Social Psychology Lecture Overview

Social Psychology Overview

• Scientific field examining how thoughts, feelings, & behaviors are shaped by the real, imagined, or implied presence of others and by social-physical settings.

• Two grand domains:

  • Social Cognition — How we THINK

  • Social Influence — How we ACT

• “The game we’re all playing” – unseen social forces constantly steer everyday life.

Social Cognition

Person Perception – Forming First Impressions

• Active, subjective process; always in an interpersonal context.

• Four guiding principles:

  • Reactions stem from perceptions, not objective reality.

  • Goals dictate what you notice (e.g., seeking a friend vs. study partner).

  • Judgments filtered through social norms (unwritten rules of appropriateness).

  • Self-perception colors perception of others.

Social Categorization – “Power of a Glance”

• Mental shortcut placing people into categories based on shared traits.

• Operates on two processing modes:

  • Explicit Cognition – conscious, deliberate reasoning.

  • Implicit Cognition – automatic, unconscious; housing most biases.

• Assumes group members share behaviors/traits ⇒ feeds implicit personality theory.

Implicit Personality Theory – Your Brain’s “Character Sheet”

• Unconscious belief that certain traits naturally cluster.

• Built from cultural & personal experience (schemas).

• Example: Noticing “friendly” ⇒ assume generous, warm, kind.

• Special case: Attractiveness Bias / “What is Beautiful is Good”

  • Hard-wired association of physical beauty with intelligence, happiness, adjustment.

  • Pop-culture illustration: brightly clad Ms. Marvel (justice) vs. metallic Ultron (evil).

Explaining Behavior – Attribution

• Attribution: cognitive process of answering “WHY?” about behaviors.

• Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE)

  • Tendency to over-assign others’ acts to internal causes, under-weight situation.

  • Individualistic cultures ⇒ stronger FAE; facilitates victim-blaming.

  • Example: Car cuts you off ⇒ "jerk" (internal) vs. hospital emergency (external).

Dark Sides & Related Biases

• Blaming the Victim – faulting innocents to feel safer ourselves.

• Just-World Hypothesis – belief that people get what they deserve; comforting yet unjust.

• Hindsight Bias – “knew-it-all-along” illusion; inflates predictability after events.

• Self-Serving Bias

  • Success ⇒ internal credit (“I’m smart”).

  • Failure ⇒ external blame (“unfair exam”).

Attitudes & Cognitive Dissonance

Attitude – “What’s Your Stance?”

• Learned evaluation (positive, negative, mixed) toward object/person/issue.

• ABC components:

  • Affective (feelings)

  • Behavioral (actions)

  • Cognitive (thoughts/beliefs)

• Example inquiry: Does who offers you durian sway its taste appraisal?

Cognitive Dissonance – When Attitude ≠ Behavior

• \text{Dissonance} = unpleasant psychological tension from inconsistent cognitions.

• Motivated to reduce tension ⇒ often change attitude to match past act (cannot undo act).

• Rationalization eases conflict.

  • Ex: Netflix binge night before exam ⇒ “Rest is essential for productivity.”

Stereotypes, Prejudice, & Intergroup Dynamics

From Cognitive Shortcut to Bias

• Stereotype: bundle of traits ascribed to all members of a group (e.g., “all police love doughnuts”).

  • Natural information compression yet often inaccurate & harmful; fuels stereotype threat.

• Prejudice: negative attitude toward group; emotional component amplifies hostility during resource scarcity or social change.

• In-Group / Out-Group distinctions:

  • In-Group Bias – favor “us”.

  • Out-Group Homogeneity Effect – “they’re all alike.”

• Classroom demo: Desert-Island Dilemma elicited reliance on stereotypes (scientist, TikTok influencer, etc.).

Reducing Prejudice

• Robbers Cave Experiment – inter-group hostility dissolved via superordinate goals (fixing camp water supply).

• Jigsaw Classroom – each student holds unique info piece ⇒ forced cooperation; results: higher self-esteem & cross-ethnic liking.

Conformity & Obedience

Conformity – Aligning with the Crowd

• Adjusting opinions/behavior to match group norms.

• Asch Line Study

  • Confederates gave wrong answers 12/18 trials; about 5\% remained independent – majority conformed at least once.

• Why conform?

  • Normative Social Influence – want approval.

  • Informational Social Influence – seek accuracy when unsure.

• Conformity ↑ when group unanimous (≥4–5), public response required, task ambiguous, low self-confidence, high attraction to group.

• Cultural note: Individualistic societies value independence ⇒ lower conformity; collectivistic view public harmony as polite.

Obedience – Following Authority

• Milgram Shock Experiment

  • “Teachers” delivered shocks rising 15-V steps up to 450\,\text{V}.

  • Result: 65\% fully obeyed to max; no participant stopped before 300\,\text{V}.

• Facilitators: legitimate authority context, gradual escalation (foot-in-the-door), experimenter reassurances, physical/psychological distance from victim.

