Unit 3: Social Psychology

Definition: The scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another.

I. Social ThinkingDefinition: a social learning concept that involves the consideration of:

• Emotions

• Thoughts and beliefs

• Prior knowledge

• Points of view

• Intentions

It is required to develop social skills.

Demo #1: First Impressions

1. Attitudes and Actions

Attitudes:• A belief and feeling that predisposes you to respond in a particular way to people, events, and objects.• They have a profound effect on behavior.

A. Effects of Attitudes on Actions

Our attitudes and actions will not conflict if…•The outside influences on what we do are minimal (peer pressure)•We are keenly aware of our attitudes

•The attitudes are relevant to the behavior

2. Attribution Theory

• How we attribute, or explain, the cause of the behavior we observe.

• It is either a….A. Situational Attribution –The behavior is due to the circumstances of the situation.

B. Dispositional Attribution –

The behavior is due to the person’s disposition (personality).

C. The Fundamental Attribution Error:• The tendency to attribute the behaviors of others to inner dispositions rather than to situations.

• Actor vs. Observer Effect: We tend to overestimate the role of dispositional factors in others and see situational factors for ourselves

•Individualistic vs. Collectivistic Cultures

• People in individualistic cultures, like ours, are more prone to the fundamental attribution error (Western).

• People in collectivistic cultures are better able to see how situation shapes behavior (Southeast Asian).

• Goes hand-in-hand with other errors in cognition

• False Consensus Effect – belief that everyone thinks like you

• Self-Serving Bias – bias toward info that makes you look/feel good

If you win it is

because you are

awesome…if you

lose, it must have

been the coach or

the weather or….

3. Attitude and Behavior

A. Cognitive Dissonance Theory:• People want to have consistent attitudes and behaviors; when they don’t, they experience dissonance, an unpleasant tension.

So, what do they do?• They change their attitude – behavior affects attitudeYou have a belief

that cheating on

tests is bad.But you cheat on

a test!

The teacher was

really bad so in

that class it is OK.

• We act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when our thoughts (cognitions) and actions are inconsistent.

4. Compliance Theories

A. Foot-in-the-door phenomenon:

B. Door-in-the-face phenomenon:

C. Norm of Reciprocity:

D. Role playing affects attitudes• Our behavior is likely to fall outside our normal behavior while role playing.

• What do you think happened when college students were made to take on the roles of prison guards and inmates?

Zimbardo Prison Simulation

Videoclip (Start at 4:57)

II. Social Influence

Conformity and Obedience (The Power Other People Have Over Us)

Situations of High Conformity:• You feel incompetent or insecure.• You are in a group of three or more.• The rest of the group is unanimous.• You are impressed by the status of the group.• You have no prior commitments to a response.• You are being observed by others in the group.• Your culture strongly encourages respect for social standards.

1. Conformity:

Adjusting behavior or thinking to coincide with a group idea or standard.

Asch Conformity Experiment Clip

Purpose: •To investigate the extent to which social pressure from a majority group could affect a person to conform.

Procedure:

•Asch created a “vision test” to select a line of the same length of one of the three choices (A-C). •Asch put a naive participant in a room with seven confederates. The confederates were coached in advance which incorrect line to pick for each trial. The real participant did not know the others were coached.•For each trial, the confederates selected incorrect answers that were always obvious.•The real participant sat at the end of the row and gave his or her answer last.

A. Asch’s Study of Conformity

Asch Conformity Experiment

B. Asch’s Results

• About 1/3 of the participants consistently conformed.• 75% conformed at least once.• Only 1% made mistakes when alone.

Factors that strengthen conformity:• The group is unanimous• The group is at least three people but not more than 7• One admires the group’s status• One made no prior commitment• One is being observed• One is made to feel incompetent

2. Obedience:The tendency to comply with others, implied or real, from someone perceived as an authority.

A. Milgram’s Obedience to Authority Study (1962)

Milgram Experiment (Derren Brown) Clip

A. Milgram’s Obedience to Authority Study (1962)

Milgram Experiment (Derren Brown) Clip

Purpose:

• To see how far people would go in obeying an instruction if it involved harming another person. Milgram was interested in how ordinary people could be influenced into committing atrocities, such as the Germans in WWII.

Procedure:• Test subjects were instructed to apply ever-increasing doses of electricity to respondents in another room. • A test administrator was present to encourage the subject to apply the shocks.• Both the test administrator and respondent were confederates in the experiment. The respondent was not actually receiving the shocks, but pretended to do so.

