Social Psychology and Human Behavior

Evolutionary Psychology of Social Behavior

  • Humans are inherently social due to evolutionary advantages of group living.
    • Group living provided protection.
    • Enabled food sharing among members.
    • Facilitated the raising of children collectively.
    • Promoted cooperation for mutual survival.
  • Individuals forming bonds with others had enhanced survival and reproductive prospects.

Human Reaction to Social Isolation and Exclusion

  • Social isolation and exclusion lead to a range of negative emotional outcomes:
    • Emotional pain and stress.
    • Decreased self-esteem.
    • Heightened anxiety and sadness.
    • Potential for anger due to a strong need for belonging.

First Impressions

  • Definition: Quick judgments made about a person based on various social cues.
    • Cues include appearance, body language, tone of voice, facial expressions, etc.
  • Speed of Formation:
    • First impressions can be formed in seconds or less.
  • Persistence:
    • Once formed, first impressions are difficult to change.
  • Accuracy:
    • While they may be partially accurate, they often suffer from incompleteness and bias due to limited information.

Attributions

  • Definition: Explanations for the behaviors of others.
  • Dispositional Attribution:
    • Attributing behavior to a person's intrinsic traits or character.
  • Situational Attribution:
    • Attributing behavior to external circumstances or environmental factors.
  • Correspondence Bias:
    • The tendency to view behaviors as indicative of personality rather than influenced by the situation.
  • Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE):
    • Overestimating dispositional factors while underestimating situational influences in others' behaviors.
  • Actor-Observer Bias:
    • Explaining our own behaviors in situational terms while attributing others' behaviors to their disposition.
  • Self-Serving Bias:
    • Attributing personal successes to internal factors and failures to external ones.

Just-World Belief

  • Definition: The belief that the world is inherently fair and individuals get what they deserve.
  • Implication: Can lead to victim blaming in cases of misfortune.

Cultural Influence on Attribution

  • Individualistic Cultures:
    • Focus on personal traits, leading to more dispositional attributions.
  • Collectivist Cultures:
    • Emphasize social context, leading to more situational attributions.

Attitude

  • Definition: A learned predisposition to respond in a particular way toward a person, object, idea, or issue.
  • Components of Attitude:
    • Affective Component: Emotions related to the attitude.
    • Behavioral Component: Actions taken in relation to the attitude.
    • Cognitive Component: Thoughts or beliefs held regarding the attitude.

Formation and Change of Attitudes

  • How Attitudes Are Formed:
    • Through experience, social learning, influence of family, peers, media, conditioning, and observation.
  • How Attitudes Change:
    • Can change through:
    • Persuasion.
    • New experiences and information.
    • Social pressure.
    • Cognitive dissonance, which is the discomfort arising from conflicts between beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors.

Cognitive Dissonance

  • Definition: The psychological discomfort experienced when beliefs and behaviors conflict.
  • Example: Knowing smoking is unhealthy yet continuing to smoke; one must either stop smoking or change the belief about its health effects.
  • Cognitive Consistency:
    • The desire for alignment between thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors to avoid cognitive dissonance.

Persuasion

  • Definition: The process of influencing someone’s attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors through communication.
  • Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM):
    • Two routes to persuasion:
    • Central Route:
      • Involves careful and thoughtful consideration of the arguments.
      • Leads to more enduring attitude change.
      • Example: Students changing opinions on school uniforms after analyzing strong evidence.
    • Peripheral Route:
      • Involves superficial cues such as attractiveness or emotion.
      • Results in temporary attitude change.
      • Example: Choosing products based on celebrity endorsements.

Prejudice and Stereotyping

  • Prejudice:
    • A negative feeling or attitude toward a group or its members.
  • Stereotyping:
    • Generalized beliefs about a group of people.
  • Discrimination:
    • Unfair treatment based on group membership.
  • Differences Among Them:
    • Prejudice is an attitude, stereotyping is a belief, and discrimination is a behavior.

Sources of Prejudice and Stereotyping

  • Originates from:
    • Social learning and media influences.
    • In-group/out-group dynamics and fears of the unfamiliar.
    • Competition and historical inequalities.
  • Pervasiveness and Persistence of Stereotypes:
    • Reinforced by repetition, media, cultural narratives, and confirmation bias.

