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Social Psychology
The study of how we think
about, influence and relate to
one another.
Social Psychology includes
Attitude
Attraction
Aggression
Group Behavior
Social Thinking
How do we think about one
another?
Social Thinking
1.
Does his absenteeism signify illness,
laziness, or a stressful work
atmosphere?
2. Was the horror of 9/11 the work of
crazed evil people or ordinary people
corrupted by life events?
Social thinking involves thinking about
others, especially when they engage in doing
things that are unexpected.
Attributing Behavior to Persons or
to Situations
Fritz Heider
http://www.stedwards.edu
Attribution Theory:
Fritz Heider (1958)
suggested that we have
a tendency to give
causal explanations for
someone’s behavior,
often by crediting
either the situation or
the person’s
disposition.
Attributing Behavior to Persons or
to Situations
A teacher may wonder whether a child’s
hostility reflects an aggressive personality
(dispositional attribution) or is a reaction to
stress or abuse (a situational attribution).
http://www.bootsnall.org
Dispositions are enduring
personality traits. So, if
Joe is a quiet, shy, and
introverted child, he is
likely to be like that in a
number of situations.
Attribution Theory
• The idea that we give a casual
explanation for someone's behavior.
•We credit that
behavior either to
the situation or….
•To the person’s
disposition.
Was my friend a
jerk because she
had a bad day or
is just a bad
person?
Fundamental Attribution Error
How do you view your
teacher’s behavior?
You probably
attribute it to their
personality rather
than their profession.
But do you really
know?
When you start a
romance, you assume
that they agree with
your world
views….honeymoon
period.
• The tendency to
underestimate the impact
of a situation and
overestimate the impact
of personal disposition.
• Individualistic vs. Collectivistic
Cultures
• Disposition vs situation
• False Consensus Effect
• Self-Serving Bias
If you win it is
because you are
awesome…if you
lose, it must have
been the coach or
weather or….
Attribution At Work
An attribution question
• Why did some in New
Orleans not evacuate
before Hurricane Katrina?
• Was it due to a personal
disposition
– Nothing can harm me
– They’ll save me if I need it
• Or…was it due to their
inaction to the situation
– Did not have a car
– Not offered transportation
Attitude
A belief and feeling that predisposes a
person to respond in a particular way to
objects, other people, and events.
If we believe a person is mean, we may feel
dislike for the person and act in an
unfriendly manner.
Our attitudes predict our behaviors
imperfectly because other factors, including
the external situation, also influence behavior.
Attitudes
• A set of beliefs and
feelings.
• Advertising is ALL
based on attitude
formation.
• Mere Exposure
Effect
Do our attitudes guide our
actions?
Only if….
• External pressure is minimal.
• We are aware of our attitudes.
• The attitude is relevant to the behavior.
Attitudes
More often, our actions
affect our attitudes.
Attitudes Can Affect Action
Not only do people stand for what they believe
in (attitude), they start believing in what they
stand for.
D. MacDonald/ PhotoEdit
Cooperative actions can lead to mutual liking (beliefs).
Compliance Strategies
• Foot-in-the-door
phenomenon
• Door-in-the-face
phenomenon
• Norms of reciprocity
– Attitudes-follow-behavior
principle works for good as
well as bad deeds
– Moral action strengthens
moral convictions
Foot-in-the-door phenomenon
• The tendency for
people who have
first agreed to a
small request to
comply later with
a larger request.
If I give out an answer on a quiz,
what happens next?
Door-in-face Phenomenon
• The tendency
for people who
say no to a huge
request, to
comply with a
smaller one.
If I (Mr. Kaplan) ask my
wife for the 1952 Topps
Mantle card ($15k) she will
say? NO
But she may let me
buy a new
playstation game.
Zimbardo’s Prison Study
• Philip Zimbardo has
students at Stanford U
play the roles of
prisoner and prison
guards in the basement
of psychology building.
• They were given
uniforms and numbers
for each prisoner.
• What do you think
happened?
Role Playing Affects Attitudes
Zimbardo (1972) assigned the roles of guards and
prisoners to random students and found that
guards and prisoners developed role- appropriate
attitudes. Showed how we deindividuate AND
become the roles we are given.
Originally published in the New Yorker
Phillip G. Zimbardo, Inc.
Bonus Opportunity online
What happens when we become
aware that our attitudes don’t
match or actions?
Attitude and Behavior
You have a belief
that cheating on
tests is bad.
But you cheat on
a test!!!
• Do attitudes tell us about
someone’s behavior?
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
• People want to have
consistent attitudes and
behaviors….when they are
not they experience
The teacher was
dissonance (unpleasant
really bad so in
that class it is OK.
tension).
• Usually they will change
their attitude.
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
Examples of Cognitive Dissonance
• Smokers find all kinds of reasons
explain away their unhealthy habit.
– The alternative is to feel a great deal
dissonance
• Consider someone who buys an expensive car but
discovers that it is not comfortable on long drives.
to
of
– Dissonance exists between their beliefs that they have bought
a good car and that a good car should be comfortable.
– Dissonance could be eliminated by deciding that it does not
matter since the car is mainly used for short trips (reducing
the importance of the dissonant belief) or focusing on the cars
strengths such as safety, appearance, handling (thereby adding
more consonant beliefs).
– The dissonance could also be eliminated by getting rid of the
car, but this behavior is a lot harder to achieve than changing
beliefs.
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
• How does
cognitive
dissonance
theory play a
part in pledging a
fraternity?