Social Psychology

Primary focus of social psychology

How social situations and influences affect peoples behavior

social psychology

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

attribution theory

the theory that we explain someone’s behavior by crediting either the situation or the person’s disposition. ex. explaining a persons bad mood. The situation- something bad happened to them like getting a bad grade. The persons disposition- they might be naturally more negative or easily irritated

fundamental attribution error

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

Williams College Study

The Williams College study showed that people tend to attribute others’ behavior to their personality rather than the situation, even when they know the behavior was caused by the situation.

attitude

feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events. Attitudes are more likely to affect behavior when external influences are minimal and the attitude is stable, specific to the behavior, and is easily recalled.

peripheral route persuasion

occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker’s attractiveness, fame, or other attention grabbing cues instead of detailed evidence. Uses emotions.

central route persuasion

occurs when interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts.Uses facts, evidence, and logical arguments to encourage careful thinking

foot-in-the-door phenomenon

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

role

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

Stanford Prison Experiment

What topic was being studied?

How social roles and situations can influence people’s behavior.

Explain the procedure followed.

Male college students were randomly assigned to be guards or prisoners in a simulated prison. Guards were given uniforms and rules, while prisoners were placed in cells and given humiliating clothing.

Identify the results.

Some guards became cruel and controlling, while some prisoners became distressed, rebellious, or passive. The study was stopped after six days.

What criticisms were presented?

Critics questioned the reliability of Zimbardo’s results, suggesting the findings may not fully show how people naturally behave in prison situations.

cognitive dissonance theory

the theory that we act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent. For example, when we become aware that our attitudes and our actions clash, we can reduce the resulting dissonance by changing our attitudes.

norms

understood rules for accepted and expected behavior. Norms prescribe “proper”

behavior.

chameleon effect

the tendency for people to unconciously imitate the behaviors, expressions, or thinking to coincide with the group standard

conformity

adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard.

Solomon Aschs Experiment

Describe the procedure used in Asch’s experiment.

College students were shown a standard line and three comparison lines and asked which comparison line matched the standard. Other people in the group were confederates who intentionally gave the same wrong answer.

Summarize the results of the research.

Students gave the wrong answer more than one-third of the time when the group agreed on an incorrect answer, showing that people may conform to group pressure even when they know the group is wrong.

We are more likely to conform when

are made to feel incompetent or insecure.

are in a group with at least three people.

are in a group in which everyone else agrees. (If just one other person

disagrees, the odds of our disagreeing greatly increase.)

admire the group’s status and attractiveness.

have not made a prior commitment to any response.

know that others in the group will observe our behavior.

are from a culture that strongly encourages respect for social standards.

normative social influence

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

informational social influence

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

Milgrams experiment was inspired by the…

holocaust

Stanley Milgrams Experiment

What topic was being studied?

Obedience to authority and how far people would go when instructed by an authority figure.

How many total people participated?

40 men participated in the original experiment.

Describe the procedure used in the experiment.

Participants were told to give another person increasingly stronger electric shocks whenever they made a mistake on a learning task. The “learner” was actually an actor, and the shocks were not real. An experimenter in a lab coat instructed participants to continue.

What were the results of the experiment?

65% of participants continued to the highest level of the shock generator, despite showing signs of discomfort and hearing the learner protest.

What conclusions were gathered during replications?

Replications found that many people continued to obey authority figures, although the exact level of obedience varied depending on the situation.

What conditions created the highest levels of obedience?

Obedience was highest when the authority figure was close and legitimate, the participant was physically separated from the learner, and other people were also obeying.

Social Contagion

the spread of behaviors, emotions, or attitudes from one person to others

social facilitation

improved performance on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others.

Social facilitation is not always…

strengthened performance. Others presence improves performance on easy tasks but can worsen performance on difficult tasks by strengthening our most likely response

social loafing

the tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable. ex: memebrs of a group doing less work because they know others would help complete the assignment

deindividuation

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

group polarization

the enhancement of a group’s prevailing inclinations through discussion within the group.

When group discussion strengthens the groups existing beliefs or attitudes causing members to adopt more extreme views

groupthink

the mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision- making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives.

When a group values agreement and harmony so much that members ignore or avoid considering other ideas or possible problems

Group thinks can be avoided by…

encouraging different opinions, allowing people ot disagree, getting outside expert opinions, and having group members identify possible problems with plans

culture

the enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next.

prejudice

an unjustifiable (and usually negative) attitude toward a group and its members. Prejudice generally involves stereotyped beliefs, negative feelings, and a predisposition to discriminatory action.

