Social Psychology

What are our attitudes about attractive individuals?

• They are more positive

• “What is beautiful is also good”

Attitudes

 Evaluation of, orfeeling toward, a person, idea, or object that are typically positive or negative

Attribution Theory

• Attribution: explanation for the cause of
  behaviors or events

• Dispositional/Internal Explanation:
  personal characteristics

• Situational/External Explanation:
  environmental factors and demands.

Self-serving Bias

• Dispositional Attribution: taking credit for our successes

• Situational Attribution: externalizing our failures

Fundamental Attribution Error

• Overestimate causes of others’ behavior by attributing to Dispositional
  and not Situational factors.

• Just World Phenomenon or Blame the Victim

False Consensus Effect

Belief that everybody thinks or acts the way that you do

Stereotype

 attitudes/beliefs about characteristics of people in a group generalized to all group members

Prejudice

 negative feelings associated with members of a group

Discrimination

negative behaviors directed at members of a group

Microaggression

 a comment or action that subtly and often unconsciously or unintentionally expresses a prejudiced attitude toward a member of a marginalized group (such as a racial minority)

Sources of Prejudice

• Cultural Learning

• Group Competition

• Bolster self-esteem

• Mental Shortcut

In-group

viewed more positively than out-group, bolsters social identity

Out-group

judged as less diverse and less favorably than in-group

Mental Shortcut

unconscious thought patterns that help people make quick decisions and judgments

Conformity

changing behavior because of real or imagined group pressure

Reason for conformity

• Survival

• Need for approval and acceptance

• Need for information and direction

• We conform to people we like and
  admire to be like them

Asch Experiment

• Participants were asked to select the line closest in length to X.
• Many participants conformed and agreed with incorrect choices.

Aggression

any behavior intended to harm someone

Myths and Theories of Aggression

• venting anger through catharsis lead
  to lower levels of aggression

• aggressive individuals, such as bullies,
  have low levels of self-esteem

ALL FALSE

Obedience

 compliance with an order, request, or law or submission to another's authority.

Implications of Milgram’s Study

• Participants were told to shock the learner if they got a question wrong

• The majority of “teachers” delivered highest level of shock to the “learners”

Group Processes:Deindividuation

Anonymity leads to less inhibition, self-consciousness, personal identity and responsibility

Group Processes:Social Loafing

 We exert less effort in a group than when alone

Group Processes:Group Think

Impaired decision-making when group harmony is most important.

Group Processes:Social Facilitation

Presence of others improves one’s performance, but only for well-learned tasks.

Group Processes:Social Contagion

Imitative behavior spreads ideas, emotions and behaviors

Altruism

actions designed to help others with no obvious benefit to the helper

Bystander Intervention

 recognizing a potentially harmful situation or interaction and choosing to respond in a way that could positively influence the outcome