Download Social Psychology? What`s that? Three main areas of interest 1

Social Psychology? What’s that?
The scientific study of how one’s behavior,
thoughts or feelings are influenced by the
presence (includes implied/imagined) of others
Three main areas of interest
1. Social Influence
2. Social cognition
3. Social interaction
Asch’s social influence experiment got 1/3
conformity with 4 or more confederates
and nobody giving the correct response
What else affects social influence?
• Culture
• Gender (under some circumstances)
• Group factors (groupthink) that may include
social stereotyping and ‘mind police’
Compliance: change behavior to go along
1. Foot-in-the-door
2. Door-in-the-face
3. Lowball
4. That’s not all (aka.. ‘wait, there’s more’)
Obedience?
I’ll change my behavior on a direct order.
• Stanley Milgram converts subjects into
murderers just by ordering them to continue
•Sometimes groups get together (polarization)
using social comparison and taking cues
• Stop looking over my shoulder… you are
increasing my arousal level. May lead to
• Social Facilitation for an easy task
• Social Impairment for a difficult task
Left to my own devices, I may try social loafing.
Switch Gears. Let’s discuss your attitude!
My tendency to respond + or – to an idea, a
person, an object or a situation. 3 components.
1. An affective or emotional component
2. A behavioral component
3. A cognitive component
These may form as a result of
1. Direct contact
2. Direct instruction
3. Interaction with others
4. Observational learning
How can I use persuasion to change your attitude?
•The source should be attractive, an expert,
trustworthy, and somewhat similar to me.
• The message is clear and well organized
• I should present both sides of the issue
• Add a dose of fear, and a good solution
Attitudes are often not good behavior predictors
• If my attitude and behavior conflict, I may
experience cognitive dissonance, at which time
• I can change my attitude, or my behavior, or
• I can re-think things to justify my behavior
You never get a 2nd chance to make a
First impression. Impression formation involves
assigning status, categorization, and drawing
conclusions based on assumptions. Holds up!
• Stereotyping; may be + or -, but is limiting
• May be based on Implicit Personality Theory
Attribution: “What was he thinking?!?”
• External cause = Situational
• Internal cause = Dispositional
• Fundamental Attributional Error: less of a
factor with collectivist cultures and the young
Prejudice: holding a – stereotype of a social group
Discrimination: treating a given group different
from others. Back of the bus? Gay marriage?
• We need an ‘in’ group (that I identify with) and
an ‘out’ group, and the more conflict, the better!
• Social Cognitive Theory: attitude formation
• Social Identity Theory: the three processes
1. Social Categorization
2. Social Identity (self concept & membership)
3. Social comparison: people like me are better
than people who are different from me. Duh!
How can we reduce prejudice?
• Equal status contact (or interaction)
• Superordinate goal
• Jigsaw classrooms
Let’s get positive! What about likes and loves?
• Attraction influenced by proximity, similarity,
attractiveness, and reciprocity of ‘liking’
• Love has 3 components: Intimacy
(closeness), passion (emotional arousal), and
commitment.
• We can have romantic love (1+2) or
companionate love (1+3) or consummate love
How about prosocial behavior?
• Altruism: help w/o expectation of reward
• Sometimes no help is coming? Why not?
• The bystander effect and diffusion of
responsibility decrease helping / interventions
If I’m going to help, I need to do the following
1. Notice the situation
2. Define the situation as an emergency
3. Take personal responsibility for situation
4. Plan a course of action
5. Carry it out
What causes human aggression?
• Freud said it was instinctual
• Genes may play a part
• Berkowitz showed a frustration connection
• Let’s not leave out hormones
• and diminished inhibitions
• Zimbardo showed social roles may factor in
• Bandura (Bo Bo dolls) modeling a factor
• Anderson notes the connection between
rehearsal (playing violent video games) and
violence (as kids and adolescents). Correlation!