Download Social Psychology

Social Psychology
The study of how we think
about, influence and relate to
one another.
Don’t give me attitude!!!
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We are always talking about attitude…but
what are we talking about??
Attitude
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A set of beliefs and feelings (usually liking or
disliking something)
We have attitudes towards almost everything
and these attitudes are very judgmental
(either positive or negative)
Attitudes cont..
Researching attitudes are a really big deal in
psychology and marketing
A company wants you to develop a
favorable attitude toward their product
and a negative attitude towards the
competition
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And they spend a whole lot of money to get
this done
Example – Coke vs. Pepsi
Attitudes
A belief or
feeling that
predisposes one
to respond in a
particular way
to something.
How might different attitudes
respond to this picture?
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
Advertisers are well aware of a psychological
concept meant to change our attitudes
called the…
Mere-exposure effect
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States that the more you are exposed to
something the more you will come to like it
That is why every other commercial is for
some type of great tasting fast food!!!
• And to some small extent why psych is your
favorite class….right???
But it is not just amount of commercials
you see, but who is in them….
 There is a lot of research into this, but
to make a long story short…
 attractive people are more persuasive
communicators
 People look at hot (and famous) people
and say…
 (1) I want to be like them or
 (2) I want to be with them
Two Pathways to Persuasion
Not only does attractiveness of the person
influence attitudes, but so does the
technique used in persuasion
Two ways or routes to persuade a
person to change their attitude
 Central Route to Persuasion (also know
as Elaboration Likelihood Model)
 and the Peripheral Route
Central Route to Persuation
 The central route to persuasion involves
being persuaded by the arguments or the
content of the message.
 For example, after hearing a political
debate you may decide to vote for a
candidate because you found the
candidates views and arguments very
convincing.
Central Route to Persuasion (ELM)
(remember techniques, used to change or influence
someone’s attitude on something)
 The individual is presented with data
and facts and is motivated to evaluate
the content and arrive at an attitude
changing conclusion
So persuasion is based on… the content of the
message, reason, and thinking about the facts
and information
Peripheral Route to Persuasion
 The peripheral route to persuasion involves being
persuaded in a manner that is not based on the
arguments or the message content.
 For example, after reading a political debate you
may decide to vote for a candidate because you
like the sound of the person's voice, or the person
went to the same university as you did.
 The peripheral route can involve using superficial
cues such as the attractiveness of the speaker.
Central vs. Peripheral
Think about political campaigns or TV commercials
How does Central vs. Peripheral play out??
 Central
 Inspires thoughtful consideration of arguments and
evidence
 Presents strong arguments, facts, and logic
 Peripheral
 Associates objects with positive or negative cues such as
looks or tastes
 Hopes to persuade through emotional appeal
This theory is useful in the study of attitude change,
as it helps define under what conditions people are
likely to pay attention to content over style
But there are other variables when
Influencing People
Source Variables
•Credibility
•Likeability
•Similarity
Message Variables
•One-sided vs.
Two-sided arguments
•Repetition
Persuasion
Recipient Variables
•Intelligence
•Self-confidence
•Mood
Attitude and Behavior
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We use to assume that if you knew
someone’s attitude, then you could
predict their behavior
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If I knew that Dennis hated video games, I
could then predict that he would not buy an Xbox.
But research has showed us that sometimes
our attitudes or thoughts do not perfectly
predict or match behavior
What are we to do in such cases??
How can I iron out the kinks between my
cognition and my behavior? …for example…
What happens when we become
aware that our attitudes don’t
match or actions?
Cognitive Dissonance Theory –
Leon Festinger
 We
do not like when we have either
conflicting attitudes or when our
attitudes do not match our actions.
•When they clash, we will change
our attitude to create balance.
I believe spanking kids is wrong, so I will always stop myself
from spanking them. (my behavior matches my attitude)
However, I found myself spanking my child one night for using
my play-station and when I was done I felt sick…why??
