Notes on Social Psychology and Self-Presentation

Overview of Social Psychology

• Definition: Examines how people affect and are affected by others in their social context.
• Key Influences:
  • Intrapersonal Factors: Individual emotions, attitudes, self, and cognitive processes.
  • Interpersonal Factors: Interactions within groups, such as aggression, prejudice, and attraction.

Situational vs Dispositional Influences

• Behavior: A result of both situational contexts and personal dispositions.
• Situationism: Behavior is strongly influenced by environmental factors.
• Dispositionism: Behavior is driven by internal characteristics like personality.
• Key Concepts:
  • Fundamental Attribution Error: The tendency to underestimate situational influences and overestimate dispositional ones.
  • Actor-Observer Bias: Attributing others' behaviors to internal traits while attributing our actions to external situations.
  • Self-Serving Bias: Attributing successes to internal factors while blaming failures on external factors.

The Halo Effect and Just-World Hypothesis

• Halo Effect: Positive feelings in one area influence perceptions in others (e.g., attractiveness = likability).
• Just-World Hypothesis: Believing that people get what they deserve, which can lead to victim-blaming, especially toward marginalized groups.

Social Roles and Norms

• Social Role: Expected behaviors associated with a position in a social setting, determined by cultural norms.
• Social Norms: Group expectations of behavior; often dictate how individuals behave in a social context.
• Scripts: Frameworks for expected sequences of events in particular situations.

Attitudes and Persuasion

• Attitudes: Evaluations of people, objects, and ideas, with three components:
  1. Affective: Emotional response.
  2. Behavioral: Influence on actions.
  3. Cognitive: Beliefs and knowledge.
• Cognitive Dissonance: Psychological discomfort from conflicting beliefs or behaviors.
• Ways to Reduce Dissonance:
  • Change behavior.
  • Change cognition through rationalization.
  • Introduce new cognitions.

Techniques of Persuasion

• Yale Attitude Change Approach: States that persuasion requires attention to the source, content, and audience.
  • Source Factors: Credibility, attractiveness, and authority of the speaker are crucial.
  • Message Features: Subtlety and sidedness can impact effectiveness.
  • Audience Characteristics: Attention and intelligence influence persuasiveness.
• Central Route vs Peripheral Route:
  • Central Route: Engages analytical thinking, leading to lasting attitude change.
  • Peripheral Route: Relies on superficial cues, often resulting in temporary change.

Group Behavior Dynamics

• Conformity: Adjusting behavior to align with group norms.
  • Influences: Group size, presence of dissenters, and response nature.
• Compliance: Going along with requests from authority figures.
• Obedience: Following orders from an authority figure, showcased in Milgram's studies on shock obedience.
• Groupthink: Prioritizing group cohesion over critical analysis, often leading to poor decisions.
• Group Polarization: Strengthening of group attitudes following discussion, showing potential for extreme outcomes.

Aggression and Bullying

• Aggression: Can be hostile (anger-motivated) or instrumental (goal-seeking).
• Bullying: Repeated harmful behavior involving an aggressor, victim, and bystanders; different in styles between boys and girls.
• Cyberbullying: A modern, often covert form of bullying utilizing digital platforms.

The Bystander Effect

• Bystander Effect: Less likelihood of helping behavior by individuals when others are present.
• Factors influencing helping: Pluralistic ignorance and diffusion of responsibility.
• Helping behavior can be motivated by cost-benefit analysis.

Relationships and Attraction

• Proximity: Closer individuals are more likely to form relationships.
• Similarity: People establish relationships with those who hold similar backgrounds and attitudes.
• Attraction Factors: Assessed based on physical appearance and personality traits.
• Sternberg's Triangular Theory of Love: Components of love as intimacy, passion, and commitment.

Prejudice and Discrimination

• Prejudice: Attitudinal and often negative feelings towards a group based on stereotypes.
• Discrimination: Actions based on prejudicial attitudes towards individuals from a specific group.
• Types of Prejudice: Racism, sexism, ageism, and homophobia, often nuanced and deeply ingrained.
• Overcoming Prejudice: Through collaboration, education, empathy-building, and awareness.

Conclusion

• Social psychology encompasses a vast range of areas, offering insights into human interaction, belief systems, influences, and behavior patterns, making it a critical area of study in understanding human behavior in societal contexts.