Social Psychology and Personality

Unit 4: Social Psychology & Personality

Chapter Outline

  • Attribution Theory and Person Perception

  • Attitude Formation and Attitude Change

  • Psychology and Social Situations

  • Psychodynamic and Humanistic Theories of Personality

  • Social-Cognitive and Trait Theories of Personality

  • Motivation

  • Emotion

What is Social Psychology?

  • Scientific study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual or implied presence of others.

  • Empirical investigation utilizing the scientific method.

  • Focus on understanding human behavior in social contexts, which includes:

    • Activities and interactions among people

    • Settings in which behavior occurs

    • Expectations and social norms governing behavior

Attribution Theory

  • Developed by Weiner; it explains how people interpret their own and others' behaviors.

Key Components

  1. Behavior must be observed or perceived.

  2. Behavior deemed intentional.

  3. Attribution to internal or external causes.

Internal vs. External Attributions

  • Internal Attribution (Dispositionism)

    • Behavior attributed to personal factors (traits, abilities).

    • Example: Maria’s breakdown due to her ignorance about cars.

  • External Attribution (Situationism)

    • Behavior attributed to situational factors.

    • Example: Maria's breakdown due to the car's age.

Stable vs. Unstable Attributions

  • Stable Attribution

    • Behavior attributed to stable, unchanging factors.

    • Example: Lee attributes poor performance to perpetual bad luck.

  • Unstable Attribution

    • Behavior attributed to temporary factors.

    • Example: Lee attributes poor performance to lack of study time.

Attribution Bias

  • Systematic biases that lead to incorrect attributions include:

    • Fundamental attribution error

    • Self-serving bias

    • Just world hypothesis

    • Confirmation bias

    • Halo effect

    • False consensus effect

The Fundamental Attribution Error

  • Tendency to attribute others' behavior to internal factors while attributing one's own behavior to external factors.

  • Example: Sean attributes Alexis's behavior to laziness but assigns his own to situational factors.

The Self-Serving Bias

  • Tendency to link successes to internal factors and failures to external factors.

  • This bias grows with time.

  • Example: Chad takes credit for his success in a competition but blames bad luck for a publication failure.

The Just World Hypothesis

  • Belief that the world is fair; people get what they deserve.

  • Ties to personal security and meaning in tough situations.

  • Example: Chad attributes Diana's failure in a contest to her writing abilities but gives her publication success to luck.

Confirmation Bias

  • Tendency to search for information that affirms existing beliefs.

  • Motivated by wishful thinking; leads to ignoring contrary evidence.

Halo Effect

  • Overall impression of a person influences evaluations of their specific traits.

  • Example: Perceiving a person as nice automatically influences other trait judgments.

False Consensus Effect

  • Cognitive bias where individuals overestimate how typical their beliefs and opinions are in the general population.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

  • Phenomenon where expectations about a situation or person influence behavior in ways that make those expectations come true.

  • Positive labeling can enhance strengths, encouraging further development.

Self-Concept

  • Collection of beliefs about one’s self.

  • Influenced by factors such as gender, ethnicity, and race.

  • Composed of two parts:

    • Personal Identity: Traits making one unique.

    • Social Identity: Identification with groups or communities.

Attitude Formation and Change

Key Areas of Focus

  • Important figures in the study of attitudes

  • Persuasion strategies

  • Cognitive dissonance

What is Attitude Formation?

  • Attitude: a lasting positive or negative opinion about something.

  • Formed through direct experiences, persuasion, or media influences.

ABC Model of Attitudes

  1. Affective Component: Feelings associated with the subject.

  2. Behavioral Component: How attitude influences behavior.

  3. Cognitive Component: Thoughts and beliefs about the subject.

Important Figures in Research

  • Leon Festinger:

    • Known for cognitive dissonance theory and social comparison theory.

    • Cognitive dissonance refers to discomfort arising from inconsistencies between beliefs and behaviors.

Festinger and Carlsmith Research

  • Study on cognitive dissonance; used male students to investigate forced compliance consequences.

Factors Influencing Attitude Formation

  1. Experience: Direct or observational learning.

  2. Social Factors: Social roles and norms influence attitudes.

  3. Learning: Conditioning methods to shape attitudes (classical and operant conditioning).

Attitude Change

  • Attitudes are not static; influenced by persuasion and other factors.

Key Theories

  • Persuasion Strategies

  • Elaboration Likelihood Model

  • Cognitive Dissonance

Persuasion Strategies

  • Aim to internalize new attitudes.

Key Techniques

  • Foot-in-the-Door Technique: Small request followed by a larger one.

  • Utilize the Power of Reciprocity: Obligation to return favors.

  • Appeal to Social Need: Connects desire for popularity or prestige.

  • Door-in-the-Face Technique: Starts with a large request that is likely to be rejected.

Elaboration Likelihood Model

  • Describes how attitudes change based on the persuasive message's nature.

Routes of Persuasion

  1. Central Route: Logical, fact-based, relevant topics for listeners.

  2. Peripheral Route: Based on surface-level characteristics (attraction, music).

Cognitive Dissonance

  • Proposed by Leon Festinger; focuses on internal consistency.

  • Describes discomfort from conflicting beliefs and behaviors.