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Social Psychology
Social Psychology
scientific study of how we think about,
influence, and relate to one another
Includes:
Social perception, Social influence, Attitudes,
Persuasion, Prejudice, Aggression, Conflict,
Altruism, and Interpersonal attraction
Social Perception
Attribution Theory
tendency to give a causal explanation for
someone’s behavior, often by crediting either
the situation or the person’s disposition
Fundamental Attribution Error
tendency for observers, when analyzing
another’s behavior, to underestimate the
impact of the situation and to overestimate
the impact of personal disposition
Effects of attributions
How we explain someone’s behavior affects how
we react to it
Situational attribution
“Maybe that driver is ill.”
Tolerant reaction
(proceed cautiously, allow
driver a wide berth)
Dispositional attribution
“Crazy driver!”
Unfavorable reaction
(speed up and race past the
other driver, give a dirty look)
Negative behavior
Social Perception
Egocentric bias
tendency to believe that others act and
believe as we do.
Self-serving bias
tendency to perceive ourselves favorably.
Availability heuristic
tendency to overestimate the likelihood of
easily remembered events.
Attitudes
Attitude
feeling (positive or negative) that
predisposes one to respond in a particular
way to objects, people and events
Sources of attitudes
personal beliefs
normative beliefs
Attitudes
Effects of attitudes
Intentions
Behaviors
Cognitive dissonance
motivation to make attitudes consistent with
behaviors
Social Influence
Conformity
adjusting one’s behavior or
thinking to coincide with a group
standard
Norm
an understood rule for accepted
and expected behavior
prescribes “proper” behavior
Social Influence
Normative Social Influence
influence resulting from a person’s
desire to gain approval or avoid
disapproval
Informational Social Influence
influence resulting from one’s
willingness to accept others’
opinions about reality
Social Influence
Asch’s conformity experiments
Social Influence
Obedience
behavior may go beyond personal values
conditional upon acceptance of authority
cross-cultural differences
Social Influence
Milgram’s follow-up obedience experiment
Percentage
of subjects
who obeyed
experimenter
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
The majority of
subjects continued
to obey to the end
Moderate
Very
Extreme
XXX
Slight (75-120) Strong
strong Intense intensity Danger (435-450)
(15-60)
(135-180) (195-240) (255-300) (315-360) severe
(375-420)
Shock levels in volts
Social Influence
Social Facilitation
improved performance of some tasks in the
presence of others
occurs with simple or well-learned tasks but
not with tasks that are difficult or not yet
mastered
Social influence:
Social Facilitation
Home Advantage in Major Team Sports
Sport
Games
Studied
Home Team
Winning
Percentage
Baseball
23,034
53.3%
Football
2,592
57.3
Ice hockey
4,322
61.1
Basketball
13,596
64.4
Soccer
37,202
69.0
Social Influence: groups
Group Polarization
enhancement of a group’s prevailing
attitudes through discussion within the
group
Groupthink
mode of thinking that occurs when the
desire for harmony in a decision-making
group overrides realistic appraisal of
alternatives
Social Influence:
group polarization
High +4
+3
+2
High-prejudice
groups
+1
Prejudice 0
Low-prejudice
groups
-1
-2
-3
Low -4
Before discussion
After discussion
If a group is
like-minded,
discussion
strengthens its
prevailing
opinions
Social Influence: groups
Social Loafing
tendency for people in a group to exert
less effort when pooling their efforts
toward attaining a common goal than
when individually accountable
Deindividuation
loss of self-awareness and selfrestraint in group situations that
foster arousal and anonymity
Social Influence
Minority influence
Self-fulfilling Prophecy
occurs when one person’s belief
about others leads one to act in
ways that induce the others to
appear to confirm the belief
Persuasion
Consistency
Foot-in-the-door: tendency for people
who have first agreed to a small request
to comply later with a larger request
Reciprocity (aka Reciprocation)
tendency to repay, in kind, what another
person has given us
Persuasion
Social proof
tendency for people to do what they see
others doing
Authority
tendency to do what accepted authorities
want us to do.
obedience
Persuasion
Liking
tendency to do what people you like
want you to do.
