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Lecture 6
Social Psychology
Outline
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Introduction
Intrapersonal processes
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Interpersonal processes
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Social cognition and attributions
Attraction and love
Intergroup processes
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Prejudice and discrimination
What is Social Psychology?
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The study of “how the thoughts,
feelings and behaviour of individuals are
influenced by the actual, imagined or
implied presence of others” (Allport,
1968, p. 3).
Levels of Analysis in Social Psychology
(adapted from Doise, 1976)
Intrapersonal
Interpersonal
Intragroup
(Positional)
Intergroup
(Ideological)
Social Cognition
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The processes involved in perceiving,
interpreting and acting on social
information
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Schema
Self-schema
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Interdependence and independence
Attributions
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Dispositional vs. situational
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External factors: People events, and other
stimuli in an individual’s environment can
affect her thoughts, feelings, attitudes and
behaviours
Internal factors: A person’s traits, needs
and intentions can affect her thoughts,
feelings, attitudes and behaviours
Attributions, continued
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The Fundamental Attribution Bias
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The tendency to overestimate the
significance of internal factors and
underestimate the significance of external
factors in explaining other people’s
behaviour.
Attributions, continued
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Self-serving Bias
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The tendency to attribute our
accomplishments and successes to internal
causes and our failures and mistakes to
external causes.
Interpersonal Attraction
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Why are we attracted to other people?
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Familiarity
Similarity
Physical appearance
Anxiety and reinforcement
The Triangular Theory of Love
(Sternberg, 1988)
Commitment
Passion
Intimacy
Prejudice and Discrimination
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What is a prejudiced attitude?
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Affect
Behaviour
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discrimination
Cognitions
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stereotypes
Theories of Prejudice
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Authoritarian Personality Theory
Realistic Conflict Theory
Social Identity Theory
Overcoming Prejudice
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Old-Fashioned and Modern
Racism/Sexism/etc.
Controlled vs. Automatic Processing
(Devine, 1989)