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Chapter 14
Social Psychology
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ISBN: 0-131-73180-7
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Social Psychology
Social psychology –
The branch of psychology that studies the
effects of social variables and cognitions on
individual behavior and social interactions
Social context –
The combination of
(a) People
(b) The activities and interactions among people
(c) The setting in which behavior occurs, and
(d) The expectations and social norms governing
behavior in that setting
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
How Does the
Social Situation
Affect our Behavior?
We usually adapt our
behavior to the demands of
the social situation, and in
ambiguous situations we
take our cues from the
behavior of others in that
setting
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How Does the
Social Situation
Affect our Behavior?
Situationism –
The view that environmental conditions
influence people’s behavior as much or
more than their personal dispositions do
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Social Standards of Behavior
Social role –
One of several socially defined patterns
of behavior that are expected of persons
in a given setting or group
Script –
Knowledge about the sequence
of events and actions that is
expected in a particular setting
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Social Standards of Behavior
Social norms –
A group’s expectations regarding what is
appropriate and acceptable for its
members’ attitudes and behavior
Social norms influence students’
political views
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Group Characteristics That Produce
Conformity
Solomon Asch identifies three factors that influence
whether a person will yield to pressure and
conform:
• The size of the majority
• The presence of a partner who dissented
from the majority
• The size of the discrepancy between the
correct answer and the majority position
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Groupthink – Irving Janis
In “groupthink,” members
of the group attempt to
conform their opinions to
what each believes to be
the consensus of the
group
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Conditions Likely to Promote
Groupthink
Conditions likely to promote groupthink
include what?
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Obedience to Authority
Stanley Milgram (student of Asch) was curious
about what led people to obey a person that
appeared to be an authority figure.
His controversial experiment demonstrated how
powerful the effects of obedience to authority
are – remember, 2/3 of the people delivered
the maximum 450 volts to the “learner.”
He said, situational factors, and not personality
variables, appeared to affect people’s levels of
obedience.
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Ten Steps Toward EvilGetting Good People to Harm Others
1.
2.
Provide people with an
ideology to justify beliefs for
actions
Make people take a small first
step toward a harmful act with
a minor, trivial action and then
gradually increase those small
actions
6.
Relabel the situation’s actors
and their actions to legitimize
the ideology
7.
Provide people with social
models of compliance
8.
Allow verbal dissent but only
if people continue to comply
behaviorally with orders.
3.
Make those in charge seem
like a “just authority”
4.
What is number 4?
9.
What is #9?
5.
Provide people with vague
and ever changing rules
10.
What is #10?
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
The Bystander Problem
Diffusion of
responsibility –
Dilution or
weakening of each
group member’s
obligation to act
when responsibility is
perceived to be
shared with all group
members
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Constructing Social Reality:
What Influences Our
Judgments of Others?
The judgments we make
about others depend not only
on their behavior but also on
our interpretation of their
actions within a social
context
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Constructing Social Reality:
What Influences Our
Judgments of Others?
Social reality –
An individual’s subjective
interpretation of other people
and of relationships with them
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Interpersonal Attraction
Reward theory of attraction (Elliot Aronson)–
A social learning view that says we like best
those who give us maximum rewards at
minimum cost
Proximity
Similarity
Self-Disclosure
Physical
Attractiveness
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Proximity
•What is proximity?
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Similarity
•Sharing of attitudes,
interests, values, and
experiences increases
likelihood that people will
develop a relationship.
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Self-Disclosure
•What is self-disclosure?
•This also leads to a sense
of intimacy and is a sign of
a relationship between a
couple.
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Physical Attractiveness
•Good looks are a social asset (be it fair or
not!)
•Attractive children are judged as happier
and more competent.
•Babies judge people by their appearances.
•Studies have shown that physical
attractiveness overwhelmed everything else
as the best predictor of how well a person
would be liked after a first meeting.
•Don’t despair – who is it that we actually
like the best?
•Extreme attractiveness can be a liability –
especially if you are gorgeous or handsome
and also shy!
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Exceptions to the Reward Theory of
Attraction
Matching hypothesis –
Prediction that most people will find
friends and mates that are about their
same level of attractiveness
Expectancy-value theory –
Theory that people decide whether or not
to pursue a relationship by weighing the
potential value of the relationship against
their expectations of success in
establishing the relationship
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Attitudes and Behaviors – do ours match?
Cognitive dissonance – (Carl Rogers)
A highly motivating state in which people have conflicting
attitudes and behaviors(e.g., Voluntarily signing up for an AP
course and then realizing it is a tough course).