Scarcity
tendency to see opportunities as more
valuable if their availability seems limited.
Prejudice
Prejudice
an unjustifiable (and usually negative)
attitude toward a group and its members
involves stereotyped beliefs, negative
feelings, and a predisposition to discriminatory
action
Stereotype
a generalized (often overgeneralized) belief
about a group of people
Effects of prejudice
Ingroup
“Us”- people with whom one shares a
common identity
Outgroup
“Them”- those perceived as different or apart
from one’s ingroup
Effects of prejudice
Ingroup Bias
tendency to favor one’s own group
Scapegoating (re:Scapegoat Theory)
theory that prejudice provides an outlet for
anger by providing someone to blame
Social inequality
Causes of prejudice
Just-World Phenomenon
tendency of people to believe the world is
just, i.e., people get what they deserve and
deserve what they get
reduces uncertainty
Categorization
simplifies perception but also leads to biases
Causes of prejudice
Vivid cases (the availability heuristic)
tendency to make judgements on the basis
of easily-remembered events
Selective memory
remembering only instances that fit our
current schema
hindsight bias
Aggression
Aggression
any physical or verbal behavior
intended to hurt or destroy
Causes of aggression
Genetic influences
Neural influences
Biochemical influences
Social influences
Aggression
Uncomfortably hot weather and aggression
Murders 8.0
and rapes
per day in
7.5
Houston, Texas
7.0
6.5
6.0
40-68
69-78
79-85
86-91 92-99
Temperature in degrees Fahrenheit
Aggression:
social influences
Frustration-Aggression Principle
principle that frustration – the blocking
of an attempt to achieve some goal –
creates anger, which can generate
aggression
Cultural influences
cultural norms influence aggression
Aggression:
social influences
Watching aggression
modelling
desensitization
Role-playing aggression
potential effects of video games
The catharsis hypothesis
not supported by the evidence
Conflict
Conflict
perceived incompatibility of actions, goals, or
ideas
Social Trap
a situation in which the conflicting parties, by
each rationally pursuing their self-interest,
become caught in mutually destructive
behavior
Resolving Conflict
Superordinate goals
cooperative contact
Communication
Problem orientation
win-win (i.e., non-zero-sum game)
Conciliation (also mediation & arbitration)
GRIT strategy -->
Resolving conflict
Graduated and Reciprocated
Initiatives in Tension-reduction (GRIT)
a strategy designed to decrease
international tensions
one side announces recognition of mutual
interests and initiates a small conciliatory act
opens door for reciprocation by other party
“Self”
Self-esteem – is it real?
domain specific?
response bias?
self-delusion?
Self-consistency (remember cognitive
dissonance!)
Self-efficacy
very important in motivation
general S-E or not?
Altruism
Altruism
unselfish regard for the welfare of others
Bystander intervention
Diffusion of responsibility
bystander effect
Effects of happiness on altruism
Altruism
The decision-making process for
bystander intervention
Notices
incident?
Yes
Interprets
incident as
emergency?
No
No
help
Yes
Assumes
responsibility?
No
No
help
No
No
help
Yes
Attempts
to help
Altruism
100
Percentage
attempting
to help
Bystander Effect
90
90
80
80
tendency for
any given
bystander to be
less likely to
give aid if other
bystanders are
present
70
70
60
60
50
50
40
40
30
30
20
20
10
10
0
0
11
2
2
33
Number of others
presumed available to help
44
Dr. Fred’s 4 magic keys to
Interpersonal attraction
#4 Propinquity (aka Proximity)
mere exposure effect- repeated exposure to
novel stimuli increases liking of them
“familiarity breeds contempt”?
#3 Physical Attractiveness
symmetry
youthfulness may be associated with health
and fertility
Dr. Fred’s 4 magic keys to
Interpersonal attraction
#2 Situation
pleasant environment
association with some reward
#1 Similarity
share common attitudes, beliefs, interests