B. Milgram’s Results

• 63% of all “teacher” participants obeyed instructions, flipping all 30 switches (women similar).• Videotapes showed nervous teachers biting nails, trembling, and drenched in sweat.• Obedience increased when the “learner” could not be seen, the authority figure giving the orders was close at hand, and the authority figure was part of a prestigious organization.• Experiment sparked debate over research ethics (APA code would prohibit it today).

Outcome:

• Ordinary people can be corrupted by an evil situation.• Despite the predictions of behavior experts, “normal” people were willing to follow orders and severely punish another person for making a mistake.

• Societal Examples: Soldiers, College initiations

III. Group Influence

Our behavior changes noticeably (good or bad) in the presence of others.

1. Social FacilitationThe improved performance of tasks in the presence of others.

• At its best with simple or well-learned tasks

• Being watched increases our arousal, which strengthens our ability to perform well-learned task

2. Social Impairment Theory

• If it is a difficult task or you are not very good at it, you will perform WORSE in front of a group.

3. Social Loafing• The tendency for individuals in a group to exert themselves less when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when held individually accountable (AKA Group Work).

• People in a group feel less accountable for the product or they think their efforts aren’t necessary.

4. Deindividuation• The loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity (Rowdy sports fans, looters, Rally Spirit Days).

• The less restrained and self-conscious a person feels, the more likely it will occur.

• We are more responsive to group influence when we lose self-awareness. (Think Zimbardo’s Guards & Prisoners)

6. AltruismUnselfish regard for the welfare of others

• Darley & Latane’s research explained why no one helped Kitty Genovese.

• They studied conditions in which people are more or less likely to help one another

The Bystander Effect: The Death of Kitty Genovese Videoclip (0-3:10)

A. Bystander Effect: The more people are around, the less chance people will help. Why?

• Diffusion of responsibility• Evaluation apprehension• Social influence of others’reactions

We Are More Likely To Help If We:• Are not in a hurry

• Believe that the victim deserves help

• Are in a good mood

• Believe the victim is similar to us

• Are feeling guilty

• Are in a small town or rural area

• Just saw someone else being helpful

• Biggest Factor: Happiness

IV. Social Relations

1. Stereotyping:Holding generalized beliefs about a group of people

2. Prejudice:An undeserved (and usually negative) attitude toward a group and its members

Intended or Otherwise:• Prejudice filters what we see and influences how we think about it. • Our prejudices guide our perceptions.• Prejudice can be blatant and obvious or subtle and hard to notice. • Prejudice also promotes gender inequalities.

3. Discrimination:

Actions taken against a group because of

stereotyped beliefs and feelings of prejudice

A. How does prejudice occur?1. Just-World Phenomenon:• People tend to believe that the world is just (fair),

so people get what they deserve.

• By thinking the world is fair, we justify our prejudices: “Everything is as it should be.”

• Attempting to make the world seem fair sometimes causes skewed thinking.

2. Ingroup vs. Outgroup:Ingroup:• A group of people with whom one shares a common identity (“us”)Outgroup:• A group of people perceived as different or apart from one’s ingroup (“them”)

*Leads to the formation of cliques in high school and rivalries between schools

3. In-Group Bias:• The tendency to favor one's own group. This is not one

group in particular, but whatever group you associate with at a particular time.

4. Scapegoat Theory:• People may be prejudiced toward a group in order to

vent their anger. In essence, they use the group they dislike as their target for all of their anger as a vent.

For friendship… And for love!

V. Social Attraction

I. Attraction (Three Key Ingredients)

1. Proximity:• Geographic nearness

Mere Exposure Effect: Repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases our likelihood of liking them.

(aka “Near becomes dear”)

• Some celebrities and politicians create the opposite effect through over exposure.

• We like those who share our interests, attitudes, beliefs, age, and intelligence level

• We tend to like people who like us

2. Similarity: Do Opposites Attract?

• Appearance is the first filter we use to sort out the people we want to get to know from those we don’t

• We judge the attractive as happier, healthier, and more successful than those less attractive.

• Standards for attractiveness come and go and vary from culture to culture (Full-figured, nose piercings, neck lengthening, foot binding)

3. Physical Attractiveness:

II. Romantic Love

1. Passionate Love:• An aroused state of intense positive absorption in another

• Typical at the beginning of a relationship

• It’s relatively short term, but can lead to companionate love.

(Two Types)

2. Companionate Love:• A deep, affectionate attachment for those with whom our lives are intertwined

• More everlasting, it fosters friendship and commitment and is based more on affection than obsession

Two Key Factors:

1. Equity:• Condition in which people contribute to and receive from a relationship at a similar rate (50-50 relationships)

• They freely give and receive emotional support

2. Self-Disclosure:• The revealing of intimate aspects of oneself to others (likes, dislikes, fears, accomplishments,…)

• Self-disclosing promotes and deepens friendship

Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love