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UNIT 14 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
WHAT IS SOCIAL
PSYCHOLOGY?
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Social psychologists
 Study social forces that explain why the same
person acts differently in different situations
Personality psychologists
 Study personal traits and processes that
explain why people may act differently in the
same situation
Fundamental Attribution Error
tendency for observers, when
analyzing another’s behavior, to
underestimate the impact of the
situation and to overestimate the
impact of personality traits
How do we
become more
aware of our own
personal style?
What are the real
world
implications of
the f.a.e?
ATTITUDES & ACTIONS
attitudes:
Attitudes
Behavior
feelings, based on
our beliefs that influence our
behavior
If we believe someone is mean we
may feel dislike and then act
unfriendly toward them

Behavior
Attitudes
…but, there is evidence that
attitudes FOLLOW behavior
If someone convinced you
to act against your beliefs,
you’d change your belief
(attitude) to match your
action.

Foot-in-the-door
phenomenon

People agreeing to a small
request will find it easier to
later agree to a larger one
ATTITUDES FOLLOW BEHAVIOR
Cooperative actions, such as those
performed by people on sports teams
feed mutual liking.
After US schools desegregated in ‘54,
Americans expressed lower levels of
racial prejudice.

Principle works for negative
and positive behavior
REUTERS/ Vasily Fedosenko
Attitudes follow behavior…
: a set of expectations about
a social position, defining how
those in the position should act.
 Role
Zimbardo
Prison Experiment
ACTIONS AFFECT ATTITUDES
 Cognitive
dissonance theory
“the theory that we act to reduce the
discomfort (dissonance) we feel when
two of our thoughts (cognitions) are
inconsistent.

If you do a behavior that is “bad” you
change your attitude about the behavior.
PRACTICE QUESTION (…ON THE TEST…)
Cognitive dissonance theory attempts to
explain why
a) people who act differently than their
attitudes tend to change their attitudes.
b)
people who act against their attitudes
tend to change their behavior
c)
agreeing to a small request increases the
likelihood that we will agree to a larger
request
d)
people talk one way and act another
SOCIAL INFLUENCE (PG. 382)
chameleon effect:
Asch’s Conformity Study:
 define:
 method:
deceived:
 # of participants:
 task:
 What is the decision you have to make during the 3rd
trial?
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results:
when answering alone…
 when in the room with confederates who answered
incorrectly…
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
more likely to conform when…
confederate
participant
confederate
Asch’s Conformity Study:
 define: adjusting our thinking or behavior to go along with a group
standard
 method:
deceived: a study on visual perception
 # of participants: you & 5 others
 task: state, 1 by 1, which of 3 lines is the same as a standard 1. Easy.
 What is the decision you have to make during the 3rd
trial? the 5 people before you all give a wrong answer to the same


easy question…do you go along or be the oddball and answer
results: differently?
when answering alone… wrong less than 1% of the time
 when in the room with confederates who answered
incorrectly… wrong 33% of the time


more likely to conform when…
feel insecure
admire the
groups’ status
everyone else
agrees
group has
have not already
know others
at least
committed to an
will observe
THREE
answer
our behavior
culture
MILGRAM’S OBEDIENCE STUDY
define:
 Method:
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNo-2AXzHAs
Milgram Replication (14 min)
“fake” study –
draw randomly to determine –
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16QMQXIjYVU
Intro to Obedience (5 min)
teacher task –
learner task-
teacher after 1st wrong answer:
teacher after 8th wrong answer:
learner after 10th wrong answer:
You want to stop hurting this person but the experimenter says:
“…”
Final shock v:
At what level would you stop?
At what level would most people (say) stop?
RESULTS:
Obedience is highest when… (4)
MILGRAM’S OBEDIENCE STUDY
define: changing a behavior to follow a command
 Method

