Unit 6 Social Psychology Notes

Social Psychology Notes

Social Attitudes (Module 74)

• Discuss the ways that attitudes are formed and modified.

Introduction to Social Psychology

• Social psychology examines how social factors and personality traits influence behavior and mental processes and vice versa.

• The unit explores theories categorizing personalities and their connections to behavior.

• Students investigate origins, development, and potential changes in personalities.

• This helps in understanding themselves and others in daily life.

• It sets the groundwork for later discussions on mental and physical health.

Initial Considerations

• What makes a person good?

• What makes a person bad?

• Consider behaviors that provide evidence for either category.

Attribution Questions

• How would you explain a good friend's anger?

• How would you explain a good friend's act of kindness?

• What do you think of a new acquaintance who doesn't acknowledge you?

• Does attribution differ for friends versus acquaintances? Why?

Attribution Theory

• Explains how people decide if behavior is due to personality or situation.

• Attributes = Inference about the cause of behavior.

• Example: A student consistently late; classmates attribute tardiness to laziness (internal) or long commute/family responsibilities (external).

Dispositional Attributions

• Assuming actions are due to personality, not situation.

• Classmates attribute tardiness to laziness or lack of responsibility, focusing on internal characteristics.

Situational Attributions

• Assuming actions are due to circumstances, not personality.

• Classmates consider long commute, traffic, or family responsibilities as reasons for tardiness, focusing on external factors.

Fundamental Attribution Error

• The tendency to blame actions on personality rather than situation.

• More common in Western countries.

• Example: A student cut off by another driver attributes it to recklessness, not considering emergencies or unfamiliarity with the area.

Explanatory Style

• How a person usually explains the reasons behind events—whether they blame themselves or outside factors.

• How a student explains failing a test, winning a debate, and being elected class president showcases their explanatory style, influencing motivation and well-being.

Optimistic Explanatory Style

• Explaining good things as likely to happen again and bad things as one-time events.

• Attributing setbacks to external, unstable, and specific factors.

• Example: "I didn't study the right topics this time, but I can prepare better for the next test."

Pessimistic Explanatory Style

• Explaining bad things as likely to happen again and good things as one-time events.

• Attributing negative events to internal, stable, and global factors.

• Example: "I'm just bad at this subject and that's not going to change."

Actor-Observer Bias

• Blaming our own actions on the situation but blaming other people’s actions on their personality.

• A student justifies their lack of participation in a group project due to other assignments but assumes another student is lazy, exemplifying actor-observer bias.

Self-Serving Bias

• Attributing successes to personal characteristics and failures to external factors, enhancing one's self-esteem.

• A student attributes a high grade to intelligence but blames a low score on unclear instructions, demonstrating self-serving bias.

Internal Locus of Control

• The belief that one's own actions and decisions directly influence outcomes.

• An athlete attributes their championship win to their dedication and hard work, showing an internal locus of control.

External Locus of Control

• The belief that outcomes are determined by external forces or fate.

• A soccer player attributes team losses to poor refereeing and bad weather, exemplifying an external locus of control.

Persuasion

• Influencing others’ attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors through communication.

• A charity uses testimonials, emotional appeals, and endorsements from community leaders to encourage donations.

Central Route of Persuasion

• Engaging deeply with the content of a message, leading to careful analysis and thoughtful consideration, resulting in durable attitude change.

• Citizens provide detailed data on environmental benefits and cost savings to persuade the city council to approve a recycling program.

Peripheral Route of Persuasion

• Relying on superficial cues, like attractiveness or credibility, rather than content, leading to temporary attitude changes.

• Teenagers are influenced by a celebrity in an advertisement for a soft drink, rather than the product's details.

Mere Exposure Effect

• Repeated exposure to a stimulus increases preference for that stimulus.

• A student develops a positive opinion of a classmate due to frequent exposure, even without personal interactions.

Halo Effect

• A positive impression in one area leads to positive evaluations in other areas.

• An attractive model promoting skincare products leads consumers to assume the products are effective, leveraging superficial cues.

Foot-in-the-Door Technique

• Agreement to a small request increases the likelihood of compliance with a larger request.

• A charity asks people to sign a petition before asking for donations, increasing compliance with the larger request.

