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Chapter 16
Social Behavior
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“ We cannot live for
ourselves alone.”
Herman Melville
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Social Psychology

Social psychology – studies how we
think about, influence and relate to each
other

Social cognition – mental processes one
uses to perceive and react to others
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Social thinking involves
thinking about others,
especially when they engage
in doing things that are
unexpected.
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I. Social Thinking:
A. The Person or the Situation?
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Attribution Theory

Suggests how we explain behavior – we
credit the situation or the person’s
disposition
* Applies to others and ourselves
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Internal vs. External
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Internal attributions
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External attributions
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behavior is due to personal dispositions, traits, abilities, and
feelings.
behavior is due to situational demands and environmental
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constraints.
Biases in attributions

Fundamental attribution error - our
tendency to blame internal attributes to
explain others’ behavior
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We underestimate the impact of the situation
and overestimate personal disposition
Ex:
Actor-observer bias - tendency to blame
others’ behavior to internal/dispositional
causes, but our own to external/situational
causes

Ex:
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Biases in attributions con’t
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Self-serving bias - tendency to attribute one’s
success to personal factors and one’s failure to
situational factors (we perceive ourselves
favorably)
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Differs from actor-observer bias because we are just
looking at ourselves
Defensive attribution - tendency to blame victims
for their misfortune, so that one feels less likely to
be victimized in a similar way

Ex:
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Attribution Processes con’t

Harold H. Kelley’s covariation model
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Factors to consider when making an attribution
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(1967, ‘73)
Consistency over time
Distinctiveness – is behavior unique to that situation
Consensus – do others act similar
High, low, low = internal attribution
High, high, high = external attribution
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Attribution Processes con’t
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Cultural influences

individualistic emphasis in Western cultures
promotes the fundamental attribution error
and the self-serving bias.
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B. Attitudes & Actions
1. Attitudes

Attitudes - our feelings, based on
our beliefs, that predispose our
actions to objects, people and
events
*Our tendency to respond to a particular object in a
certain way
 Attitude Components:
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Cognitive – a belief
Emotional – a judgment, like or dislike
Behavioral – a way of acting
* Ex:
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Attitudes con’t

a. Attitudes can affect actions when…
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Other influences are minimal
Attitude is specific to the behavior
We are keenly aware of our attitude
(not
wishy-washy)
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
b. Actions can affect attitudes when
people…
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1. comply to a small action which makes them more
likely to comply to a larger action later (foot-in-thedoor phenomenon)

