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Social Psychology
 The branch of psychology that studies the effects of
social variables and cognitions on individual behavior
and social interactions.
Social Context
 The combination of people, the activities and
interactions among people, the setting in which
behavior occurs, and the expectations and social
norms governing behavior in that setting.
Situationism
 The view that environmental conditions influence
people’s behavior as much as or more than their
personal dispositions do.
Social Standards of Behavior
 Social Roles – One of several socially defined patterns
of behavior that are expected of persons in a given
setting or group
 Script – A cluster of knowledge about the sequences of
events and actions expected to occur in a particular
setting
Social Standards of Behavior
 Social Norms – A group’s expectations regarding what
is appropriate and acceptable for its members’
attitudes and behaviors.
Conformity
 Conformity – The tendency for people to adopt the
behaviors, attitudes, and opinions of other members of
a group.
 Asch Effect – A form of Conformity in which a group
majority influences individual judgments.
 Based on the findings of Solomon Asch
Group Characteristics that Produce
Conformity
 The size of the majority
 The presence of a partner who disented from the
majority
 The size of the discrepancy
Conformity
 Groupthink – Members of the group attempt to
conform their opinions to what each believes to be the
consensus of the group.
 Conditions that influence groupthink:
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Isolation of the group
High group cohesiveness
Directive leadership
Lack of norms requiring methodical procedures
Homogeneity of members’ social background and ideology
High stress from external threats with low hope of a better
solution than that of the group leader
The Stanford Prison Experiment
 Explaining the power of social situations in controlling
behavior!
Obedience to Authority
 Milgram’s Obedience Experiment
 2/3 delivered the maximum shock of 450 volts!!!
 Even though the participants verbally dissented, they
continued giving the shocks… WHY???
Obedience to Authority
 Conditions under which people tend to be obedient:
 When a peer modeled obedience by complying to the
authority figure’s commands
 When the victim was remote from the “teacher” and could
not be seen or heard
 When the “teacher” was under direct surveillance of the
authority figure so that he was aware of the authority figure’s
presence
 When a participant acted as an intermediary bystander,
merely “assisting the one who was delivering the shock, rather
than actually throwing the switches
 When the authority figure had higher relative status (being
billed as a “professor” or “doctor”
The Bystander Problem
 Kitty Genovese incident:
 Raped and stabbed to death in Queens, NY while 38
people watched from their windows.
 Only one person called the police, after the incident was
over.
The Bystander Problem
 Diffusion of responsibility – Dilution or weakening of
each group member’s obligation to act when
responsibility is perceived to be shared with all group
members.
Interpersonal Attraction
 We usually prefer rewarding relationships
 Reward Theory of Attraction – A social-learning view
that says we like best those who give us maximum
rewards at minimum cost.
Interpersonal Attraction
 Proximity – Nearness.
 Principle of Proximity – The notion that people at
work will make more friends among those who are
nearby – with whom they have the most contact.
Interpersonal Attraction
 Similarity
 Similarity Principle – The notion that people are
attracted to those who are most similar to themselves.
Interpersonal Attraction
 Self-Disclosure – The more intimate details we share
about our lives with someone, the more attracted we
become to them.
 Most people find self disclosure highly rewarding.
 Builds trust, which leads to attraction.
Interpersonal Attraction
 Physical Attraction
 Although we may say it doesn’t matter, research shows
that it actually does.
 Matters in how people perceive us
 Getting a job
 Children
 Physically attractive people are often seen as more
poised, interesting, sociable, independent, exciting,
sexual, intelligent, well-adjusted, and successful.
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Also sometimes perceived as more vain and materialistic.
 Same for opposite and same sex couples
Interpersonal Attraction
 Expectations and the Influence of Self-Esteem
 Matching Hypothesis – The prediction that most people
will find friends and mates that are perceived to be of
about their same level of attractiveness.
 Expectancy-value Theory – A theory of social
psychology that people decide whether to pursue a
relationship by weighing the potential value of the
relationship against their expectation of success in
establishing the relationship.
Interpersonal Attraction
 Attraction and Self-Justification
 Cognitive Dissonance – A highly motivated state in
which people have conflicting cognitions, especially
when their voluntary actions conflict with their
attitudes.
Making Cognitive Attributions
 Fundamental Attribution Error – The tendency to
emphasize internal causes and ignore external
pressures.
 FAE is more common in individualistic cultures than in
collectivistic cultures.
Making Cognitive Attributions
 Biased thinking about yourself
 Self-serving bias – An attributional pattern in which one
takes credit for success but denies responsibility for
failure.
Prejudice and Discrimination
 Prejudice – A negative attitude toward an individual
based solely on his or her membership in a particular
group.
Prejudice and Discrimination
 Discrimination – A negative action taken against an
individual as a result of his or her group membership.
Prejudice and Discrimination
 Dissimilarity and Social Distance
 In-group – The group with which an individual
identifies.
 Social Distance – The perceived difference or similarity
between oneself and another person.
 Out-group – Those outside the group with which an
individual identifies.
Prejudice and Discrimination
 Scapegoating – Blaming an innocent person or a group
for one’s own troubles.
 Example – Adolf Hitler used the Jews as a scapegoat for
Germany’s problems following WWI.
Other Topics in Social Psychology
 Social Facilitation – An increase in an individual’s
performance because of being in a group.
 Social Loafing – A decrease in performance because of
being in a group.
 Deindividuation – Occurs when group members lose
their sense of personal identity and responsibility and
the group “assumes” responsibility for their behavior.
Other Topics and Social Psychology
 Group Polarization – When individuals in a group
have similar, though not identical, views, their
opinions become more extreme.
 Groupthink – An excessive tendency to seek
concurrence among group members.
Other Topics in Social Psychology
 Loving relationships
 Romantic Love – A temporary and highly emotional
condition based on infatuation and sexual desire.
 Triangular Theory of Love – A theory that describes
various kinds of love in terms of three components:
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Passion (erotic attraction)
Intimacy (sharing feelings and confidences)
Commitment (dedication to putting this relationship first in
one’s life)
The Roots of Violence and
Aggression
 Violence and Aggression – Terms that refer to behavior
that is intended to cause harm.
The Robbers Cave: An Experiment
in Conflict
 Cohesiveness – Solidarity, loyalty, and a sense of group
membership.
 Mutual Interdependence – A shared sense that
individuals or groups need each other in order to
achieve common goals.
 How did this end?
Terrorism
 The use of violent, unpredictable acts by a small group
against a larger group for political, economic, or
religious goals.
 Very psychological in nature because in essence
terrorism is an attempt to control the minds of their
enemies by making them feel victimized and fearful.