Door-in-the-Face Technique

• A large request is made, knowing it will be refused, followed by a smaller request that is more likely to be accepted.

• A school club asks for a $50 donation, expecting refusal, then asks for $10, increasing the likelihood of acceptance.

False Consensus Effect

• Overestimating how much others agree with one's own beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes.

• A student assumes most classmates support their political candidate, surprised when they find differing opinions.

Cognitive Dissonance

• Psychological discomfort when holding conflicting beliefs, leading to altering one of the beliefs or behaviors to reduce discomfort.

• A person who values healthy living frequently eats fast food and justifies it by downplaying the importance of eating healthy.

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

• Leon Festinger’s (1957) cognitive dissonance theory: when there are inconsistencies in our actions and beliefs, we feel tension/discomfort; we then act in a way to relieve that tension

• Belief + Inconsistent Action = Tension = Cognitive Dissonance

Social Influence & Group Dynamics Discussion

• What is actor-observer bias?

• How might a car salesman use the peripheral route of persuasion?

• Provide an example of deindividuation.

Actions Shaping Attitudes: Role Playing

• Thoughts start to match actions as you act out a role ("fake it till you make it").

• Philip Zimbardo (1971) Stanford prison study

  • Funded by the US military, hoping to prove that abusive behavior in military prisons is due to personality.

  • 24 psychologically healthy young adult male participants were randomly assigned as a guard or a prisoner.

  • The study had to be called off after 6 days because the guards were acting cruel and the prisoners were showing signs of emotional anguish (interestingly, only one researcher out of 50 questioned the study’s morality).

Industrial-Organizational (I/O) Psychologists

• Apply psychological principles to improve productivity, select employees, and enhance organizational culture.

• An I/O psychologist conducts surveys and implements interventions to improve job satisfaction and productivity in a corporation.

Multiple-Choice Practice Questions

Question 1

• Advertisers use celebrity endorsements. This leverages the Peripheral Route of Persuasion.

• Correct Answer: (B) Peripheral Route of Persuasion

Question 2

• A charity worker first asks a passerby to sign a petition (a small request), hoping to increase the likelihood that they will later agree to make a donation (a larger request). This technique is known as: Foot-in-the-Door Technique

• Correct Answer: (A) Foot-in-the-Door Technique

Question 3

• After purchasing an expensive car, a buyer might experience discomfort from internally conflicting thoughts about the cost versus the quality of the car. This psychological tension is best described as:

• Correct Answer: (C) Cognitive Dissonance

Question 4

• When voters believe a candidate is more truthful and competent simply because the candidate is attractive, this influence on judgment is an example of:

• Correct Answer: (B) Halo Effect

Question 5

• Professionals who apply psychological principles to workplace challenges, focusing on issues such as worker productivity, employee testing, and human-computer interaction, are known as:

• Correct Answer: (C) Industrial-Organizational (I/O) Psychologists

Social Influence (Modules 75-76)

• Discuss how individuals respond to the presence and expectations of others.

Conformity

• Adjusting thoughts, feelings, or behavior to align with a group due to real or imagined pressure.

• A student agrees to see a movie with friends, despite preferring a documentary, to fit in.

Asch’s Conformity Study (1955)

• After hearing confederates give an obviously wrong answer, participants will report the same wrong answer 37% of the time; 75% will conform at least once.

• Conformity drops if the participant is given an “ally” who gives the correct answer or if the participant can write their answer

Why Do We Conform?

• Biological reasons:

  • Mirror neurons.

  • Automatic mimicry/Chameleon Effect.

  • Evolution.

  • Nonconformity activates the “cold” sensory center of our brain.

• Psychological reasons:

  • Belief that the group must be right (informational social influence).

• Social reasons:

  • Increases our likeability (normative social influence).

  • Fear of disapproval.

Factors Influencing Conformity

• You are more likely to conform if…

  • You feel incompetent/insecure.

  • You are in a group of four or more (additional members beyond four don’t change tendency to conform).

  • The group is unanimous.

  • You are impressed with the group’s status.

  • You haven’t already committed to another response.

  • The rest of the group is observing you.

  • Your culture values respect for social standards.

Social Norms

• Unwritten rules that dictate acceptable behavior within a society or group.