Ex:
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Actions can affect attitudes con’t
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2. role play
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Adopting a role may influence attitude/behavior
Ex: soldiers, newlyweds
“Fake it until you make it.” AA slogan
Zimbardo’s Prison Study,
1972
Iraq’s Abu Ghraib Prison,
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Actions can affect attitudes con’t
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3. relieve cognitive dissonance (tension) by
changing their attitude
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Cognitive Dissonance theory (Festinger)
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inconsistent/conflicting attitudes cause tension, people
alter their attitudes to reduce cognitive dissonance
 * the change reduces the tension *see next slide
Ex:
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2. Factors Influencing Attitude
Change
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Roads to Persuasion
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Central vs. Peripheral route to persuasion
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Central – logical arguments/cues
Peripheral – superficial cues (e.g. speakers
appearance)
*central route attitude changes tend to last
longer
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Factors Influencing Attitude Change con’t
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“Consider the source”
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1. Source
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2. Message
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(credible, expert, trustworthy, likable, physically attractive)
3. Receiver
(two-sided, sticks to strong points only, repetitive and
fear arousing)
(persuasion is harder if receiver was forewarned, has
prior knowledge or a strong opinion on the topic)
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II. Social Influence:
A. Yielding to Others
We are natural mimics!
 Chameleon effect – unconsciously mimicking
others’ expressions, postures and voice tones
* May help with empathy
Take the test…
see if you're a
chameleon.
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1. Obedience
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Obedience –
Stanley Milgram
(1960s)
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Stanley Milgram
1933-1984
Controversial landmark
experiment
Teacher/learner &
shock machine
Remember the “If
Hitler Asked you to
Electrocute a Stranger”
article
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Milgram’s paradigm
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Milgram’s Study Results
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Only 1/3 of Milgram’s participants resisted social coercion.
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Yielding to Others: obedience con’t
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Obedience was highest when…
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the person giving orders was close and was
perceived to be a legitimate authority figure
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authority figure was supported by a prestigious
institution
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victim was depersonalized or at a distance
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there were no role model for defiance (other
participants were not seen disobeying)
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Moments in History
Some
individuals
resist
social
coercion
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Yielding to Others con’t
2. Conformity
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Conformity
(yielding to social pressure) – Adjusting one’s
behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard
Note: suggestibility is a subtle form of conformity
Asch’s original participants
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Yielding to Others: conformity con’t
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Solomon Asch (1950s)
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Classic (3 line) experiment
All confederates, 1 participant
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Yielding to Others: conformity con’t
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Conditions Strengthening Conformity
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One is made to feel incompetent
Group size – has at least 3 people
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Group is unanimous
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conformity increases as group size does… to a point (24 members)
if one dissents, subject is less likely to conform
One admires group’s status/attractiveness
No prior commitment to a response
Group members observe one’s behavior
One’s culture strongly encourages respect for social
standards
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Did you know…
when the accuracy of our judgments is important we
rarely conform on easy tasks (lineup exposure 5 sec.),
BUT conformity goes up if being right matters and the
task is difficult (1/2 sec. exposure).
Yikes! We are more apt to conform on difficult tasks!
*Modern day Asch study - Baron and colleagues
(1996) used eyewitness identification task to
measure informational social influence. Myers 8 ed.
th
P.732
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Yielding to Others: conformity con’t
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Reasons for Conformity
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Normative social influence 
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influence resulting from a person’s desire to gain
approval or avoid rejection
Informative social influence 
influence resulting from one’s willingness to accept
other’s opinion about reality
* stubborn people typically won’t listen
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“You Try”
Quasi –Research on Conformity
Next time you are with three or four
friends, stop and gaze upward as if
you are looking at something
interesting.
Watch to see if people passing by do
the same.
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II. Social Influence con’t
B. Group Influence
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How do groups affect our behavior?
1. Behavior in the Presence of Others
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Social facilitation – improved performance
in the presence of others
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Ex:
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Ex:
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Group Influence con’t
2. Behavior in Groups
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a. Group productivity & Social loafing
 productivity decreases as group size
increases
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2 factors:
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loss of efficiency from loss of coordination of
effort
social loafing - reduction in effort when working
in groups
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Ex:
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Group Influence
Behavior in Groups con’t
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b. Decision Making in
Groups
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1. Polarization
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discussion strengthens a
group’s dominant point of
view and produces a shift
toward a more extreme
decision in that direction
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Note: IF group is likeminded
Hint: view is pulled to one
side (aka -pole)
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Effects of group polarization
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Group Influence
Behavior in Groups
Decision Making in Groups con’t
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2. The bystander effect (Darley
and Latane -1968)
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people are less likely to provide
help when in groups, than when
alone (53% v. 75%)
“Diffusion of responsibility”
Note: the less ambiguous the
need for help, the more likely
someone is to give it
* the only known factor to
significantly impact bystander
effect
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Behavior in Groups con’t
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3. Groupthink
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members of a group agree at the expense
of critical thinking
Influencing factors
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Desire for harmony
Cohesiveness of the group
Group lacks an impartial leader
Stressors (ex: time crunch)
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Behavior in Groups con’t
4. Deindividuation
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loss of self-awareness
and self-restraint in
group situations that
foster arousal and
anonymity
Influencing factors
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arousal
anonymity
Mob behavior
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III. Social Relations:
A. Person Perception: Forming Impressions
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Effects of physical appearance
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“good looking” people – viewed as sociable, warm &
competent
“Baby-faced” people – are view as more honest
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Forming Impressions con’t
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Social schemas
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Frameworks used to categorize people into types
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You try – describe a “blue-collar worker”
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Forming Impressions con’t
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In-group – any group of which one sees oneself as a member
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Out-group - any group of which one does not see oneself as a
member
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In-group bias – tendency to give preferential treatment to ingroup members (We ALL do this.)
Mike Hewitt/ Getty Images
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Scotland’s famed “Tartan Army” fans.
Forming Impressions con’t

Stereotypes - social schemas leading people to
expect certain characteristic due to group
membership
What else might you call a stereotype?
Can you list four of the most common
stereotypes?
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Can you list four of the most
common stereotypes?
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Common types:
1.
 2.
 3.
 4.

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What’s the difference
between prejudice
and discrimination?
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Forming Impressions con’t
Prejudice IS “prejudgment”
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a prejudice is an unjustifiable (usually
negative) attitude toward a group and its
members.
•
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typically directed towards different cultural,
ethnic, or gender groups.
works at the conscious and [more at] the
unconscious level, tends to be more like a
knee-jerk response than a conscious decision.
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STOP & Reflect!!!
Do you selfhandicap or self
sabotage?
Click & see.
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Forming Impressions
Roots of Prejudice
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Components/Roots of Prejudice
•
(see slide)
Cognitive/Beliefs (stereotypes)
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•
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we simplify our world to categorize.
vivid cases feed stereotypes or prejudices
tendency of people to believe the world is just, and
people get what they deserve and deserve what they get
(the just world phenomenon)
the tendency to believe that we could have predicted the
outcome of an event beforehand (hindsight bias ) may
contribute to blaming the victim and forming a prejudice
against them
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Forming Impressions
Roots of Prejudice con’t
•
Emotional Roots
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Social Roots
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•
•
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provides an outlet for hostility, envy, fear [emotion]
by providing someone to blame
Social Inequalities
Social Divisions
Emotional Scapegoating
Predisposition to act (to discriminate)
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Forming Impressions
Roots of Prejudice con’t
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Additional Factors Influencing Prejudice
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Cognitive & Environmental
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Subjectivity in person perception
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Cognitive factors – it’s mentally economical
Memory biases lean toward confirmation (confirmation bias)
Transmission across generations (observational learning,
strengthened through operant conditioning)
people tend to see what they expect to see and to
overestimate how often they see it (illusory correlation).
Evolutionary perspectives

