DE Psychology Chapter 13

Social Psychology

the study of how people influence other's behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes.

Social psychology studies all aspects of

social behavior and social thought.

Research shows people tend to think they are not vulnerable to

social influence, but that others are.

sociology

study of group trends

Difference between sociology and social psychology

sociology focuses on the group level, while social psychology is interested in how individuals influence groups and how groups influence individuals.

Similarities between sociology and social psychology

Both sociology and social psychology are interested in human social behavior

Social psychology is distinctive in at least two ways:

its connection to real-life events and its reliance on experimental methods.

Social Psychology Is Connected to

Real Life

Emergence of social psychology as a field can be traced back to

the years after the U.S. Civil War. The

When did social psychology grow?

After World War II beccause psychologists tried to understand the events that led to the war, the rise of the Nazis, and the Holocaust.

Social psychologists also played an important role in

civil rights victories.

Social Psychological Research Is (Often)

Experimental

Bystander Effect-

occurs in situations requiring help where the greater the number of bystanders present, the less likely any individual bystander is to help the person in need

Bystander Effect experiment

Individuals were allowed to take a test alone, other individuals took a test with two other participants, and other participants took a test with two confederates

Halfway through the test, researchers began to pump smoke under the door and wanted to see how long it would take for the participants to get up and ask for help

It was indicated the people taking the test with two confederates did not get up until very late, if at all

Bystander effect may occur for two reasons

1. Diffusion of responsibility

2. Pluralistic ignorance

1. Diffusion of responsibility

reduction in feelings of personal responsibility in the presence of others

Diffusion of responsibility theory

Theory suggesting the more people there are witnessing the same event, the more likely each person is to diffuse the responsibility, or assume that somebody else is going to take action

Example of diffusion of responsibility

Darley and Latané (1968) performed studies that suggested that most people intervene to help another person having an epileptic seizure when they believe they are the only person who can hear—and help—the seizing individual. If they believe other people can also hear the person in need, they are less likely to help

2. Pluralistic ignorance

an assumption that people in the group do not see things as we do. We look around and see that no one else is responding. So, we think that the situation is not an emergency; important when the situation is ambiguous

Emergencies are ___, so ___

Emergencies are ambiguous, so we look to others to see how we should act.

most people think they are the only one who sees an

emergency, so it must not really be one

Classroom example of pluralistic ignorance

no one understands, but everyone thinks the others do understand, so no one asks any questions

"positive bystander effect"

Bystanders are more likely to jump in and help in dangerous situations (compared to non-dangerous situations) when there are other people around

It could be the case that bystanders act so fast because

potentially dangerous situations are recognized and processed more quickly.

Furthermore, the physical support of others helps to decrease

the bystander's perceived negative consequences of intervening.

Who described how people go through five decision-making steps before they decide to help someone in an emergency?

Latané and Darley (1970)

Five decision-making steps

1. Notice the event

2. Interpret the event as an emergency

3. Assume responsibility

4. Know appropriate form of assistance

5. Implement decision to help

Bystander Effect - Kitty Genovese

38 people heard her cry for help but didn't help. She was raped and stabbed to death

Enlightenment effect

learning about physiological research can change real world behavior for the better.

Being informed of the bystander effect and diffusion of responsibility may help people be more likely to

help in large groups.

Social cognition

an area in social psychology that focuses on the role of cognitive processes in our social interactions- in terms of how we think about others

Research in social cognition focuses on

the underlying internal processes

the underlying internal processes

perception, attention, memory

Person Perception

refers to the different mental processes used to perceive the personality characteristics of others

A person's face is key component to

form impressions of others.

Seeing a face, we automatically

process information about how trustworthy and dominant a person is likely to be.

Physical Attractiveness

Attractive individuals are thought to be better adjusted, socially skilled, friendly, likable, extraverted, and more likely to achieve superior job performance. People are likely to remember what they say.

even 3- to 6-month-old infants preferred to

look at attractive faces versus unattractive ones.

Stereotypes

generalizations about a group's characteristics without considering variations from one person to another.

Stereotypes are used to

simplify the understanding of people by classifying them as belonging to one group or another.

Stereotypes can be considered a type of

heuristic

heuristic

mental shortcuts

self-fulfilling prophecy

individuals' expectations cause them to act in ways that serve to make those expectations come true.

