Chapter 13: Social Psychology

1. What Is Social Psychology?

  • Studies how social environments influence thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

  • Conformity is common across cultures (Eastern & Western).

  • Classic demonstrations:

    • Elevator experiment (1962) – people conform to group behavior.

    • Smoke-filled room experiment (1968) – people ignore danger when others do.

 

2. Attribution: Explaining Behavior

Types of Attributions / Attribution Theory

  • Internal (Dispositional) – traits, personality – Example: “Jane is irresponsible.”

  • External (Situational) – environment – Example: “Jane is stuck in traffic.”

    • Same idea as locus of control.

    • We need multiple observation in multiple settings to make an accurate attribution..

 

Kelley’s Covariation Model of Attributions

Uses three factors:

  • Consistency – does the behavior happen repeatedly?

  • Distinctiveness – does the person behave this way in other situations?

  • Consensus – do others behave similarly?

Patterns:

  • High consistency + low distinctiveness + low consensus → Internal attribution

  • High consistency + high distinctiveness + high consensus → External attribution

 

3. Attribution Errors & Biases

Fundamental Attribution Error

  • Overestimate internal causes for others’ behavior.

    • Example: “Keanu failed the exam because he is lazy.”

Actor–Observer Bias

  • Self → situational (external)

    • Ex. you did good in the class because it was easy.

    • I was late because the traffic was bad.

  • Others → dispositional (internal)

    • Ex. when you're driving and someone disobeyed the stop sign, you immediately think that they need to go back and study their drivers license again.

    • They were late because they’re irresponsible.

Self‑Serving Bias

  • Success → internal

    • Ex. you studied hard for a test, therefore you got a good grade.

  • Failure → external

    • Ex. you failed the exam, because you had a sick family and you had to take care of them and you weren't in the right head space to study.

  • Can preserve self-esteem; we divert the claim to another outcome.

False Consensus Effect

  • Believing “everyone agrees with me.”

    • Ex. believing a test was created hard but information about this was only compiled by a certain number of people.

 

4. Impression Formation

  • First Impression -> Primacy effect: first information shapes impressions strongly (especially negative).

  • Confirmation bias: we notice info that supports our beliefs and ignore contradictory info.

 

5. Self‑Fulfilling Prophecy

Beliefs → influence actions → cause others to respond → reinforce original beliefs.

Example: feeling confident at a party leads to socializing.

  • You are so sure about something, that you're causing it.

    • Ex. you're partner keeps asking if you're mad even though you aren't but since he keeps asking, now you're mad.

    • Ex. dress well, feel good

 

6. Social Influence & Social Norms

  • Social influence is our thoughts & behaviours affected by the behaviours of others.

  • Social norms vary by culture:

    • Individualistic (U.S., Canada)

    • Collectivist (China, Japan)

  • Norm examples: stopping talking when professor begins lecture / students raise their hands to ask the instructor for permission to speak in class.

 

7. Conformity

Solomon Asch Line Study (1950s)

  • 35% conformed to wrong answers.

  • 75% conformed at least once.

  • Conformity increases with more confederates (up to 3).

Groupthink

Characteristics:

  • Overestimating the group -> Overconfidence, invulnerability

    • Ex. let's do it, we never fail.

  • Pressure for uniformity -> divergent thinking discouraged

  • Pressure for uniformity -> Self‑censorship

    • Historical examples: Pearl Harbor, Challenger disaster

 

8. Obedience/Conformity to Authority

Stanley Milgram Experiment (1960s)

  • Location: Yale University

  • Objective: study of memory

  • Participants (“teachers”) administered shocks up to dangerous levels when instructed by authority.

  • Demonstrated that ordinary people obey harmful orders.

Stanford Prison Experiment (1971)

  • 6-day experiment supposed to last 2 weeks, 24 males

  • Roles (guard/prisoner) created abusive behavior.

