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Overview of the Day
Social Psychology
attribution theory, attitudes, conformity and
obedience, group influence
Film: persuasion, leadership, and gender
What is Social Psychology?
The psychology of how we think about,
influence, and relate to one another
Social Thinking
Attribution: the process of inferring the
causes of one’s own and others’ mental
states and behavior
How we make attributions:
External (situation) or internal (person) cause
Fundamental Attribution error:
The tendency for observers, when analyzing
another’s behavior, to underestimate the
impact of the situation and to overestimate
the impact of personal disposition.*
Social Thinking
Self serving biases
When making attributions about ourselves,
we attribute our successes to ourselves, and
our failures to the situation.
People rate themselves as above average
Recall more positive than negative
information
Attribute greater role to self than others in
group projects
Talents more striking than deficiencies
Attitudes
Beliefs and feelings that predispose our
reactions to people, objects and events
Do attitudes affect behavior?
Yes, when:
outside influences are minimal (vote for tax
increase when do not have to worry about
reelection)
The behavior is specific* (I am in favor of
candidate X)
We are aware of our attitudes
Attitudes
Do behaviors influence attitudes? Often,
they do.
Foot-in-the-door (when people who agree to a
small request, they are more likely to agree to a
larger one)
Influence of roles (“pull” of situation)
Why do behaviors influence attitudes?
Cognitive dissonance* (need to rationalize our
actions to ourselves)
Social Influence
How do and what social factors influence
our behavior, attitudes, beliefs, and
decisions
Suggestibility
Sherif study--autokinetic effect
Group pressure
Asch experiment
Obedience to authority
Milgram experiments
Personal responsibility or morality?
Social Influence
Social facilitation
Presence of others
Social loafing
Presence of others reduces individual effort in
team effort
Deindividualization (mob violence, rock
concerts, sports)
• Arouses people and diminishes responsibility
• Abandon normal restraint
• Anonymity of group
Group Influence
Group polarization
• The enhancement of a group’s prevailing tendencies
through group discussion
Group think
• Pressure to avoid disagreement and maintain harmony
in group to reach premature consensus
• Often results in poor decisions
Minority influence
• A minority in a group that holds unswervingly to his or
her position is more likely to influence the majority than
if he or she waffles
Overview of the Day
Aggression (plus film)
Prejudice
Altruism
Attraction
Love
Course Surveys
Aggression
Aggression: verbal or physical behavior
intended to harm another person or being
Are humans aggressive?
In the 20th century, so far:
• 110 million war-related deaths
• In the US alone, 21,597 murders; 1.1 million assaults
Or are some humans more aggressive
Murder rate 25% less in Canada, 20% less in
New Zealand 17 % less in Europe
Murder rates (per capita) higher in southern US
than north
Causes of Aggression-Nature (biology)
Genes (some animals are bred for
aggressiveness; twin studies)
Testosterone levels
high testosterone levels ---> aggression
dominance (also spatial abilities)*
violent criminals tend to be muscular young males
with lower-than average IQ scores, low levels of
serotonin and higher-than-average levels of
testosterone
Causes of Aggression-Natures
The male mind
95% of all prison inmates are male
male-male competition for status and resources
to attract females
• females prefer high status, dominant males
escalation of altercations of trivial origin (about
37% of murders)
– loss of face (status, reputation)--->mating
opportunities
jealous rage against unfaithful wife (20-50% of
spousal murders)
Causes of Aggression-Natures
Overactive limbic system (in brain)
studies with animals (bulls, monkeys)
studies of convicted murders show most
suffered severe head injury
Causes of Aggression--Nature
(Learning and the Environment)
Frustration-->anger-->aggression
More assaults occur in hot weather than cold
Culture and learning
southern towns have triple the homicide
rates of northern towns (herder culture)
Father absence
70% of imprisoned juveniles grew up in single
parent households
Causes of Aggression-Nurture
Violence on TV
homicide rate doubled in US and Canada
between 1957 and 1974 (same years as
introduction and spread of TV)
Why is there so much violence of TV?
Why do people like to watch it?
Prejudice
An unjustifiable (and usually negative)
attitude toward a group and its members
Causes of Prejudice
In-group and Out-group categorization
self-definition by group membership
distinguish friends from enemies
Categorization--mental short-cut
Scapegoating
blame someone or group when things go
wrong
How to lower prejudice
Knowledge
any two randomly chosen humans, on
average, are 99.8% alike genetically
Interaction (interaction, usually, fosters
liking)
Evolutionary Perspective: Intermarriage
among groups*
genetic self-interest
people become outwardly similar over time
Altruism
Altruism: the regard for others’ welfare
Types of altruism
Reciprocal altruism (tit for tat)
Pure altruism (unconditional help)
Sources of altruistic
behavior
Social exchange
You scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours
Occurs even in vampire bats
Kin-based (Genetic relatedness) altruism ]
Altruism is in proportion to relatedness and
reproductive potential
Analysis of wills
Other types of Altruism
Helping others when its not in our self
interest
Helping strangers
Bystander intervention
Kitty Genovese murder (repeated stabbing, rape,
no helped; waited 20 minutes to even call police)
Notice --> interpret as emergency--> assume
responsibility
When are we most likely to assume
responsibility?
• When there are fewer people available to help
Attraction
What binds people together in close
relationships?
Proximity
Who are you most likely to marry ?
• A person who lives close to you
Availability--people who are close are available
• Do this bode well for long-distance relationships?
Exposure
• Exposure increases liking, familiarity breeds fondness
Attraction
Physical attractiveness
People prefer others who are physically attractive
What makes someone physically attractive?
• For both sexes:
– Facial symmetry (asymmetry can be a signal of
genetic abnormality and lack of resistance to
parasites)
– Unique cultural standards
Attraction
For women:
youthful appearance (clear skin, full lips, ) and a
.70 waist to hip ratio of about .70 (signal of
fertility)
average features (symmetry, carrier hypothesis)
For men
health, dominance, and affluence (signals
capacity to support and protect)
“Power is the world’s greatest aphrodisiac” Henry
Kissinger
Attraction
Similarity
Common attitudes, interests, abilities (IQ of
spouses correlates about .50)
Blind luck, randomness
Are the spouses of identical twins similar?
(No)
Love
Components of love:
physical arousal (adrenaline makes the heart
grow fonder--studies: running in place, walking
over bridge)
Equity in social exchange (both partners receive
in exchange in proportion to what they give)
Self disclosure/intimacy (revealing intimate details
about one’s self)
Commitment
Love
Types of love
Romantic love
Intimacy + passion
Companionate love
intimacy + commitment
“love makes the time pass, and time makes love
pass”
Summary of the Day
Aggression
Prejudice
Altruism
Attraction
Love