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Social psychology
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Concerned with how others influence
the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of
the individual
Social thinking
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When something unexpected occurs, we
analyze why people act as they do
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is she warm to all people she has just met, or
is she interested in me?
Explaining other’s and our
own behavior
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Attribution theory
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Heider (1958) people try to decide whether
someone’s behavior is the result of internal
or external causes
Internal Attributions
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Explanations based on someone’s stable
characteristics
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Attitudes, personality traits, abilities
They are smart
External Attributions
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Explanations based on the situation
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The environment, events of the day,
rewards or penalties for acting that way
They have a lot of people around them to
help them make smart decisions
Errors people make
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Fundamental Attribution Error
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Tendency to infer internal attributions for
other people’s behavior even when they
see evidence for external influences
Actor-observer effect
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We are more likely to assume internal
attributions for other’s behavior than our
own.

Actor = explain your own behavior.
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I fell off my bike because the sidewalk was bumpy
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external attribution
observer = explain someone else’s behavior

they fell off their bike because they are clumsy
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internal attribution
Self-serving bias
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We say our positive behaviors reflect
internal attributes
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Good test score = I’m smart
But our negative behaviors reflect
external attributes

Bad test score = Bad test
Handicapping strategies
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Intentionally putting yourself at a
disadvantage to provide an excuse for
an expected failure

partying until 3 am on the night before an
exam you expect to do poorly on.
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provides an external attribute for something
the person feels he or she is poor at (internal
attribute).

I was really hung over, how could I do well?
Stanford Prison experiment
Zimbardo (1972)

College students volunteered to spend time in a
simulated prison
 randomly assigned
 Guards - uniforms, billy clubs, whistles, and
instructed to enforce certain rules
 prisoners - locked in a barren cell, forced to
wear humiliating outfits
 First day or two the people self-consciously played
their roles

then it got real - too real
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guards had mean attitudes - and devised
cruel and degrading routines
prisoners - broke down, rebelled, or
became passively resigned.
Study called off after only 6 days
What we do we gradually become
Conformity
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Asch
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Yielding
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Originally 37% conformity
75% conformed at least once
Small percentage believed the majority was correct
Most did not have confidence in their own judgements
Some did not want the confederates to think there was
something wrong with them
Independent
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Knew majority was wrong and had confidence in their own
judgements
Strong need to remain independent – nonconformists
Wanted to perform well on the task
Obedience to Authority

Would an ordinary person placed in an
extraordinary situation obey an
authority and inflict pain on an
innocent victim.
Milgram’s study
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Participate with another person

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Experiment is about the effects of punishment on
learning
One person will be the teacher
The other will be the learner
The drawing was rigged
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Confederate
The subject was always the teacher
Deliver increasingly stronger shocks for incorrect
answers

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Please continue
The experiment requires that you continue
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65% of subjects went all the way to the
end of the shock meter
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Danger: Severe Shock --- XXX