Schemas

  • Definition: Cognitive frameworks that help organize and interpret information quickly.
  • Schemas and Stereotyping:
    • Schemas can reinforce stereotypes by narrowing our perceptions of people based on group membership.
  • Societal Impacts of Prejudice:
    • Can lead to biased treatment in various life domains, including education, employment, criminal justice, and intergroup relations.
    • Unequal discipline in schools, hiring biases, discriminatory housing practices, policing disparities, and sentencing inequalities.

Reducing Prejudice

  • Increased Contact:
    • Positive interactions among groups can lessen prejudice when status is equal and goals are shared.
  • Cooperation:
    • Working towards common goals reduces hostility and fosters understanding.
  • Expanding In-Group:
    • Incorporating others into a broader identity mitigates “us vs. them” mentalities.

Social Norms

  • Definition: Unwritten rules dictating expected behaviors within a group or society.
  • Forms of Social Influence:
    • Conformity:
    • Changing behavior or beliefs to align with group norms.
    • Compliance:
    • Changing behavior due to a direct request.
    • Obedience:
    • Following an authoritative command.
  • Differences Among Influence Types:
    • Conformity is at the group level, compliance is voluntary, and obedience involves authority.

Key Studies in Social Psychology

  • Stanford Prison Experiment (Zimbardo):
    • Investigated effects of assigned social roles in a controlled, simulated prison environment; demonstrated power of roles and deindividuation.
  • Solomon Asch Study:
    • Showed conformity to incorrect group norms despite evidence to the contrary.
  • Milgram’s Shock Study:
    • Revealed people's tendency to obey authority figures even when it conflicts with moral judgment.

Compliance Techniques

  • Door-in-the-Face Technique:
    • Start with a large request followed by a smaller one; the smaller one is more likely to be accepted.
    • Example: Asking for 10 hours of volunteering, then asking for 5 dollars.
  • Foot-in-the-Door Technique:
    • Start small, then increase requests; builds commitment.
    • Example: First asking for a signature, then requesting attendance at a related event.
  • Low Balling:
    • Initial agreement to a deal is followed by the revelation of hidden costs.
    • Example: Agreeing to buy a car only to find additional fees later.
  • “That’s Not All” Technique:
    • A bonus is offered before the final agreement to sweeten the deal.
    • Example: “Buy one get one half off!”

Group Dynamics

  • Engaged Followership:
    • Followers who critically assess decisions and resist harmful orders.
  • Social Facilitation:
    • Improved performance on straightforward tasks in the presence of others.
    • Example: Athletes may run faster when watched.
  • Social Loafing:
    • Declining effort in group settings as responsibility is shared.
    • Example: Group projects where individuals contribute less.
  • Deindividuation:
    • Loss of self-identity and accountability in crowds leading to impulsive actions.
    • Example: People engaging in anti-social behavior during riots.

Group Think and Group Polarization

  • Group Polarization:
    • Tendency for group discussions to enhance members' existing beliefs; can lead to extreme views.
    • Example: Moderate opinions becoming radicalized post-discussion.
  • Groupthink:
    • A phenomenon where consensus is prioritized over critical evaluation, resulting in flawed decisions.
    • Example: Group ignoring practical solutions to avoid conflict.

Attraction and Relationships

  • Attraction:
    • A positive feeling towards another individual or entity.
  • Mere Exposure Effect:
    • Increased liking due to repeated exposure; familiarity breeds affection.
    • Example: Classmates may start to like each other simply due to regular interaction.
  • Similarity in Attraction:
    • Attraction is often stronger toward those who share values, interests, and backgrounds.
  • Differences in Attraction:
    • Initially exciting but long-term relationships benefit from shared core values.
  • Physical Attractiveness:
    • Influences first impressions and can lead to the halo effect; attractive individuals are presumed to be positive in other traits.