Three components of prejudice

• Negative emotions such as hostility, fear or dislike towards members of a group

• stereotypes- generalized beliefs about a group of people that can often be exaggerated or inaccurate

• Predisposition to discriminate- a tendency to treat people negatively or unfairly because they belong to a particular group

stereotype

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

discrimination

unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group and its members.

ethnocentrism

assuming that your own ethnic or cultural group is superior to other groups. ex: someone believes their culture and traditions are better than every body else’s and looks down on people from other cultures.

discrimination

treating someone negatively or unfairly because they belong to a particular group

expplicit prejudice

a conscious and intentional negative attitude toward a person because of their group

implicit prejudice

an unconsious, automatic negative attitude or bias that a preson may not realize they may have, but it can still influence their behavior.

psychologists study `implicit prejudice by

• testing unconscious group associations- measuring how quickly people associate certain groups with positive or negative traits

• studying unconscious patronization- looking at whether people give different evaluations or expectations to people from different groups

• monitoring reflexive bodily responses- observing automatic physical or brain responses such as facial-muscle reactions or activity in the amygdala when people see members of different groups

Racial adn Ethnic prejudice…

has decreased over time, btu subtle and implicit racial bias still exists. People from minority racial and ehtnic groups may experience stereotypes, unfair treatment, and being perceived as more threatening than others.

Gender prejudice…

has decreased but implicit and explicit gender bias still exists. Women may face unequal treatment, lower expectations, and discrimination in areas such as work and education

Lqbtq people…

experience prejudice through discrimination, negative attitudes, harrassment, rejection, and stereotypes. although anti-lgbtq prejudice has decreased in some places, it still exists and negatively affect peoples well-being

belief systems prejudice

Muslims have experienced prejudice including fear, anger, discrimination, and negative attitudes. After events such as 9/11, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, some Americans unfairly directed fear and anger towards Muslims as a whole

just-world phenomenon

the tendency for people to believe the world is just and that people therefore get what they deserve and deserve what they get.

ingroup

“us”—people with whom we share a common identity.

outgroup

“them”—those perceived as different or apart from our ingroup.

ingroup bias

the tendency to favor our own group.

scapegoat theory

the theory that prejudice offers an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame.

other-race effect

the tendency to recall faces of one’s own race more accurately than faces of other races. Also called the cross-race effect and the own-race bias. It can contribute toe prejudice because people may have difficulty recognizing individuals from other racial groups, makin them more likely on stereotypes instead of seeing people as individuals

availabilty heuristic

tendency to estimate the frequency of an event by how readily it comes to mind. It can perpetuate prejudice because vivid or memorable examples of negative behavior come to mind easily causing people to overestimate how common that behavior is among a group

victim blaming

blaming a person for the bad situation or harm they experienced instead of recognizing that they were treated unfairly or harmed by someone else

aggression

any physical or verbal behavior intended to harm someone physically or emotionally.

Biology of aggression- genetics

Genes can influence aggression, studies show identical twins are more likely to have similar aggressive behaviors and low MAOA gene expression can increase aggressive behavior when someone is provoked

biology of aggression- neural influences

the brain has systems that can either increase or reduce aggression. Damage or low activity in the frontal lobes which help control impulses can make aggression more likely

biology of agression- biochemical

hormones and chemicals in the body can influence aggression. Testosterone can increase aggressive behavior, while alcohol can lower inhibitions and make aggressive reactions more likely.

frustration-aggression principle

the principle that frustration—the blocking of an attempt to achieve some goal—creates anger, which can generate aggression.

Environmental triggers that can increase aggressiveness

• frustration- such as losing or being provoked

• high temperatures- hotter conditions are linked to more aggression

• beign physically provoked

• seeing others bein harmed or treated aggressively

The behavioral perspective

explains aggression as something that can be learned through observation and reinforcement. If aggressive behavior is rewarded or successfully gets someone what they want, they are more likely to repeat it. Children can also learn aggression by watching parents or others model violent behavior.

social script

a culturally modeled guide for how to act in various situations.

Correlation between media and aggression

The correlation between media violence and aggressive behavior is that greater exposure to media violence is associated with increased thoughts and behavior, as well as deceased empathy and sensitivity to violence

Halo effect

tendency to make a decision based on a single trait or attribute

door-in-the-face phenomenon

 tendency for people to comply to a smaller request after rejecting an initially larger request

mere exposure effect

tendency for people to grow to like something or someone simply because they are familiar with it., or exposed to it repeatedly
Ex. You might dislike or feel indifferent to a new song on the radio at first, but after hearing it several times on your daily commute, you find yourself enjoying it and singing along.

Bait and Switch

deceptive sales practice where a seller advertises an appealing, low-priced item or service to attract customers (the "bait"), only to claim it is unavailable or inferior when the buyer arrives, and instead pressure them to buy a more expensive or less advantageous alternative (the "switch").

Reciprocity Norm

social rule that requires people to repay kindness, gifts, or favors with similar positive actions

Ex. Costco hands out free pieces of everything! You feel a mild social pressure to buy that big ass block of cheese, or those delicious Dubai Chocolates, even though you had no intention to when you walked in.

The Low Ball

psychological persuasion strategy where you get someone to agree to an attractive initial request before secretly changing the terms to make it more costly or less favorable

Ex. A salesperson returns to tell you that there was a mistake in the initial price, that they left out some charges. Since you already committed to the initial offer, you are more likely to agree to pay for the hidden costs.

Automatic Mimicry

Behavior is contagious. If we see someone yawn, or just read about someone yawning, we have a desire to yawn too. This is true of many simple behaviors - looking at the sky, scratching, checking your phone, having an accent, adjusting to a mood shift, etc. → Chameleon Effect