PSY105: Social Psychology

social pyschology

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

attribution theory

we tend to give causal explanations for people’s behavior

dispositional attributions

someone’s personality as a causal explanation for their behavior

situational attribution

someone’s situation as a causal explanation for their behavior

Fundamental Attribution Error

the tendency to overestimate the impact of personal disposition and underestimate the impact of the situations when analyzing behaviors of others

self-serving attribution

when analyzing our own behavior, it’s good because of our disposition, but it’s bad because of the situation

embodied emotions and the autonomic nervous system

activity in the sympathetic nervous system increases while activity in the parasympathetic nervous system decreases in order to maintain homeostasis

physiology of emotions

our emotions feel different to us, but we can’t see big physiological differences across different emotions; fear arousal, and anger all present with high heart rate, breathing, and perspiration

nonverbal communication of emotions

we can see differences in mood states when observing facial features expressed by others through different facial muscle movements

detecting emotion

most of us are good at reading nonverbal emotional cues, but not at detecting deceiving expressions since the differences are too minimal

lie detection

polygraph tests have found to be inaccurate at determining when someone is lying, but there is research in brain activity in fMRIs for lie detection

culture and detection

some facial expressions are understood universally, but people are more likely to successfully identify emotions from others in their culture

context and detection

the situation, gestures, and other cues can change how we detect facial expressions

Facial Feedback Effect

the tendency for facial muscles to trigger corresponding feelings such as anger, fear, or happiness

Behavior Feedback Effect

the tendency for behavior to influence our own and other’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors

actions and attitudes

our attitudes affect our actions, and our actions affect our attitudes

central route of persuasion

using the facts of the argument to persuade

peripheral route of persuasion

the length of the communication or the attributes of the communicator are compelling enough to persuade, but the persuasion is usually short term and can change at any point

Foot-in-the-door phenomenon

the idea that when someone complies to a small request, they are more likely to comply to a larger request later on

Festinger’s Cognitive Dissonance Theory

when we act in a way that goes against our attitude toward that action, we are more likely to change our attitude rather than changing our actions; we feel cognitive discomfort, so we act to reduce discomfort by changing our beliefs

social influence

a way that attitudes, beliefs, and actions are molded through conformity and obedience

mimicry

we engage in automatic mimicry to try to fit in with the group

conformity

adjusting our behavior or thinking toward some group standard; mimicry is a subtype of conformity

Asch’s conformity experiments

experimented with college students and matching line length tasks to see if the subject would agree with confederates who intentionally matched the lines incorrectly

normative social influence

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

informational social influence

influence resulting from a person’s willingness to accept another’s opinion

obedience

how we respond to commands

Milgram’s obedience studies

used electric shocks and world learning to determine how far subjects would go to listen to commands; was unethical but replicated in a more ethical way by Burger in 2007

factors contributing to higher levels of obedience

1. the person giving orders is close and has a legitimate authority

2. the authority was supported by a prestigious university

3. the victim was depersonalized or at a distance

4. there were no role models for defiance

social facilitation

the tendency of an individual to perform better or put in more effort in a group situation

social loafing

the tendency of an individual to put in less effort in a group situation, assuming other members of the group will pick up their slack

deindividuation

a loss of self-awareness and self-restraint in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity; riots, protests, sports games, etc.

group polarization

the phenomenon of a group’s opinion being strengthened or enhanced after a discussion

group think

individualism of thought is lost; members go with the majority of the group for harmony