Theories of Love

  • Matching Hypothesis:
    • Tendency for individuals to choose partners with similar levels of physical attractiveness.
  • Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love:
    • Components of love include:
    • Intimacy: Emotional closeness and trust.
    • Passion: Sexual attraction and excitement.
    • Commitment: Decision to maintain the relationship over time.
  • Types of Love (Sternberg):
    • Consummate Love: Combination of intimacy, passion, and commitment.
    • Liking: Intimacy without passion or commitment, akin to friendship.
    • Infatuation: Passion without deeper connection or commitment.
    • Empty Love: Commitment without intimacy or passion.

Relationship Maintenance

  • Factors sustaining relationships include:
    • Trust, communication, and commitment.
    • Mutual respect and emotional support.
    • Shared values and positive interactions during conflicts.
  • Gottman & Gottman (2017):
    • Found that stable couples maintain five positive interactions for each negative interaction, especially during conflicts.

Competition vs. Cooperation

  • Competition:
    • Aim of winning leads to one group benefiting at the expense of another.
  • Cooperation:
    • Collaborative efforts result in mutual benefits.
  • Impact of Competition on Cohesion:
    • Can enhance cohesion against external threats but may lead to internal strife if group members compete.

Dominance Attributes in Humans

  • Physical traits associated with dominance include:
    • Height, strength, broad shoulders, assertive posture, direct eye contact, lower voice pitch.

Cooperation and Cooperation Variability

  • Kurzban and Houser (2005):
    • Study on cooperation styles reveals variability among individuals:
    • Strong cooperators, free riders, and conditional cooperators.
  • Implication: Human behavior is not strictly selfish or altruistic; cooperative behavior is contingent on others' actions.

Cultural Dimensions of Cooperation and Competition

  • Cultural Influences:
    • Individualistic societies favor competition and personal achievement.
    • Collectivist societies emphasize group cooperation and shared goals.

Prisoner’s Dilemma

  • A model illustrating the decision-making conflict between choosing cooperation with another and self-interest.
  • Demonstrates the complexity of interactions when the outcome depends on the other person's choice.

Altruism and the Bystander Effect

  • Altruism:
    • Definition: Selfless behavior intended to benefit others without expectation of return.
    • Example: Helping a stranger in need without seeking a reward.
  • Bystander Intervention:
    • Engaging to assist in emergencies.
  • Bystander Effect:
    • Less likelihood of helping someone when more bystanders are present.
    • Example: Kitty Genovese case led to research on this phenomenon.
  • Latané and Darley (1968):
    • Found faster help in emergency situations when individuals believed they were alone; helps illustrate diffusion of responsibility.

Understanding Aggression

  • Aggression:
    • Behaviors intended to cause physical, emotional, or social harm.
  • Types of Aggression:
    • Relational Aggression: Indirectly harming another through social relationships; example: spreading rumors.
    • Defensive Aggression: Protects oneself from perceived threats; example: retaliating when attacked.
    • Passive Aggression: Indirect expression of hostilities; example: ignoring someone purposefully.
    • Maternal Aggression: Protective response from a parent towards a child in danger.

Factors Influencing Aggression

  • Biological Influences:
    • Genetics, hormonal changes, brain activity, low impulse control, substance use, sleep issues, and neurological conditions.
  • Social and Cognitive Factors:
    • Frustration, provocation, exposure to violence, social learning influences, peer pressure, hostile attributions, cultural norms, stress levels, environmental heat, and deindividuation.
  • Hostile Attribution Bias:
    • Expecting others’ behaviors to be hostile or negative even in ambiguous situations.

Prevention of Aggression

  • Methods to reduce aggression:
    • Emotional regulation strategies.
    • Conflict resolution skills.
    • Anger management techniques.
    • Empathy training and positive role modeling.
    • Safer environments and clear consequences for violent behavior.

In-group vs. Out-group Dynamics

  • In-group:
    • A group that individuals identify with and feel connected to.
  • Out-group:
    • A group that individuals do not identify with, often seen as different or other.
  • Halo Effect:
    • Tendency to perceive individuals with one positive trait as having additional positive traits.
  • Contact Hypothesis:
    • Positive interactions among diverse groups can reduce prejudice under specific conditions.
  • Implicit Bias:
    • Unconscious attitudes or beliefs that influence behavior and judgment toward others.