biases were adaptive in our ancestral past (separate friend
from foe)
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You can not stop an ignorant
person from being prejudice, but
you can prevent yourself from
self-sabotaging.
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Person Perception con’t
* Though prejudices (of all kinds) still exist,
Americans express much less prejudices than
we did forty years ago.
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Close Relationships:
Liking and Loving
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A. Factors in attraction
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1. Proximity: Geographic nearness – it breeds
friendship
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2. Physical Attractiveness: after proximity, the
next most important thing in attraction.
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Matching hypothesis
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Repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases their
attraction (mere exposure effect).
proposes males and females of equal attractiveness select
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each other as partners
Liking and Loving con’t
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3. Similarity
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(age,
race, religion, social class, etc.)
Byrne’s: suggests similarity causes attraction
Davis and Rusbult (2001): attraction fosters
similarity, with partners experiencing attitude
alignment
4. Reciprocity

liking those who show they like you
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Liking and Loving con’t

5. Mere Exposure Effect - repeated exposure to
novel stimuli increases liking of them
* Conceptions of attractiveness vary by culture
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Liking and Loving con’t
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B. Perspectives on Love
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Hatfield & Berscheid
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Passionate vs. Companionate love
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Passionate - an aroused state of intense positive absorption in
another, usually present in the beginning
Companionate Love: a deep, affectionate attachment we feel
for those with whom our lives are intertwined
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Liking and Loving con’t
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Sternberg Triangular theory
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Suggest love relationships mimic attachment
styles of infancy
Evolutionary perspectives
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*the later two are part of companionate love
Hazen & Shaver
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Passion, intimacy (warmth, closeness, and
sharing) and commitment (the intent to stay)
Mating priorities (look in text)
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Did you know…
fatuous love is based on
passion and is usually short
lived?
Consummate love has
high levels of Sternberg’s
three – passion,
commitment and intimacy.
It’s difficult to attain and
sustain.
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http://www.psywww.com
IV. Competition, Conflict & Cooperation
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A. Conflict
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incompatibility of actions, goals, or ideas btw.
individuals
Social trap
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a situation in which the conflicting parties, by each rationally
pursuing their self-interest, become caught in mutually
destructive behavior
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Social Trap Game
(a.k.a Prisoner’s Dilemma/Social Dilemma)
By pursuing our self-interest and not
trusting others,
we can end up losers.
Remember the 5 or 15
class activity?
If you chose 5 you were looking out
for yourself and the group, but if you
chose 15 you put your interests above
the group and everyone lost.
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Aggression

Aggression – any physical or verbal behavior
intended to hurt or destroy
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Biological influences
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Genetic Influences:
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Neural Influences: some centers in the brain are involved with
aggression
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Ex: the limbic system (amygdala) and the frontal lobe
Biochemical Influences:
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Ex: animals bred for aggressiveness for sport and research
Ex: twin studies show aggression may be genetic
Ex: in men, aggression is possibly linked to the Y chromosome
Ex: Prenatal exposure to testosterone increases aggression in
female hyenas
Ex: animals with lower amounts of testosterone (due to
castration) become docile, when injected with testosterone
aggression increases
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Aggression con’t
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Psychological influences on aggression
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Dealing with aversive events
Learning aggression is rewarding
Observing models of aggression
Acquiring social scripts
Frustration-Aggression Principle - principle
which states frustration (caused by the blocking
of an attempt to achieve a desired goal) creates
anger, which can generate aggression
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Aggression con’t
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Did you know…
people in conflict often form diabolic
images of one another?
It’s a “mirror-image perception”.
Example, George Bush and Saddam Hussein described
each other in the same way.
Saddam
Hussein is a
“wicked
Pharaoh”*
George
Bush is
“evil”*
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* Actual quotes
Competition, Conflict & Cooperation con’t

B. Cooperation: Helping Others

Altruism - an unselfish regard for the welfare of others

Pro-social behavior - positive, helpful behavior (opposite of antisocial
behavior)

Social Exchange theory states our social behavior is an exchange
process, the aim is to maximize benefits and minimize costs

Reciprocity Norm - the expectation that we should return help and
not harm those who have helped us

Social–Responsibility Norm - norm that states help others when
needed even if we may not be repaid
* typically a learned behavior
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THE END!
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Study “Beyond Recognition”
Note cards are due
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Mini -test
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25 minute free response
multiple choice
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