  • Zimbardo, principal investigator, became APA president in 2022 & concluded that the experiment was done in accordance to the standard of 1973.

  • Involved various major violations that caused ethical concerns; never published in peer‑review.

 

9. Bystander Effect

Classic Case: Kitty Genovese (1964)

  • Raped & stabbed over 30 minutes

  • Many witnesses, no immediate help.

Key Mechanisms

  • Diffusion of responsibility – “someone else will help.”

  • Pluralistic ignorance – relying on others’ (social cues) reactions.

Modern findings

  • Real emergencies show 90% intervention rates.

Factors that affect helping people

  • Environment (urban vs. rural)

    • Urban - less likely to receive help, compared to rural areas

  • Sense of common fate

    • If they die, you die

  • Perceive help is needed

    • Depending on dressing, poor - not really likely to help, normal clothing - must need help

  • Risk to self

    • Electrical/health factors that can be spread

  • Personal factors

    • You have an exam and you see someone needs help, you less likely to help the kid as you have an exam and you don't want to be late

 

10. Cults & Social Influence

People’s Temple (Jim Jones)

  • Charismatic leader, isolation & fear, control

  • mass suicide of 900 members, most drank poison & who refused were shot

Doomsday Cult (Marion Keech)

  • Failed prophecy (end of the world) → increased commitment due to cognitive dissonance.

Cognitive Dissonance Reduction

  1. Change attitude

  2. Change behavior

 

11. Attitudes & Behaviours

Attitudes: thoughts, ideas, opinions -> shapes behaviours

Behaviours: shape attitudes

  • Three components shape attitudes:

    • Cognitive – beliefs

    • Affective – feelings

    • Behavioral – actions

 

12. Stereotypes, Prejudice, Discrimination

Stereotypes

  • Beliefs (overgeneralization) about groups (not always negative).

  • Assumption that your group is heterogeneous, while other groups are homogeneous

    • When you're inside a group, you're more likely to see the diversity inside you group.

Stereotype Threat

  • People fearing their performance will be consistent with prevailing stereotype.

  • Negative or reflect inferiority.

  • Ex. mathematical ability between girls vs. boys (Osborne, 2007)

Prejudice

  • Negative attitude toward a group.

  • Learned

  • Societal changes over time

  • Some groups are protected by law

Discrimination

  • Negative behavior toward a group.

Theories

  • Scapegoat theory – blame weaker groups.

  • Realistic conflict theory – competition for resources.

Reducing Prejudice

  • Mutual interdependence - working together towards common goal

  • Robber’s Cave study

    • 2 groups separated, team building and competition that faced hostility -> required mutual interdependence to increase teamwork.

 

13. Interpersonal Attractiveness

  • Factors that increase liking:

    • Attractiveness

    • Proximity

    • Similarity

  • Mere exposure effect (familiarity increases liking)

  • "We like who likes us."

  • Pretty privilege: tend to see positive traits in pretty people.

 

14. Aggression

(1) Physical aggression & (2) Verbal aggression

Types

  • Hostile aggression – harm for its own sake, to achieve a goal

  • Instrumental aggression – harm to achieve a goal, to inflict harm on a living creature

Biological Models

  • Genetics

  • Hormones (testosterone)

  • Amygdala activity (brain physiology)

Social Learning - Behaviour modeling

  • Bandura’s Bobo doll study

 

15. Prosocial Behavior & Altruism

  • True altruism = helping with no personal gain.

  • Reciprocal altruism = expectation of future return.

 

16. Compliance Techniques

  • Reciprocity norm: give & take

    • Giving help, expecting something in return

    • Lasting relationship -> no score keeping

    • Dissatisfied when no reciprocation

    • If given something unwanted, triggers the need to reciprocate

Foot‑in‑the‑Door

Small request → big request

Door‑in‑the‑Face

Large request rejected → smaller request accepted

Lowballing

Agree to good deal → deal worsens → still comply