• Resisting obedience:

  • Become own authority (choose shock level) ⇒ 95\% stay ≤150\,\text{V}.

  • Presence of dissenting ally cuts compliance.

  • Trust discomfort, question legitimacy, halt mid-course if necessary.

Persuasion Techniques – “The Game of Influence”

• Rule of Reciprocity – receiving gift → feel obliged to return favor.

• Rule of Commitment

  • Foot-in-the-Door – small request → larger.

  • Low-Ball – secure commitment, then reveal hidden costs.

• Defense strategies: sleep on decisions, play devil’s advocate, when unsure do nothing.

Group Processes & Behavior

Prosocial Behavior & Altruism

• Prosocial – any helping act (self-serving or selfless).

• Altruism – help with zero expectation of reward.

Aggression – Hurting Behavior

• Intentional harm (verbal/physical); requires belief harm is unwanted.

• Biological roots

  • Genetics (heritable tendency to aggress for resource gain).

  • Brain: prefrontal cortex & amygdala regulate aggression/emotion.

  • Biochemical: testosterone (weak link, also linked to leadership), alcohol elevates severity.

• Psychological & Social catalysts

  • Observational learning (Bandura’s Bobo doll): copy modeled violence.

  • Frustration (heat, stress, traffic) → “road-rage.”

  • Gender: males show more direct physical aggression; females match in indirect forms.

  • Culture of Honor (U.S. South, Latin America) + income inequality elevate violence.

Bystander Effect – “Someone Else Will Help”

• Probability of helping inversely related to number of witnesses.

• Key inhibitors:

  • Diffusion of Responsibility – shared presence dilutes personal duty.

  • Normative Social Influence – fear looking foolish.

  • Urban overload, ambiguity, high personal cost.

• Helping ↑ with: positive mood (“feel-good, do-good”), guilt, seeing model helpers, perceiving victim deserving, personal connection, dangerous emergencies.

Social Facilitation & Social Inhibition

• Presence of others boosts performance on easy/well-learned tasks, hinders on hard/new tasks.

Social Loafing vs. Social Striving

• Social Loafing – expend less effort when individual output unidentifiable.

  • Decreases when group is cohesive, task meaningful, members known.

  • In many collectivistic cultures pattern reverses ⇒ social striving (work harder for group).

Deindividuation – Losing the “I” in “We”

• Anonymity within group reduces self-awareness & inhibition, fostering impulsive acts.

Key Experiments & Examples (Chronological Quick List)

• Asch (1950s) – line-judgment conformity.

• Milgram (1963) – obedience to authority (electric shocks to 450\,\text{V}).

• Bandura (1960s-70s) – observational learning & aggression.

• Robbers Cave (Sherif, 1954) – intergroup conflict/cooperation.

• Jigsaw Classroom (Aronson, 1970s) – cooperative learning reduces prejudice.

Examples & metaphors used in lecture:

• Car-cutoff “jerk” vs. hospital rush.

• Ms. Marvel vs. Ultron – attractiveness & color cues.

• Durian tasting pressure (“You must EAT it!”).

• Netflix binge before exam – dissonance.

• Desert Island rescue choice – stereotype activation.

Session Wrap-Up Highlights

Session 1

• Definitions: Social Psych, Social Cognition/Influence, Person Perception principles, Social Categorization (explicit/implicit), Implicit Personality Theory, Attractiveness Bias.

Session 2

• Attribution processes, biases (FAE, self-serving, hindsight, just-world), attitude structure, cognitive dissonance mechanics.

Session 3

• Conformity (Asch) & underlying influences; Obedience (Milgram) & situational drivers; persuasion rules; prosocial vs. aggression biology/psychology; bystander effect; social facilitation, deindividuation, social loafing.

Essential Terms for Exam Recall (Alphabetical)

• Aggression

• Altruism

• Attitude (ABC)

• Attribution / Fundamental Attribution Error

• Bystander Effect

• Cognitive Dissonance

• Conformity (Normative vs. Informational)

• Deindividuation

• Diffusion of Responsibility

• Implicit Personality Theory / Attractiveness Bias

• In-Group Bias / Out-Group Homogeneity

• Just-World Hypothesis

• Obedience

• Person Perception

• Persuasion Rules (Reciprocity, Commitment)

• Prejudice vs. Stereotype

• Prosocial Behavior

• Self-Serving Bias

• Social Categorization

• Social Facilitation / Social Loafing

Real-World Relevance & Ethical Reflections

• Awareness of biases (FAE, stereotypes) crucial for fair interpersonal judgment & reducing discrimination.

• Recognizing situational power (Milgram) informs ethical safeguards in workplaces, military, research.

• Jigsaw & cooperative frameworks offer practical antidotes to prejudice in schools & organizations.

• Understanding persuasion protects consumers & citizens against manipulation.

• Bystander training programs leverage knowledge of diffusion & social influence to increase emergency helping.

• Aggression research guides policies on violence prevention, alcohol regulation, and media effects.