenced Audience: not paying much attention)

Central route persuasion 

utilization of evidence and arguments to trigger careful thinking

(Influenced Audience: knowledgeable/Analytical people)

effects last longer

how to resist persuasion

• be forewarned

• avoid ego depletion 

• make a public commitment 

• strengthen/practice your beliefs

Social Norms 

Shared standards of acceptable behavior in a group

(overall beneficial) 

Conform

Willingly change behavior to match other people (self-initiated)

• informational conformity 

• normative conformity

informational conformity 

(private acceptance) 

copy others when you don’t know/ are unsure

(driven by a desire to be right) 

normative conformity

(public—→private acceptance)

copy others to fit in

(driven by a desire to belong)

Asch’s findings on conformity 

• 70% of people gave the wrong answers knowing it was wrong at least once

• the more people who gave wrong answers, the more likely you are to conform 

• public response increases conformity 

• if one person dissents, conformity effect stops

when are you more likely to conform (Asch)

• task is ambiguous 

• the group is attractive

• you have low status

• you have low self esteem

• no previous commitment

• respect for social standards

Social Coatgion

AKA chameleon effect

a form of automatic conformity

ex:yawning

we are more likely to copy people we like, and we like it when people copy us

Obedience

change in behavior due to the command of an authority figure

• Milgram experiment (shocks) 

who studied obedience?

Milgram

who studied conformity?

Asch

Milgram’s ‘Shock’ experiment’s findings

-65% went all the way to 450 volts

-we are socialized to obey authority

what contributes to obedience?

• authority figure claims responsibility 

• individual is invested in the group’s goals 

• demands escalate gradually and quickly (don’t have time to think)

• authority figure in close proximity 

• authority appears legit/creditable 

• victim is out of sight 

• see other people obeying

Social Facilitation

(feel seen and feel aroused)

• task = easy: we do better

• task=hard: we do worse (choke)

amplification of dominant response 

Social Loafing 

(feel unseen and less aroused)

• task=easy: we do worse

• task=hard: we do better 

How to combat social loafing

• make individual feel seen 

• increase the importance of the group’s goals 

Deindividuation

(feel unseen and feel aroused)

• lose self awareness/restraint

• feel decreased personal responsibility

• Conformity

• most often leads to negative behavior

Group Think

(getting along but being wrong)

bad decisions made because members of a cohesive group emphasize harmony over critical thinking 

How to combat group think

• encourage debate

• anonymous input 

• assign people to find problems w/ logic

• bring in outsiders, experts (add diversity)

• leader welcomes various opinions

• be aware

Group polarization

discussion/interaction with likeminded people tends to strengthen individual’s position.

(groups get more extreme)

Social Categorization

put people in groups based on shared characteristics (Generally automatic/unconscious)

• in groups

• out groups

In groups

“us”

social groups we identify with

(heterogeneity: recognize that our group has various differences)

ex: own race/age bias

ex:ethnocentrism

out groups

“them”

groups we don’t identify with 

homogeneity: “they are the same”

Own race/age bias 

easier telling people of our same age or race apart than those not our age and race. 

institutional prejudice

prejudice systemically involving long standing power in-balances

Origins of prejudice

• Social roots

  • ethnocentrism 

  • In-group bias

  • “just world” 

• Emotional roots

  • Realistic Conflict theory 

• Learning theory (all learning styles play a role in prejudice) 

ethnocentrism

see + judge soley form our own group’s perspective

In-group Bias

give our own group members an advantage

“Just world”

the world view that good gets rewarded and evil gets punished.

if something bad happens to you, its because you deserved it.

victim blaming 

Stopping Prejudice

• education 

• laws

• Non-competiative/=status interaction with a shared predicament  (superordinate goals) 

superordinate goals

shared goals that over-ride differences among people and require group cooperation

Aggression

an act intending to do emotional/physical harm (bio/psycho/social)

Prosocial Behavior

helping others

Why do we help others

• evolutionary theory

• social exchange theory 

• empathy 

evolutionary theory of helping

we help others because it increases our chance of survival

social exchange theory of helping

we get something out of helping others

empathy theory of helping

we help because we feel connected to others (altruism=we care)

When do we help strangers?

Requirements 

• Notice!

  • not in a hurry 

  • not distracted

  • not self-focused

• Determine its an emergency

• We take responsibility

• we help

Other factors 

• good mood “feel good, do good”

• empathy for victim

  • victim is young attractive woman

• feel they deserve help

• pro-social role model

• know how to help

• focused on others

• reciprocity norm

• social responsibility norm

• small town/rural area

reciprocity norm

help those who have helped us or could help us

social responseibilty norm

we should help those dependent on us

Bystander effect

the more people there are, the less likely we are to help do to diffusion of responsibility

Pluralistic Ignorance 

If we do not see other people acting, we believe our concern is in the minority making us less likely to act.

Jigsaw Classroom

everyone has a piece of a problem/puzzle and can only accomplish the goal if everyone shares information and works together 

Robber’s Cave Study

study of summer camp boys who when put into two different teams illustrated realistic conflict theory, but then became friends after participating in superordinate goals