When people’s attitudes and their behaviors do not match,
they experience an uncomfortable mental tension called
Cognitive Dissonance
•Theory based on the idea that people are motivated to
have consistent attitudes and behaviors
The dissonance will often motivate people to change
either their attitude or behavior to match the
other and to create balance
For Example
Ø Jamie thinks studying is only for geeks.
Ø If he then studies 8 hours for a AP Psych
exam, his attitude will not match his
actions and he will experience what??
Øcognitive dissonance
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Since Jamie cannot change his actions (he has
already studied for 8 hours) the only way to
reduce the dissonance is to change his attitude
and decide that studying does not necessarily
make someone a geek
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Be aware that this change in attitude
does NOT occur in conscious
awareness – you may not be aware
that it is happening
Ways of Reducing Cognitive Dissonance
Discrepant Attitudes and Behaviors
Attitude: “I believe people should donate blood.”
Behavior: “I never donate blood.”
Cognitive Dissonance
Ways of reducing dissonance
Change Attitude
Change Behavior Use self-justification
“Giving blood is
not that important.
Giving blood at the
They must have all
next blood drive
the blood they need”
“I’d give blood if
only it didn’t take
so long.”
Ignore the
Inconsistencies
“I’m too busy to
think about it now.”
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
 How
does
cognitive
dissonance
theory play a
part in pledging a
fraternity?
Compliance Strategies
Sometimes people us compliance
strategies to change others behaviors
Compliance Strategies
 A technique to get others to do what you
want them to do
There are three common compliance
strategies you should know, many of
you use them daily already and if you
don’t, learn to use them wisely…
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 you want to borrow $120 from a friend to pay
for prom don’t ask for it all at once…If I you ask
your friend for a dollar, what can happen next?
Door-in-face Phenomenon
• The tendency for
people who say
no to a huge
request, to
comply with a
smaller one.
If I ask my parent for a But they may let me
buy a 72 inch TV .
new car? NO
Lowball technique
• Making an initial
offer to get a
person to commit
to an action, then
making the terms
less favorable.
Compliance in action
Role playing affects attitudes.
What do you think happened when college
students were made to take on the roles
of prison guards and inmates?
Zimbardo Prison Study
Norms of Reciprocity
• It is common courtesy to think that when
someone does something nice for you, it
is your duty to do something in return
• Here I make dinner for my wife and give
her a day at the spa, then ask for my
new TV
• Charities try this all the time…they just
don’t know me very well…
How do you try to explain someone’s
behavior??
Let’s say that your friend walks by you in the hall
without saying hi after you go out of the way to
get her attention
• Attribution Theory
– A technique that tries to explain how we determine
the cause for what we observe (or other’s
behaviors)
In this case there are basically two ways
this theory would view her behavior
Attribution Theory
Was my friend a
jerk because she
had a bad day or
is she just a bad
person?
Attribution Theory
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We credit someone’s behavior either to the
situation (a product of the environment)
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We call that situational
attribution
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or….
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We credit someone’s behavior to the person’s
internal factors such as needs or traits
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We call that personal
or dispositional
attribution
The most common type of attribution
error is called …
Fundamental Attribution Error
The tendency to underestimate the impact of a
situation and overestimate the impact of
personal disposition
in others behavior.
How do you view your
teacher’s behavior?
You probably attribute it to
their personality rather than
their profession.
Attribution At Work
The Effects of Attribution
• Social Effects
• Political
Effects
• Workplace
Effects
Another attribution error we
make is called…
the Actor-Observer Effect
• The tendency to attribute the causes
of one’s own behavior to situational
factors while attributing the causes
of other people’s behavior to internal
factors of dispositions
• The opposite of FAE
 Not
only are we biased in how we attribute
behaviors, but we are biased in just
about everything about us.
 Self-serving bias
 The tendency to take credit for good
outcomes and to try to explain away our
failures
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If I coach the football team and we win, it is
because of my great coaching.
When we lose it is 1. the bad playing conditions, or
2. lack of team talent