Who found that teachers' expectations for students can influence student performance?

Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968)

What makes a face attractive?

Averageness

primacy effect

the tendency to attend to and remember what we learned first.

Which researchers conducted a series of studies to show that people formed judgments of competence of strangers within a tenth of a second?

Willis and Todorov (2006)

A number of studies have shown that first immediate impressions can be

accurate

most research on face perceptions has been limited to

White faces; we know much less about face perception for people of varying race/ethnicity.

Not only do we make impressions of other's, but we also try to make

explanations for their behaviors

Attributions

the process through which we seek to understand other's behaviors by assigning causes to behavior

We make attributions so

our world will make sense to us

Two types of attribution

1. Dispositional (internal)

2. Situational (external)

Dispositional (internal)

ascribe causes of behavior to personal dispositions, traits, abilities, & feelings (internal reasons)

Situational (external)

ascribe causes of behavior to situational reasons or environmental constraints

Stable/Unstable

Whether an individual perceives the cause of behavior to be relatively enduring (stable) or temporary (unstable)

Controllable/Uncontrollable

Whether we perceive that an individual has some power over some causes (controllable) but not others (uncontrollable).

Attribution errors or biases

we have biases/make errors when we make attributions

We have many reasons for our attributions to be

biased

we take some mental shortcuts to avoid

cognitive fatigue.

most people are very motivated to interpret the world in a way that leaves them

feeling good about themselves.

What guides how we tend to explain the behavior of ourselves and others?

Different biases

Fundamental Attribution Error

Tendency to overestimate the impact of dispositional influence on other peoples' behavior and minimize external/situational causes.

When does the fundamental attribution error occur?

Occurs when the importance of internal traits is overestimated and the importance of external situations is underestimated.

Studies have shown that even when people know a situation has actually caused a certain behavior, they still

make a dispositional attribution.

Research example of fundamental attribution error?

participants who were told that an experiment collaborator had been instructed to behave coldly or warmly toward them. Most participants persisted in believing that the behavior reflected the collaborator's real personality

Real world example of fundamental attribution error?

Ex- We say people are late because they are irresponsible, but it may be the bus was late.

How do we explain our own behavior?

in terms of external or situational causes and minimize internal or dispositional traits

Heuristics

mental shortcuts aimed at reducing the complexity of our world

Heuristics rely heavily on

core human abilities

Heuristics do not necessarily use all

available information, and process the information they use by simple computations

Heuristics are easy to

understand, apply, and explain

Heuristics can be helpful tools in ___, but ___

in social information processing, but they can also lead to mistakes.

The representativeness heuristic

the tendency to make judgments about group membership based on physical appearance or the match between a person and one's stereotype of a group.

false consensus effect

an overestimation of the degree to which everyone else thinks or acts the way we do.

One of the most important self-related variables is

self-esteem

self-esteem

the degree to which individuals have positive or negative attitudes about themselves.

A POSITIVE ILLUSION

a positive view that an individual has about themselves that is not necessarily rooted in reality.

Overly positive views of the self are generally associated with

better adjustment

SELF-SERVING BIAS-

Tendency to attribute one's successes to internal causes and failures to situational factors

he self-serving bias refers only to situations that involve

ourselves and is at work most when a situation threatens our own self-esteem

Self-Objectification

refers to the tendency for people to see themselves primarily as an object in the eyes of others.

Women have been socialized to think of themselves as an

object in the social world.

Chronic feelings of objectification can lead to

body image concerns, shame, restricted eating, and higher levels of depression.

Chronic feelings of objectification can interfere with

task performance, especially for women and members of stereotyped groups.

stereotype threat

an individual's fast-acting, self-fulfilling fear about being judged on the basis of a negative stereotype about their own group.

Any individual can be influenced by stereotype threat regardless of their

group membership as it influences motivation, effort, anxiety, and distraction.

Interventions to target aspects of the stereotype threat include

changing stereotypic beliefs, enhancing group belonging, presenting role models, reminding people of other identities they possess, and helping to build confidence.

Social comparison

the process by which individuals evaluate their thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and abilities in relation to other people.

Comparing ourselves to other people is one way we

evaluate our own behavior. This process aids us in building an identity.

We compare ourselves to others when…

there is no other way to evaluate

Upward social comparisons

Comparing ourselves to those better off than us