“fake” study – effect of punishment on learning
 draw randomly to determine – who will be “teacher” & “learner”
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teacher task – test learner on word pairs; if wrong = shock them
learner task- to learn the words….actually an actor (confederate)
teacher after 1st wrong answer: 15 volts / slight shock
teacher after 8th wrong answer: 120 volts / moderate shock
learner after 10th wrong answer: 150 volts / strong shock
You want to stop hurting this person but the experimenter says:
“You have no choice. You must go on.”
Final shock v: 450 volt
At what level would you stop? your opinion
At what level would most people (say) stop? After 1st hearing
“learner” in pain
RESULTS
Obedience is highest when…
OBEDIENCE HIGHEST WHEN…

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Person giving order is close by & was an authority figure
The authority figure was associated with a respected
institution

The victim was depersonalized or far away
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There was no role model of defiance
minority influence: you can sway the majority if
you hold firmly to your beliefs – power of
committed individual is as strong as power of the
group
social facilitation:
stronger responses on a well-learned task when other
people are watching you.
social loafing:
tendency for people in a group to exert less effort
when working toward a common goal
deindividuation:
The loss of self-awareness in a group
group polarization:
When a belief you hold gets stronger after discussing
it with a like-minded group
group
polarization
group think:
when no one in a group speaks up to voice a
different opinion b/c they want the group to get
along
PREJUDICE
HOW PREJUDICED ARE PEOPLE?
Prejudice belief that includes negative stereotypes
Stereotype an overgeneralized belief about a group
Discrimination negative behavior toward a group
Prejudice
How Prejudiced Are People?
Prejudice
How Prejudiced Are People?
Prejudice
How Prejudiced Are People?
Prejudice
How Prejudiced Are People?
Prejudice
How Prejudiced Are People?
Prejudice
How Prejudiced Are People?
implicit racial associations: unconscious / unaware
just-world phenomenon: believing that the world is just
& therefore people get what they deserve
in-group/out-group: “us” / “them”
in-group bias: tendency to favor our own group
scapegoat theory: theory that prejudice offers an
outlet for anger by providing someone to blame
other-race effect: the tendency to recall faces of one’s
own race more accurately than faces of other races.
Aggression

any physical or verbal
behavior INTENDED to
hurt another
BIOLOGY of AGGRESSION
Genetics: identical twins report bad
temper more in common than
fraternal twins
THE BIOLOGY OF AGGRESSION
Neural Influences
 frontal
lobe damage or
diminished activity
 frontal lobe not fully developed
 amygdala stimulated
Biochemical Influences
 hormones
alcohol,
(testosterone),
#30. PSYCHOLOGICAL OF AGGRESSION
Frustration-aggression
principle
If aggression is rewarded it
continues
Observing models of aggression
Acquiring social scripts – culturally
modeled guide for how to act in
certain situations
PSYCH JOURNAL
For Mon 10/19, answer the following questions in your
journal:
 1) What is the just-world theory?
 2) How does the class data match mine? How were our
#s the same/different?
Husband
5.4
Wife
1.2
Lover 1
3.5
Lover 2
Highway
man
4.8
2.2
Ferryboat
4.3
3)What was my score on the just world survey?
What does a high vs low score on the just world
survey mean?
 If someone had a high survey score (70+) who did they
probably blame the most in the scenario? Why?

Thurs 10/22: Love Attitude Scale : Take survey & score
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ATTRACTION
WHY DO WE FALL IN LOVE WITH SOME PEOPLE BUT NOT OTHERS?
3 ingredients to liking someone:
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Proximity
 Geographic nearness
 Mere exposure effect
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Similarity
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friends & couples are far more likely to share things in common
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Just being around someone makes you like them
attitudes, beliefs, interests, age, religion, race, education, intelligence,
smoking behavior, economic status
Physical attractiveness
its what initially draws us
 symmetric / youthful / average
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjLDomII6No
Rules of Attraction
ROMANTIC LOVE
HOW DOES LOVE CHANGE OVER TIME?
 passionate
love
 all-consuming
 companionate love

Deep affection
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Equity
Getting out of the relationship
what you put in
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self-disclosure
Telling secrets about yourself to
your loved one
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Bystander
Effect
 The tendency for people to not
get help when more people
view an emergency.