SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGYHOW ARE OUR ACTIONS, ATTITUDES, AND BELIEFS AFFECTED BY THOSE

WITH WHOM WE INTERACT?

ATTRIBUTION THEORY1. What reason might you give for a friend who has failed the last 3

psychology tests?2. What reason might you give for you having failed the last 3 psychology

tests?3. What reason might you give for teenagers who go out and get drunk

or high each weekend?4. What reason might you give if this is you every weekend?5. What reason might you give if the Astros have a losing season again

this year?6. What reason might a member of the Astros team give for having a

losing (or winning) season?

ATTRIBUTION THEORY

• SITUATION VS. DISPOSITION• FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTION ERROR (FAE)• SELF-SERVING BIAS

ATTRIBUTION THEORY

• It’s a normal tendency of humans to attempt to explain human behaviors, other’s and our own.• Attribution theory is the understanding that people attempt to explain

behavior of others by either internal dispositions or external situations.• Remember: both disposition and situation are relevant and valid • Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE) is our human tendency to

emphasize disposition rather than situation when explain other people’s behaviors.• Self-serving bias is our tendency to emphasize our own situation

rather than disposition when explaining our own behaviors.

FAEBe cautious of this in competition: When you win, it’s the team’s/your talent, but when you lose it was the referee’s calls.

ATTITUDES & BEHAVIORS

• Attitudes: feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events.• Attitudes influence actions and actions influence attitudes.• Knowing attitudes and wanting to change them leads to persuasion• Central route persuasion: offers evidence aimed to trigger favorable

thoughts. It’s route is through thoughtful and direct messages.• Peripheral route to persuasion: doesn’t engage systematic thinking but is

very effective in manipulating our emotions leading to snap judgements by utilizing attractive or famous people.

Video on persuasion via advertising

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EC7VLjIw8hY

ATTITUDES & BEHAVIORS

• The foot-in-the-door phenomena

• “Fake it to make it.” Role playing

• Cognitive Dissonance

ATTITUDES & BEHAVIORS• The foot-in-the-door phenomena: Once a person has agreed to a

small task/favor the more likely they will agree to a larger task/favor• Role playing can influence our attitudes. This may be why costars fall

into relationships with one another (and fall out as well). A good example of the power of role playing is the Stanford Prison Experiment. Know Phil Zimbardo’s name!

ATTITUDES & BEHAVIORS

• The Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE)

ATTITUDES & BEHAVIORS

• How does this happen? One explanation is cognitive dissonance.• We actually experience levels of discomfort when our actions and

attitudes don’t align, or when we have misaligned attitude about something. It’s like being a hypocrite, so something has to change, either our actions or our attitudes.• For example, proclaiming you don’t believe in sex before marriage,

but then meeting someone you really love and feeling conflicted about your decisions and possibly your actions as well.

ATTITUDES & BEHAVIORS• Often our attitudes and beliefs will drive us to act in ways to make

events occur that reinforce these beliefs.• This is known as the self-fulfilling prophecy.• Consider the Rosenthal study detailed in the “40 Studies” book.

Teachers were told which children were “bloomers” and subsequently treated those students differently, better. “Bloomers” continued to bloom more fully from this reinforcing the teachers’ beliefs that they really were “bloomers.” In fact, there was no difference between these students and the others not labeled.

ATTITUDES & BEHAVIORS

• Stereotype• Prejudice• Discrimination• Ethnocentrism• In-group/out-group

ATTITUDES & BEHAVIORS

• Stereotype: a generalized (sometimes accurate but often overgeneralized) belief about a group of people.• Prejudice: an unjustifiable and usually negative attitude toward a

group and its members. Prejudice generally involves stereotyped beliefs, negative feelings, and a predisposition to discriminatory action.• Discrimination: in social psychology, unjustifiable negative behavior

toward a group and its members.• Ethnocentrism: judging other’s cultures based onone’s own cultural standards.

