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04/06/2018 1 Social Psychology • Scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another The Fundamental Attribution Error • Attribution theory tries to explain how people make judgements about the causes of other people’s behavior – Distinctiveness? Consistence? Consensus? – Dispositional (internal) vs. situational (external) • Fundamental attribution error – Underestimate impact of situation and overestimate impact of person • Self-serving bias – success? = you did it – failures? = something else caused it Attitudes Affect Actions • Attitude • What is it? • Do they match our actions? • Do they guide our actions? – Central route persuasion – processing content of message – Peripheral route persuasion – Other aspects of message the more attractive/famous, the more persuasive The Foot-in-the-Door Phenomenon • People tend to agree to something small only to comply with something larger • “start small and build” The Door-in-the-Face Phenomenon • People refuse large request only to agree to something small because it seems reasonable Do our actions affect our attitudes? • Role set of expectations about a social position –Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment –Abu Ghraib Cognitive Dissonance Theory • Relief From Tension – we act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel two of our thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent –“Attitudes follow behavior”
