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What is social psychology
Deals with all kinds of interactions between people, spanning a wide range of how we connect: from moments of confrontation to moments of working together and helping others
Social psychologists believe
an individual's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by social situations
intrapersonal topics
emotions and attitudes, the self, and social cognition(the way you talk/feel about yourself)
interpersonal topics
helping behavior, aggression, prejudice and discrimination, attraction and close relationship, and group processes and intergroup relationships(he way you talk/feel about others)
situationism
the view that our behavior and actions are determined by our immediate environment and surroundings
Used by social psychologists
dispositionism
the view that our behavior is determined by internal factors (attribute a person such as personality traits and temperament
favored in U.S.
used by personality psychologists
Modern psychologists often consider both the
situation and individual
Fundamental Attribution Error
Tendency to overemphasize internal factors as explanations/attributes for the behavior of other people and underestimate the power of the situation
People tend to fail to recognize when a person’s behavior is due to situational variables
Quizmaster Study
Participants were randomly assigned to play the role of either the questioner or participant
Questioners developed difficult questions to which they knew the answers to
Participants answered questions correctly 4/10 times
Participants tended to disregard the influence of the situation and wrongly concluded that a questioner’s knowledge was greater than their own
Is the fundamental attribution error a universal phenomenon?
Research suggests that people from an individualistic culture have the greatest tendency to commit the fundamental attribution error
People from collectivistic cultures such as Asian cultures, are more likely to
emphasize relationships with others than to focus primarily on the individual
Focusing on others provides a broader perspective including
both situation and cultural influences
Actor-observer Bias
Phenomenon of explaining other people’s behaviors are due to internal factors and our own behaviors are due to situational forces
We often make the fundamental attribution error because
we do not have enough information to make a situational explanation about the person’s behavior
when we explain our own behaviors
we have more information available and are more likely to make situational explanations
Self-serving bias
Tendency of an individual to take credit by making dispositional or internal attributions for positive outcomes but situational or external attributions for negative outcomes (protects our self-esteem)
Attribution
a belief about the cause of a result
One model of attribution proposes three dimensions
Locus of control, stability, controllability
Locus of control
internal vs external
Stability
extent to which the circumstances are changeable
Controllability
extent to which the circumstances can be controlled
When our team wins we make attributions such as it’s talented (______), works hard (______), and uses effective strategies (_______)
internal, stable, controllable
When our team loses we might say the other team has more experienced players (______), the other team played at home (______), and the weather affected our teams performance (___________)
external, unstable, uncontrollable
Just World Hypothesis
belief that people get the outcomes they deserve
Based on the belief that the world is a fair place and therefore good people experience positive outcomes and bad people experience negative outcomes
Allows people to feel that the world is predictable and we have some control over life outcomes
Victim blame
A consequence of the tendency to provide dispositional explanations for behavior
People who hold just-world beliefs tend to
blame the people in poverty for their circumstances, ignoring situational and cultural causes of poverty
social roles
A pattern of behavior that is expected of a person in a given setting or group(e.g. being a student)
Facts about social roles
We each have several
Defined by your culturally shared knowledge
Behavior related to a certain one varies across situations
Social Norm
A group’s expectation of what us appropriate and acceptable behavior for its members
Script
a person’s knowledge about the sequence of events expected in a specific setting
Facts about scripts
vary between cultures
Important sources of information to guide behavior in situations
Who did the Stanford Prison Experiment and in what year did it take place?
Philip Zimbardo 1971
The Stanford Prison Experiment
Demonstrated the power of social roles, norms, and scripts
A mock prison was constructed and participants (male college students) were randomly assigned to play the role of prisoners or guards
In a very short amount of time the guards started to harass the prisoners in an increasingly sadistic manner
Prisoners began to show signs of severe anxiety and hopelessness
The two week study had to be ended after six days
What did social norms do in the Stanford prison expirement?
required guards to be authoritarian and prisoners to be submissive
What did scripts do in the Stanford prison experiment?