ATTITUDES & BEHAVIORS

• In-group/out-group bias

HOW OTHERS INFLUENCE US

• Groupthink• Social loafing• Social facilitation• Group polarization• Deindividuation• Dehumanization

HOW OTHERS INFLUENCE US

• GROUPTHINK• The mode of thinking that occurs

when the desire for harmony in decision-making groups overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives.• Avoid it by welcoming diverse

opinions, be open to critiques, identify possibly problems, allow debate.

HOW OTHERS INFLUENCE US

• SOCIAL LOAFING “SLACKING”• The tendency for people in a

group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable

• SOCIAL FACILITATION• Improved performance on simple of

well-learned in the presence of others• Some believe this explains “home

field advantage,” but some research says it is a product of refereeing.

HOW OTHERS INFLUENCE US

• GROUP POLARIZATION• The enhancement of a group’s

prevailing inclinations through discussion within the group.

• DEINDIVIDUATION• The loss of self-awareness and

self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity.

HOW OTHERS INFLUENCE US

• Solomon Asch’s conformity study• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyDDyT1lDhA• Asch discovered that very specific situational factors influence

whether we conform or not:• If one feels incompetent or inferior (due to age, experience, knowledge, etc.)• If the group has at least 3 people• If the group appears to be unanimous• If one admires the group’s status/attractiveness (think frats & sororitites)• If one has made no prior commitments/doesn’t have an opinion• If others are observing your behavior • If there is a cultural expectation of respect for social standards

HOW OTHERS INFLUENCE US

• Reasons for conformity• Normative social influence: influence resulting from a person’s desire to gain

approval or avoid disapproval.

• Information social influence: influence resulting from one’s willingness to accept other’s opinions about reality. This is often enhanced by what we perceive as “expertise.”

• “Suggestibility” is a subtle form of conformity. This is especially relevant when we have no established opinion, not fully attentive to the situation, or lack the energy to establish a stance.

HOW OTHERS INFLUENCE US

• OBEDIENCE• Conditions that influence obedience• When the person in charge is in close proximity to participants• When that person is perceived as legitimate (white coat vs. no white coat)• When that person is support by a prestigious institution like a university or the

government• When the victim is depersonalized or separated by the one victimizing him/her

(Consider how easy it is to be harsh, mean, or a bully in cyber situation…)• When there are no role models for defiance, we are more likely to obey

• The Milgram Experiment• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcvSNg0HZwk

HOW OTHERS INFLUENCE US

• Altruism: The unselfish positive regard for other people’s well being.

• Though we want to believe that we are altruistic, we find that when there are more people around, it is less likely we will help.• Diffusion of responsibility helps to explain this. When more people

are potentially responsibly for an action, we feel less responsible as an individual.

ALTRUSIM & THE BYSTANDER EFFECT

• The story of Kitty Genovese• http://

www.nydailynews.com/opinion/truth-kitty-genovese-article-1.1706942

ALTRUISM

• We are more likely to help under the following conditions:• We have observed someone else being helpful• We are not in a hurry• The victim appears to need and/or deserve help• The victim is in someway similar to us• We are in a small town or rural area• We are feeling guilty• We are focused on others, not preoccupied• We are in a good mood.

ATTRACTION

• What attracts us to one another?• Physical appearance matters, especially features that are symmetrical

and youthful. These give cues about reproductive potential• Proximity matters. We tend to be attracted to people who are near us

and we interact with regularly. Familiarity breeds attraction: the mere exposure effect: The more we experience it, the more we tend to like it.• Similarity: We tend to be attracted to people who are like us in ways

that are important to us.

AGGRESSION• Aggression: any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt or destroy• Biological explanations: Men tend to engage in more violent acts than

women. There is a genetic marker on the Y chromosome that partially accounts for this. Increased activity of the amygdala influences aggressive acts, and reduced activity of the frontal lobe does the same. Testosterone levels influence aggression, too.• Social/environmental influences: Frustration creates anger which can

spark aggression. Aversive stimuli such as heat, pain, insults, foul odors, crowds are all environmental factors that can influence aggressive acts.• Social influences: violent models, remember Bandura and the Bobo doll?• Media: Movies & tv shows provide us with “social scripts,” which can be

violent and aggressive.