• At a high school dance, students dress formally to fit in, adhering to social norms.

Informational Social Influence

• Accepting information from others as evidence about reality, often when the correct action is uncertain.

• A new student observes others to figure out where to sit in the lunchroom.

Normative Social Influence

• Conforming to positive expectations of others to be liked or accepted.

• A student skips class with a group to avoid being seen as uncool, driven by normative social influence.

Social Comparison

• Evaluating oneself by comparing with others to assess abilities, status, or opinions.

• A student compares their grades to classmates and feels inadequate or confident based on the comparison.

Relative Deprivation

• A feeling of dissatisfaction experienced when individuals compare themselves to others and perceive they are worse off.

• A student feels dissatisfied because classmates have newer phones and clothes, despite having adequate resources.

Upward Social Comparison

• Comparing oneself to others perceived to be better off, which can motivate self-improvement but may also decrease self-esteem.

• A student feels inadequate comparing their grades to a top-performing peer, leading to anxiety and motivation to improve.

Downward Social Comparison

• Comparing oneself to others perceived to be worse off, which can boost self-esteem but may also foster complacency.

• The same student feels a boost in self-esteem noticing their grades are higher than some other peers, providing reassurance about their own abilities.

Social Facilitation

• Performing differently in the presence of others.

• An athlete achieves a personal best during a track meet, illustrating social facilitation.

Group Polarization

• Group discussions leading to more extreme agreement with each other.

• A debate club strengthens their stance on school uniforms after sharing similar views.

Groupthink

• The desire for harmony in a group leads to irrational decision-making.

• Student council members suppress doubts and agree to an expensive school event without critical evaluation.

Diffusion of Responsibility

• Individuals feel less responsible for taking action when others are present.

• No one helps a student who trips and spills food in the cafeteria, exemplifying diffusion of responsibility.

Social Loafing

• Individuals exert less effort when working in a group than when working alone.

• In a group project, only two students actively contribute, while others do minimal work, assuming their group members will cover the necessary tasks.

Deindividuation

• Individuals lose self-awareness and individuality in group settings, leading to impulsive behavior.

• Students at a pep rally shout chants and partake in pranks, demonstrating deindividuation.

Deindividuation and Group Polarization

• How do you dance on a well-lit stage? How do you dance on a dark, crowded dance floor?

• How do deindividuation and group polarization contribute to mob mentality?

• How are the internet and social media set up to facilitate deindividuation and group polarization? What are the effects? How can we mitigate them?
  Arousal (social facilitation) Anonymity (social loafing) Deindividuation

Behavior in the Presence of Others

• Social Facilitation: increased arousal amplifies dominant behavior in social settings.

• Social Loafing: diminished responsibility in group projects decreases effort.

• Deindividuation: reduced self-awareness leads to lowered self-restraint in groups.

Multiple-Choice Practice Questions

Question 1

• At a music concert, a person starts clapping and cheering loudly because everyone around them is doing so, even though they didn't enjoy the performance that much. This behavior is an example of:

• Correct Answer: (A) Conformity

Question 2

• When people perform a task better in the presence of others than when alone, this enhancement of performance is known as:

• Correct Answer: (B) Social Facilitation

Question 3

• During a group discussion, members of a team become more extreme in their initial positions, leading to a more radical final decision. This shift toward more extreme positions in group discussions is called:

• Correct Answer: (A) Group Polarization

Question 4

• In a busy office, a worker puts in less effort on a group project than when working solo, believing others will pick up the slack. This reduction in motivation and effort when working in a group is known as:

• Correct Answer: (B) Social Loafing

Prejudice and Discrimination (Module 77)

• Describe the processes that contribute to differential treatment of others.

Stereotype

• A generalized belief about a category of people, often oversimplified and not based on direct experience.

• Stereotypes can help reduce cognitive load by providing a quick, if oversimplified, way to categorize people and situations without the need for detailed processing of every new piece of information.

• Students assume a new student wearing glasses is intelligent and socially awkward, demonstrating how stereotypes shape perceptions.

Prejudice

• An unjustifiable negative attitude toward a group and its members.

• Students hold a stereotype that new immigrants struggle academically, leading to prejudice and exclusion.

Discrimination

• Unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group or its members.