Dissonance causes discomfort, so we either change our behavior
or attitudes. (Have to justify taking the course, so you
rationalize it and say, “This is going to make me a better
student in the end and I want to be the best so I will do my
work.” Or, you decide to give up and rationalize it by saying, “I
didn’t necessarily want this course, and it’s someone else’s
fault I got put here.”)
• Either way, we reduce the discomfort we are feeling
through a change of attitude or a change of behavior
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Making Cognitive Attributions
Fundamental attribution error –
Tendency to emphasize internal causes and
ignore external pressures
Klutz or Cabinet?
Self-serving bias –
Attributional pattern in which one takes credit
for success but denies responsibility for failure
(what serves me best?)
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Prejudice and Discrimination
Prejudice –
A negative attitude toward an
individual based solely on his or
her membership in a particular
group
Discrimination –
A negative action taken against an
individual as a result of his or her
group membership
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Prejudice and Discrimination
In-group –
The group with which an individual identifies
Out-group –
Those outside the group with which an
individual treats differently
Social distance –
The perceived difference or similarity between
oneself and another person – in-group is closer;
out-group is placed further away.
Ethnocentrism – The belief that one’s culture is
superior to others – they are so used to their
own culture that it becomes the norm on which
to judge other cultures.
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Causes of Prejudice
Dissimilarity and Social Distance
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Causes of Prejudice
Dissimilarity and Social Distance
Economic Competition
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Causes of Prejudice
Dissimilarity and Social Distance
Economic Competition
Scapegoating
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Causes of Prejudice
Dissimilarity and Social Distance
Economic Competition
Scapegoating
Conformity to Social Norms
a.k.a. The Just-World
Phenomenon
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Causes of Prejudice
Dissimilarity and Social Distance
Economic Competition
Scapegoating
Conformity to Social Norms
Media Stereotypes
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Combating Prejudice
Research suggests that the possible tools for combating
prejudice include:
New role models (e.g., sports figures, politicians)
Equal status contact – when people are placed together
under equal status, where neither wields power over
the other, then understanding increases.
Legislation – Can we legislate morality? Studies show
that it could be harmful to do so and to do so may
increase prejudicial attitudes.
“When the law requires people to act in a less
discriminatory fashion, people have to justify their
new behavior by softening their prejudiced attitudes
(lessens the dissonance.)”
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Other Topics in Social Psychology –
group dynamics
Social facilitation –
An increase in an individual’s
performance because of being in a group
Social loafing –
An decrease in performance because of
being in a group (happens when groups
are too large).
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Other Topics in Social Psychology –
Group Dynamics
Deindividuation –
Occurs when group members lose their
sense of personal identity and
responsibility and the group “assumes”
responsibility for their behavior (e.g.
riots).
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Other Topics in Social Psychology Compliance
•Compliance Strategies
When people use certain
strategies to get others
to comply with their
wishes.
•Norms of Reciprocity:
People tend to think that
when someone does
something nice for them,
that they ought to do
something nice in return.
Foot-In-The-Door: A compliance
strategy in which you get people to
agree to a small request and then
they will more likely to agree to a
follow-up request that is larger.
Door-In-The-Face: A compliance
strategy that states that after
people refuse a large request, they
will look more favorably on a
follow-up request that seems more
reasonable.
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Other Topics in Social Psychology:
Group Polarization
•A group’s shared
attitudes tend to grow
stronger with discussion.
In one study involving
high school students, a
discussion of racial
issues increased
prejudice in the highprejudice groups and
decreased it in the lowprejudice groups.
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Loving Relationships – How Do We Know
When Attraction Becomes Love?
Romantic love –
A temporary and highly emotional
condition based on infatuation and sexual
desire
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Robert Sternberg’s Triangular Theory
of Love
Romantic Love = High on
passion and intimacy, low
on commitment.
Friendship = intimacy but
no passion and
commitment.
Infatuation = High passion
but no intimacy or
commitment
Complete love = all three
Passion
(attraction)
Intimacy
Commitment
(sharing feelings) (putting the other person first)
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
What Are the Roots of
Violence and Terrorism?
The power of the situation can
help us understand violence
and terrorism, but the broader
understanding requires
multiple perspectives that go
beyond the boundaries of
traditional psychology
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Terrorism
• Terrorism –
The use of violent, unpredictable acts by a
small group against a larger group for political,
economic, or religious goals – every culture can
breed violent people who terrorize others (not
just limited to an outside threat from foreigners!)
• Taking multiple perspectives can provide
important insights on the problems of
aggression, violence, and terrorism.
• Herbert Kellman’s Approach (Israelis and
Palestinians).
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End of Chapter 14 –
and the end of the
book!!!! Woohooo!
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007