Scripts influenced the way guards degraded the prisoners by making them do push-ups and removing privacy
Attitude
Our evaluation of an object, person, or idea
Facts of attitude
Can be positive of negative
Influenced by internal and external factors that we control
Three components
Three components of attitude
affective
behavioral
cognitive
Affective component
feelings
Behavioral component
the effect of the attitude on behavior
cognitive component
belief and knowledge
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
To reduce cognitive dissonance, individuals can:
Change their behavior - quitting smoking
Change their belief through rationalization or denial - such as discounting the evidence that smoking is harmful
Add a new cognition - “smoking suppresses my appetite, so i don’t become overweight, which is good for my health”
Later research found on cognitive dissonance
Only conflicting cognitions that threaten positive self-image can cause dissonance (1978)
Dissonance can also cause physiological arousal (1983)
Dissonance can also activate brain regions involved in emotions and cognitive functioning (2009)
The effect of initiation
Justification of effort has a distinct effect on a person liking a group
A difficult initiation into a group influences us to like the group more
Justification of effort suggests that
we value goals and achievements that we put a lot of effort into
Aronson and Mill’s Experiment (1959)
College students volunteered to join a group that would regularly to discuss the psychology of sex
3 conditions - no initiation, easy initiation, difficult initiation
Students in the difficult initiation condition like the group more than the students in other conditions due to the justification of effort
2006 study
3 conditions of the Aronson and Mill’s Experiment
no initiation, easy initiation, difficult initiation
Persuasion
Process of changing our attitudes toward something based on some kind of communication
We are uncontrollably confronted with what everyday?
persuasion
Petty and Cacioppo (1986)
Persuasion can take one of two paths, and the durability of the end result depends on the path
Central route
Logic driven
Uses data and facts
Direct route to persuasion focusing on the quality of information
Works best when audience is analytical and willing to engage in processing of the information
Peripheral route
Indirect route
Uses peripheral cues to associate positivity with the message
Uses characteristics such as positive emotion or celebrity endorsement
Results in less permanent attitude change
Foot-in-the-door technique
Persuader gets a person to agree to a small favor, only to later request a larger favor
Our past behavior often directs our future behavior
desire to maintain consistency
With the foot-in-the-door technique, a small request such as
Wearing a campaign button can turn into a large request, such as
Putting campaign signs in your yard
Who came up with conformity?
Solomon Asch
Conformity
The change in a person’s behavior to go along with the group, even if he does not agree with the group
Asch’s experiment
These line segments illustrate judgement task in Asch’s conformity study
Which line on the right—a, b, or c—is the same length as line x on the left?
there was one naive subject, the rest were confederates who purposefully gave the wrong answer. 76% of participants conformed to group pressure at least once by also indicating the incorrect line
Asch effect
the influence of the group majority on an individual's judgment
What factors make a person more likely conform?
the size of the majority
the presence of another dissenter
the public or private nature of presence
The size of the majority
the greater the majority, the more likely an individual will conform
The presence of another dissenter
causes conformity rates to drop to near zero
The public or private nature of the presence
public responses cause more conformity than private
Motivation to conform
People in crowds tend to take cues from others and act accordingly
Normative social influence
people conform to the group norm to fit in, to feel good, and to be accepted by the group
Who discovered obedience?
A form of social influence that is the change of an individual’s behavior to comply with a demand by an authority figure
People often comply with the request because
they are concerned about a consequence if they do not comply
Stanley Milgram
a social psychology professor who taught at Yale and was influenced by the trial of Adolf Eichmann (a Nazi war criminal)
Eichmann’s defense for the atrocities he committed was
that he was “just following orders.”
Milgram’s obedience test
Milgram sought to test the validity of this response by recruiting 40 men for his own experiment. He led the participants to believe they were part of a study to improve learning and memory. He instructed them to teach students(learners) the correct answers to a series of test items. The participants were shown how to use a device that they were told delivered electric shocks to the students if they gave the wrong answer and it would help them learn. The participants believed that they gave the students shocks that increased in 15 volt increments going all the way up to 450 volts. What they didn’t know is that the students were confederates and did not actually receive the shocks. In response to wrong answers, the participants were obedient in their orders and shocked the students. The students complained, asked the teachers to stop, and even said they had heart trouble. Yet when the researcher told the participants to keep shocking the students, 65% kept shocking them at full voltage until the students became unresponsive. Several variations of this test have been done, finding that when certain features of the situation were changed, participants were less likely to continue to deliver shocks to the students. When the authority of the experimenter decreased, the obedience decreased as well.
