Download Introductory Psychology

Social Psychology
The Lunch Date
Produced by Adam Davidson
(1989)
(won the 1990 Oscar for best short film)
Social Thought

Social Cognition
 The
collection and assessment of information
about other people

Schemata
 Primacy
effect
Condition
“Friendly” Ratings
One-paragraph, friendly
95%
One-paragraph, unfriendly
3%
Two-paragraph, friendly-unfriendly
78%
Two-paragraph, unfriendly-friendly
18%
Social Thought

Schemata
 Primacy
effect
 Recency effect
 Stereotypes

A set of characteristics presumed to be shared by
all members of a social category
Social Thought

Attributions
 Internal/Dispositional
 External/Situational
Kelley’s Covariation Model of
Attribution
Consensus
 Consistency
 Distinctiveness

Attribution Errors

Fundamental attribution
error/Correspondence error
 tendency
to explain others’ behavior in terms of
dispositional (internal) rather than situational
(external) causes

Self-serving bias
 tendency
to take credit for positive behavior or
outcomes by attributing them to internal causes, but
to blame negative ones on external causes,
especially on factors beyond our control
Attribution Errors

Just World Hypothesis
 People

Halo effect
 Good

get what they deserve
goes together…
Assumed similarity bias
 Tendency
to assume others are like self, even
when meeting for first time
Attitudes
A relatively stable organization of beliefs,
feelings, and behavior tendencies toward
something or someone
 Can be positive or negative
 Affect behavior

Attitudes

Components of Attitudes
 Beliefs
 Feelings
 Behavior
tendencies
Actions can affect attitudes…
 Foot-in-the-door
effect
 Door-in-the-face effect
 Lowball procedure
 That’s-not-all technique
 Not-so-free sample technique
Cognitive Dissonance

Discomfort experienced when there is an
obvious gap between our attitudes and our
actions or between two attitudes
Boring Task
(turning pegs)
Explain to next
subject that it
was interesting
Paid $1
Paid $20
“It was fun” =
Attitude
Change
“It was boring”
= NO Attitude
Change
Persuasion

Any attempt to change an attitude, and
ultimately, behavior
Source
 Message
 Medium
 Audience

When Attitudes Go Bad…

Prejudice

Discrimination
Belief  negative stereotype
 Feelings  strong, negative
 Behavioral Tendencies  strong

Sources of Prejudice
Frustration-aggression theory
 Social conflict theory
 Social learning theory
 Information processing

 Stereotypes
Social Influence
Attempts made by one or more people to
change the attitudes or behavior of others
 Obedience

A
change of behavior in response to a
command from an authority figure
 Stanley Milgram
Relieved of personal responsibility
 Signs of authority
 Commands were gradual

Conformity

Voluntarily yielding to social norms, even
at the expense of one’s own preferences
 Asch’s

conformity studies
35% conformity rate
 Influential

factors
Situational characteristics
Group size, unanimity
 Nature of the task


Personal characteristics
Social Action
Bystander Effect
 Diffusion of Responsibility
 Mob behavior

 Deindividuation

The more anonymous people feel in a group, the
less responsible they feel as individuals