• Jane Elliott’s 3rd grade blue eye / brown eye study, 1968

• A council member assigns technical roles exclusively to boys due to a stereotype, preventing capable girls from participating.

Stereotype Threat and Stereotype Lift

• Stereotype Threat: Concern about being judged based on a negative stereotype affects performance.

  • Example: A woman performs poorly on a math test if told men perform better.

• Stereotype Lift: Performing better due to not being part of a negative stereotype.

  • Example: A man might perform better on a math test if he's told that men are better than women.

Ethnocentrism

• The belief in the inherent superiority of one's own ethnic group or culture.

• A person from a Western country assumes forks and knives are superior to chopsticks.

Collectivism

• A cultural value that emphasizes the importance of the group or community over individual goals.

Multiculturalism

• The view that promotes the acknowledgment and respect of diverse cultural backgrounds.

Confirmation Bias

• Searching for information that confirms preexisting beliefs.

• A student believes athletes aren't academically inclined, noticing struggles but dismissing successes, illustrating confirmation bias.

Belief Perseverance

• Holding on to one's initial beliefs even after they have been proven false.

• A student maintains the stereotype that students from a neighborhood are not motivated, despite evidence to the contrary.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

• A belief about a person leads to actions that make the belief come true.

• A teacher's low expectations for students wearing hoodies leads to poorer performance, confirming the initial belief.

Implicit Attitudes

• Unconscious beliefs that influence behavior without awareness.

• A student subconsciously assumes athletes won't contribute to a project, influencing behavior without conscious awareness.

Just-World Phenomenon

• A belief that the world is fundamentally fair, leading people to rationalize injustice.

Scapegoating

• The process of directing one's anger onto another group, blaming them for their problems.

• A student believes a classmate deserved punishment for cheating, reflecting the Just-World Phenomenon.

Out-Group Homogeneity Bias

• Seeing members of an outgroup as more similar than they really are.

• A junior student sees all freshmen as having the same interests, demonstrating Out-Group Homogeneity Bias.

In-Group Bias

• Favoring members of one's own group.

• A soccer team member believes their group is more talented, illustrating in-group bias.

How to Respond to Prejudices

• Exposure is the best remedy; diversity shows similarities.

• Police Training on Implicit Bias. Using Virtual Reality to Reduce Prejudice

Recognizing Privilege

• Those who experience the most prejudice in society are acutely aware of it - confronted with it regularly

• Many with privilege don’t recognize it. They assume most people have their same life experiences. They’re not strongly motivated to change the status quo because they do not experience the consequences.

Ways That Implicit Biases Can Manifest is in the Form of Microaggressions

• Microassaults: Conscious and intentional actions or slurs. Example: racial epithets

• Microinsults: Verbal and nonverbal communications that subtly convey rudeness and insensitivity and demean a person's racial heritage or identity. Example: asking an employee of color how she got her job, implying she may have landed it through an affirmative action or quota system

• Microinvalidations: Communications that subtly exclude, negate or nullify the thoughts, feelings or experiential reality of a person of color. Example: white people often ask Asian-Americans where they were born

Multiple-Choice Practice Questions

Question 1

• A manager, believing that younger employees are more tech-savvy, assigns all new tech-related projects to them while overlooking older employees who may have similar skills. This situation best exemplifies:

• Correct Answer: (B) Discrimination

Question 2

• Despite seeing multiple news reports that contradict his views on climate change, a person continues to deny its severity, citing a few unscientific articles that support his stance. This behavior is an example of:

• Correct Answer: (B) Belief Perseverance

Question 3

• When an employee is told repeatedly by colleagues that they are not good at public speaking, they begin to act nervously and perform poorly during presentations, thereby confirming the initial judgment. This is a case of:

• Correct Answer: (A) Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Question 4

• When people of a community believe that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people, which concept does this best illustrate?

• Correct Answer: (A) Just-World Phenomenon

Question 5

• During an international conference, a business leader dismisses the marketing strategies of companies from other countries, believing that approaches from his own country are superior. This belief that one's own cultural group is centrally important and that all other groups are measured in relation to one’s own is an example of:

• Correct Answer: (A) Ethnocentrism

Attraction (Modules 78-79)

• Discuss the variables that contribute to attraction and aggression.

