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SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
What’s Social Psychology?
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How we form our beliefs and attitudes about the
world around us.
How the world around us influences our beliefs and
attitudes.
Often unconscious & influenced by our environment
Imagine This…
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You walk into an elevator full of people what do
you do?
Why do you take this action
Attribution Theory
How we explain human behavior based on an
assumption that their actions are driven by either:
a. an internal disposition or b. the situation.
 Internal Disposition: this is how the person is (inner trait)
 Situational: behavior is dictated by the current
circumstance
 We often tend to attribute behaviors to disposition
rather than situation.
 Inaccurate labeling can be referred to as: fundamental
attribution error
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Attribution or Situational?
Fundamental Attribution Error
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Culture affects attribution
Based on our set of cultural norms when people
deviate from them we think they’re mean, weird,
different, etc.
I reach out to shake a woman’s hand wearing an
abaya…she refuses. I think to myself “man that was
rude.”
 What
just happened?
Attitudes & Actions
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Attitude: a belief or feeling that makes you respond
in a particular way to people, events, & objects
Internal Attitude + External Influences = Behavior
Behaviors do not always match attitudes…Why?
 Outside
influences can be stronger i.e. peer pressure
 We aren’t keenly aware of our attitudes i.e. women
aren’t as smart as men
 The attitude and behavior are incompatible i.e. I don’t
like running
What does this mean?
Behavior & Attitude
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Sometimes behavior influences attitude. Consider
the following examples below:
Foot in the Door Phenomenon: tendency for people
who have agreed with small things to agree with
later larger requests.
Role Playing: After you perform a certain role long
enough it becomes normal. Ex. Zimbardo
experiment and brown eye/blue eye experiment
Cognitive Dissonance
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Readjusting or Repositioning
The way we behave in order to reduce
discomfort(dissonance) when our beliefs are
inconsistent/compromised
Cognitive Dissonance = attitude and actions clash;
so we change the attitude
For Example:
 Attitude:
It is important to take care of the environment
 Dissonance: I drive an SUV, which is not eco friendly
 Adjustment: I can’t save the world OR I recycle
Conformity
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Conformity: adjusting behavior or thinking in order
to fit in with a group idea or standard
Conformity increases when:
 You
feel incompetent on insecure
 You’re in a group of 3 or more
 There is uniformity in the rest of the group
 You’re impressed by the status of the group members &
they’re watching
 You have made no prior commitments to a response
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Asch Conformity Experiment
Your Thoughts Are Not Your Own?
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Are Your thoughts
wholly yours?
If not, why aren’t they?
Obedience
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Obedience: the tendency to comply with orders
from someone perceived as authority.
Why do we follow rules?
Milgram's Experiment
Group Influence
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Group Influence: how behavior changes when an
individual is in/observed by group(s).
Social Facilitation: improved performance when in
the presence of others; we do better when
someone’s watching b/c more aroused. Arousal
increases performance of tasks we’ve mastered.
When the task is not mastered…then we perform
worse.
Other Ways Groups Impact Behavior
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Social loafing: the tendency of individuals within a
group to do less work than when held individually
accountable. My work isn’t needed…someone else
will do it.
Deindividuation: Loss of self-restraint and selfawareness when in a group. An individual does
things in a group they’d never do individually. i.e.
sports
Mob Attacks News Crew
Other Ways Groups Impact Behavior
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Group Polarization: the enhancing of ones already present
attitudes by exposure to others who share same views. i.e.
political, religious, racist groups
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Pushes moderates toward extremist beliefs/actions
Racism In America
Group Think: Go along with the group in order to maintain
peace.
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: You believe something to be true so
you behave in that way causing the belief to become
actuality.
Minority Influence: Influence of minority groups is rare but
possible when they are unyielding. i.e. civil rights or women’s
movments
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