Download Intro to Social Psychology

Social
Psychology
I. Social Psychology
A. The Study of how people influence and are
influenced by others
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
II. The Self
What we perceive ourselves to be
Self Schemas – cognitive structures that allow people to differentiate
themselves from others
Social Comparison – we compare ourselves to others to form a view
of ourselves
Personality Identity – composed of an individual's thoughts and
emotions (self-knowledge and evaluation)
Social Identity – based on the impressions someone makes, what
others think of that person within a group.
III. Perceiving Others
A.
Schemas – structure our perception of events, make
predictions about the future, decide on goals and plans
1.
B.
Ex: First impressions
Attribution theory – explaining the behavior of others in
terms of their personality traits or other external factors.
1.
Ex: Blonde hair must = lack of intelligence
IV. Attitudes
A. Beliefs and feelings about people, objects or events
that cause us to behave in certain ways.
1. Ex: “ That’s how those people are.”
B. Social Schemas- the ideas we have formed about
social groups.
1. Ex: when we meet someone new we put them into preexisting groups (slacker, go getter, surfer, etc.)
V.
A.
B.
C.
Effects of Attitudes
Stereotypes – distorted generalized beliefs
Prejudice – unfounded, generally negative, attitude
Discrimination – unfair treatment of individuals because of
membership in a group
D. Attraction – draw towards a person or group due to similarity,
proximity or
reciprocity.
VI. Causes of Prejudice
1. Categorization
2. Exaggeration of Differences – assuming
those who are different are more
different than they really are
3. Justifying Economic or Role Status – explaining
status by providing reasons why an economic or role
status exists. (ex: poverty = unwillingness to work)
4. Observational Learning – imitating the behaviors
observed in an environment (ex: children adopting
parents beliefs).
5. Scapegoating –finding someone else to blame for a
problem
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
VII. Social Categories
Gender
Race
Ethnicity
Sexual Orientation
Disabilities
Economic Status
Education Level