Martin and Bull (2008)
Midwives privately filled out a questionnaire regarding best practices and expectations in delivering a baby. Then a more senior midwife asked the junior midwives to do something they had stated before they were opposed to. Most of them were obedient despite their beliefs
Group think
the modification of the opinions of members of a group to align with what they believe is the group consensus
facts about groupthink
Most of the time, in a group setting, people make bigger choices they wouldn’t usually make outside of a group setting
Groupthink can hinder opposing trains of thought causing faulty decision making by the whole group
Why does groupthink occur?
the group is highly cohesive
the group has a strong sense of connection (maintaining group harmony may become more important to the group than making sound decisions)
If the group leader is directive and makes his opinions known, this may discourage group members from disagreeing with the leader
If the group is isolated from hearing alternative or new viewpoints, groupthink may be more likely
How do you know when groupthink is occurring?
perceiving the group as invulnerable or invincible—believing it can do no wrong
believing the group is morally correct
self-censorship by group members, such as withholding information to avoid disrupting the group consensus
the quashing of dissenting group members’ opinions
the shielding of the group leader from dissenting views
perceiving an illusion of unanimity among group members
holding stereotypes or negative attitudes toward the out-group or others’ with differing viewpoints
How can groupthink be avoided?
voting in private
having the leader withhold position statements until all group members have voiced their views
conducting research on all viewpoints
weighing the costs and benefits of all options
developing a contingency plan
Group Polarization
the strengthening of an original group attitude after the discussion of views within a group
Group polarization can be observed at
political conventions, when platforms of the party are supported by individuals who, when not in a group, would decline to support them
Social traps
refer to situations that arise when individuals or groups of individuals behave in ways that are not in their best interest and that may have negative, long-term consequences
Social loafing
involves a reduction in individual output on tasks where contributions are pooled(Because each individual's efforts are not evaluated, individuals can become less motivated to perform well)
social loafing could be alleviated if, among other situations, individuals knew
their work would be assessed by a manager (in a workplace setting) or instructor (in a classroom setting), or if a manager or instructor required group members to complete self-evaluations
prejudice and discrimination
Occur across the globe
prejudice
a negative attitude and feeling toward an individual based solely on ones membership in a particular social group
e.g. “I hate Yankees fans; they make me angry.”
Stereotype
a specific belief or assumption about individuals based solely on their membership in a group
e.g. “Yankees fans are arrogant and obnoxious.”
Discrimination
a negative action toward an individual as a result of one’s membership in a particular group
e.g. “I would never hire nor become friends with a person if I knew he or she were a Yankees fan.”
Why do prejudice and discrimination exist?
Social learning
Conformity to social norms
Racism
Prejudice and discrimination against an individual based on race
Dual Attitudes Model
Explicit - conscious and controllable
Implicit - unconscious and uncontrollable
Most people no longer show extreme racial bias on measures of explicit attitudes but measures of implicit attitudes often provide evidence of mild to strong racial bias/prejudice. This can explain why modern forms of racism are hard to detect
why modern forms of racism are hard to detect
Ageism
Prejudice and discrimination toward individuals individuals based solely on their age
Typically against older adults
Homophobia
Prejudice and discrimination of individuals based solely on their sexual orientation
Often results in discrimination of individuals from social groups
Widespread in the U.S.
Sexism
Prejudice and discrimination toward individuals based on their sex
Common examples include gender role expectations and expectations for how a gender group should behave
Can exist on a societal level - employment and education opportunities
Women now have many jobs previously close to them thought they still face challenges in male-dominated occupations
Self-fulfilling prophecy
An expectation held by a person that alters his or her behavior in a way that tends to make it true
Stereotypes → expectations about stereotype → treat person according to our expectations → influences person to act according to stereotypical expectations → confirms our stereotypic beliefs
Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968)
Disadvantaged students who had teachers that expected them to perform well has higher grades that disadvantaged students whose teachers expected them to do poorly
confirmation bias
Tendency to seek out information that supports our stereotypes and ignore information that is inconsistent with our stereotypes
ingroups
a group that we identify with or see ourselves as belonging to
outgroups
a group that we view as fundamentally different from us
ingroup bias
prejudice and discrimination because the outgroup is perceived as different and is less preferred than our ingroup
