Social Psychology

Social Psychology- the scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another

THEORY

• Attribution theory- tendency to give a causal explanation for someone’s behavior, often by crediting oneself to a situation

• Fundamental Attribution Theory

  • the tendency for observers, when analyzing another’s behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation & to overestimate the impact of personal disposition

  • When you do something, you blame your surroundings. However, we someone else does something wrong, you blame their character

Attitude & Actions

• attitude- belief and feeling that predisposes one to respond in a particular way to objects, people, & events

  • not positive or negative

  • attitude affects actions, and actions affect the attitude

• Zimbardo Prison Experiment

  • An experiment where Zimbardo had two groups: prisoners and guards. Participants are assigned either role, and Zimbardo wanted to see how they would adapt to their role.

  • Suggest strongly that actions affect attitudes

    • roleplaying (role)

      • set of expectations about social position

      • defines how those in the position ought to behave

  • Lucifer Effect- we are all susceptible to the “dark side” because of negative social influence

• Cognitive-Dissonance Theory

  • We act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when two or more of our thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent

Social Thinking & Influence

• CENTRAL argument

  • convinces someone through a quality argument

    • car sales- HP, MPG, new technology, less $

• PERIPHERAL argument

  • convinces you superficially, not detailed

    • a store may offer you drinks, snacks, and compliments

• Foot-in-the-door phenomenon

  • the tendency of people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request

    • door-to-door salesman, car salesman

• Door-in-the-face phenomenon

  • presenting an unacceptable & large option first, so the subject will settle for a smaller option later

• Conformity

  • adjusting one’s behavior or thinking to coincide with a group or standard

    • Solomon Asch Line Test (conformity study)

• Criterion for Conformity

  • impressed by the status of others (normative)

  • high stakes (informational)

  • unsure of the answer (informational)

  • unanimous answers amount confederates (normative/informational)

• Normative Social Influence

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

• Informational Social Influence

  • influence resulting from one’s willingness to accept other’s opinions about reality

• Stanley Milgram Obedience Study

  • teacher “shocks” the learner all the way up to the highest voltage

  • demonstrated how people are likely to obey an order that comes from an authority figure

  • role playing & power of mindless obedience are both catalysts for behaviors, but NOT EXCUSES

• Social Facilitation

  • Yerkes-Dodson Law

    • improved performance or tasks in the presence of others

    • occurs with simple or well-learned tasks

• Social Loafing

  • the tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal that when individually accountable

  • people loaf around when others are working on a common project with them

• Social Inhibition

  • conscious or subconscious avoidance of a situation or social interaction

    • High-level = situational avoidance (possible disproval)

• Deindividualization

  • loss of self-awareness & self-restraint in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity

• Group Polarization

  • enhancement of a group’s prevailing attitudes through discussion within the group

  • discussions strengthen with like-minded beliefs

• Groupthink

  • mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in the decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives

  • example: Challenger engineers agreed to launch the Challenger despite it having technical difficulties. this was due to the peer pressure of the press.

Social Relations

• Stereotype

  • a generalized (sometimes accurate, but overgeneralized) belief about a group of people

• Prejudice

  • unjustifiable (usually negative) attitude toward a group & its members

  • LEARNED, not innate

• Ethnocentrism

  • the tendency for people of a particular race to gravitate toward those of the same race

  • not necessarily racist

• Ingroup

  • “Us”- people with whom one shares a common identity with

• Outgroup

  • “Them”- the others; perceived as different or apart from one’s group

  • you tend to see individuals in an outgroup as the same

• Ingroup bias- tendency to favor one’s group

• Scapegoat Theory

  • the theory that prejudice provides an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame

    • Hitler scapegoated the Jews

• Just world phenomenon

  • the tendency for people to believe the world is just

  • people get what they deserve and deserve what they get (karma)

• Aggression

  • any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt/harm someone

• Frustration-Aggression Principle

  • the principle that frustration (the blocking of an attempt to achieve some goal) creates anger, which can generate aggression

  • Catharsis Theory

    • the idea that watching violent stuff allows an outlet for aggression

      • you do not act of aggression

    • disproven by the Bandura Bobo Doll experiment

• Conflict

  • perceived incompatibility of actions, goals, or ideas

• Social Trap

  • the situation in which conflicting parties, by each rationally pursuing their self-interests, become taught mutually destructive behavior

    • Ex: individuals not educated on financial responsibility receive first credit card (then abuses it)

    • Ex. while driving, me and other people want to get to our destination quickly. This can cause conflict

• Bystander Effect

  • the tendency for any bystander to be less likely to help when others are present

    • think “someone else will help”

  • Diffusion of Responsibility- a person is less likely to take responsibility for action or inaction when other bystanders or witnesses are present

• Self-fulfilling prophecy

  • when a person causes a prediction to come true

    

• Chameleon Effect

  • unconscious mimicry of postures, mannerisms, facial expressions, & other behaviors of one’s partners, such that one’s behavior passively and unintentionally changes to match that of others in one’s current social environment

  • Mirror Neurons

• Prisoner’s Dilemma

  • a paradox in decision-making analysis in which 2 individuals acting in their own self-interests do not produce the optimal outcome

  • people act in their own self-interests

    

• Robber’s Cave Experiment

  • Muzafer Sherif argued that intergroup conflict (conflict between groups) occurs when 2 groups compete for limited resources

  • the experiment confirmed Sherif’s realistic conflict theory

    • the idea that group conflict can result from competition over resources

  • Ethical issues: the participants were deceived & denied basic resources (not protected from harm)

RELATIONSHIPS

• Equity - a condition in which people receive from a relationship in proportion to what they give to it.

• Self-disclosure - revealing intimate aspects of oneself to others

• Altruism - unselfish regard for the welfare of others (selflessness)

• Norms of Reciprocity

  • requires that we repay in kind what another has done for us

  • Understood as the expectation that people will respond favorably to each other by returning benefits for benefits, & responding with either indifference or hostility to harm

• Social Exchange Theory (cost-benefit analysis)

  • the theory that our behavior is an exchange process, the aim of which is to maximize benefits and minimize cost

    • Like dating, if you take someone out to an expensive restaurant, you get greater benefits. However, if you go to McDonald’s, you may not even get a second date

• Superordinate Goals -shared goals

• Graduated & Reciprocated Initiatives in Tension-Reduction (GRIT)

  • a strategy designed to decrease international tensions

    • one side announces recognition of mutual interests & initiates the small conciliatory act

      • opens for reconciliation

    • Ex: Cold War

Attractiveness

• Mere Exposure Effect

  • repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases liking of them

  • conceptions of attractiveness vary by culture

• Passionate Love

  • aroused state of intense positive absorption in another

  • usually present at the beginning of a relationship

  • “honeymoon” phase

• Companionate Love

  • the deep affectionate attachment we feel for those with whom our lives are intertwined