Factors Influencing Attraction

• Proximity or mere exposure effect

• Similarity – We feel more attraction to people who remind us of ourselves (in interests, appearance, name, behavior)

• Personality compatibility

• Physical appearance

Physical Attractiveness

• Symmetry

• Averages

• The Golden Ratio Mathematical Beauty

• Cultural

• Facial Neoteny paired with certain features that people clearly masculine or clearly feminine

Physical Attractiveness

• Masculine – Strong jaw, Square hairline, Straighter eyebrows

• Feminine – High cheekbones, Round hairline, Arched eyebrows

Additional Factors in Attraction

• Once we find someone, they become more attractive to us over time. Mere exposure

• We like those who like us

• The Halo Effect

Romantic Love

• Dutton & Aron’s bridge experiment: physiological excitement + attributing that excitement to a specific person = feelings of attraction

• Love and the endocrine system

  • Passionate love: adrenal glands, gonads. Dopamine, adrenaline, testosterone

  • Companionate love: pituitary gland. Oxytocin

Self-disclosing intimacy + mutually supportive equity = enduring companionate love

Aggression

• Aggression = behavior (verbal or physical) intended to hurt or damage

• Biological components

  • Evolutionary advantages (survival of the fittest). Genetically linked

  • Neurochemical: sensitive amygdala, high testosterone, low serotonin

• Psychological components

  • Frustration-aggression principle: frustration → anger → aggression

  • Belief that aggressive behavior is acceptable.

• Sociocultural components

  • Social scripts: cultural models of appropriate behavior

  • Media models normalizing violence (observational learning)

What Can Prompt Aggression?

• Road Rage Example

• Influx of people who have different driving patterns. Often stereotypes play a role

• Traffic causes physiological arousal. Fight or Flight. Mild Claustrophobia (like crowding)

• (Fundamental Attribution Error) Attributing the wrong to the driver. He is intentionally irritating you.

• (Deindividuation)Ours and their anonymity. We are likely to say excuse me if we bump into someone but if we’re driving we won’t. The more distant we are the less courteous, restrained and empathetic we are.

Altruism & Helping (Module 80)

• Discuss how individuals respond to the presence and expectations of others.

Altruism

• The selfless concern for the well-being of others, leading to behavior that benefits others at a personal cost.

• A student returns a dropped wallet without expecting a reward, exemplifying altruism.

Prosocial Behavior (Altruism)

• Prosocial behavior: acting in ways that promote the welfare of others, without concern for oneself

• We are more likely to help others if we…

  • Believe the victim needs and deserves help

  • Believe the victim is similar to us

  • Are feeling either happy or guilty

  • Just saw someone else being helped

  • Are not in a hurry

  • Are in a small/rural town or an uncrowded area (bystander effect)

  • The person is a woman

  • We are focused on others and not preoccupied

When We Don’t Help

• Bystander effect (diffusion of responsibility): tendency to withhold help if other people are present

Bystander Intervention Decision-Making

• Step 1: Notices the incident

• Step 2: Determines that it is an emergency

• Step 3: Assumes responsibility

• Step 4: Attempts to Help

Social Responsibility Norm

• The societal expectation that people should help others who need assistance.

• A student helps another pick up dropped books, driven by the social responsibility norm.

Social Reciprocity Norm

The societal expectation that people should help others who need assistance if they do the same.

Social Debt

• A feeling of obligation or guilt towards someone due to receiving a favor or benefit from them.

Social Traps

• Situations in which individuals or groups pursue immediate rewards that later prove to have negative consequences for the larger community.

• Residents overfish a lake, leading to a collapse of the fishery, illustrating a social trap.

Other Factors to Consider

Situational Variables These are external factors; Attentional Variables: specific aspects of a situation that capture a person's focus

Burnout

• Burnout is a psychological syndrome that occurs when someone experiences prolonged or repeated stress, resulting in emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion.

Superordinate Goals

• Shared goals that require cooperation among individuals or groups.

• Neighborhood associations cooperate during a flood, demonstrating superordinate goals.

Peacemaking (The 4 C’s of Peace)

• Contact

• Cooperation (Superordinate goals)

• Communication

• Conciliation