Download Social Perception

Social Psychology
Activity (5 minutes)
 Pretend that you have just found an
invisible ring. You cannot be seen,
heard, or detected any time you wear
it. List 5 things you would do while
invisible.
Why might the following happen?
 A student reads a pro-Castro
essay in your class
 Your report card shows all A’s for
the semester
 A child hits another child on the
playground 2 days in a row
 You speed on your way to work
Attributions
 Attribution: why something
happened
 Situational
cause: cause was outside
of the person
 Dispositional cause: cause was inside
the person; who they are
 Saliency: we judge based on what
is most obvious or noticeable
Attributional Biases
 Fundamental Attribution Error

Tendency to overestimate the extent to which people’s behavior is
due to their disposition and not the situation
 Correspondence Bias

Tendency to infer that people’s behavior matches their personality
 Just World Hypothesis

Bad things happen to bad people and good things happen to good
people
 Self-Serving Attributions

Crediting success with internal/dispositional factors but explaining
failures with external factors
Directions: (5 minutes!)
1. Read your comic
2. Decide which concept(s) it portrays and why
3. Enlighten someone near you with your
conclusions & try to find alternate answers
a.
b.
c.
d.
Fundamental Attribution Error
Correspondence Bias
Just World Hypothesis
Self-Serving Attribution
“There he goes again...Satan’s pet.”
I make no claims about all my success,
Bernard. I never went to school, I never worked
hard, and I’m not particularly bright...I’m just a
lucky skunk, Bernard.
I know you miss the Wainwrights, Bobby, but they
were weak and stupid people—and that’s why we
have wolves and other large predators.
“Well, no, I can’t tell Harriet!...First thing
she’s gonna ask me is what I was doin’
checkin’ out a decoy!”
Application

Think of a situation or event (historical,
political, personal, etc.) that illustrates a
case of attributional bias. How might
the situation have ended differently
without those attributions?
Pro-Social Behavior
 Helping
 Bystander effect: more people around
= less likely any one person will help
 Diffusion of responsibility: thinking
that because other people are there
that they will help
Pro-Social Behavior
 Decision points in helping behavior
 Noticing
& understanding situation
 Assuming responsibility
 Knowing how to help
Person
differences: good mood, sex of
recipient, attractiveness, appearance,
race/ethnicity
Model of Bystander Intervention
(Figure adapted from Darley &Latane, 1968, pp. 70-71)
Attitudes
 Attitude: learned response
Belief
/ Cognitive: ex. I believe that
vegetables are healthy
Emotional / Affective: ex. I feel
frustrated at not liking vegetables
Action / Behavioral: ex. I buy
vegetables but rarely eat them
Types of Attitudes
 Non-attitude: no previous thought or
experiences about object/topic
 Strong attitude: very positive or very
negative because of lots of experience
 Ambivalent attitude: some positive and
some positive thoughts/feelings/actions


Which type is easiest to change?
Which type best predicts behavior?
Types of Attitudes
 It is good to eat candy.
 The laws regarding coastal fishing are
not strict enough.
 The education that I receive from GCC
will be worth the money and effort that I
put into it.
Creating vs. Changing Attitudes
 Creating
 classical
conditioning, observational
learning, instruction, interaction, mere
exposure effect, strong message
 Changing
 Latitude
of acceptance: can move a little
 Cognitive Dissonance: unpleasant feeling if
our behaviors don’t match our attitudes –
can change behavior or can change attitude
 Attitudes  Experience
Activity (10 minutes)
 Find one partner and analyze the
persuasion attempt
 Source
 Message
 Target audience
Obedience
 Obedience: following command of
someone in authority
 Infamous Examples of Obedience



Milgram’s experiments (video Power Situation 8:03-11:45)
Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment (16:30-16:55)
Jonestown
Why do we obey?
 Socialization: taught to obey
 Foot-in-the-door: small acts lead to
larger acts of obedience
 Norms / Power of the situation
 Power – authority of the leader
 Distance between learner and teacher
 Assignment of Responsibility
Why do we obey?
Why do we conform?
 Conformity: going along with group
 Asch’s line studies
(video 7:04-8:02)
 Normative
social influence: approval
 Informational social influence: info
 Reference groups: want to be like them
Compliance
 Compliance: going along with a request
 Foot-in-the-door
technique: small then larger
 Door-in-the-face technique: large then smaller
 Norm of reciprocity: giving something = obligation
 Lowball technique: agreeing to low price then
increasing
 That’s-not-all technique: adding “extras” to make it
seem more valuable
Discussion
 Attitudes, Obedience, Compliance, &
Conformity

What are they? How are they difference?
Prejudiced Attitude
 Prejudice: Learned negative
attitude towards a group
 Stereotype: believing that all
members of a group are the same
 Cognitive
component of the attitude
 Discrimination: different
treatment based on one’s group
 Behavioral

component of the attitude
(Video Constructing Social Reality 5:50-9:40)
Why is there prejudice?
 Group dynamics
 In-groups vs. out-groups
 Out-group homogeneity: all the same
 Learned responses: imitation, norms
 Mental shortcuts: automatic
grouping based on similarities
 Biases:
not motivated to be accurate/fair
 We notice what we expect to see, then
seeing it reinforces our stereotypes
Why is there prejudice?
 Competition
 Economic resources – who gets them?
 Displaced aggression: take out anger
 Downward social comparison: feel
better compare to someone worse off
 Scapegoating: blame 1 person/group
 Stereotypes  Behavior
 Self-fulfilling
prophecy: we create
responses of others
Physical Pain
Females
Males
Pain = anterior insula/fronto-insular cortex (AI/FI) & anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)
Player Ratings
Fair
Players
Unfair
Players
Peak of Empathy Activation
Peak of Empathy Activation
Empathy for other Players
Painful Shock
Non-painful shock
Painful Shock
Non-painful shock
Reward Processing
Nucleus Accumbens
Desire for Revenge
Punishment is Rewarding
Examples
 Take away citizenship rights
 Label a group as cheaters
 Place small and then larger
restrictions on a group
 Convey a strong negative message
about a small group
 Youth programs with a message
Examples
 BA Columbia University 1928
 Published novels, plays, and an
autobiography to critical acclaim
 Received grants to study
anthropology worldwide
 Received fellowship to earn PhD
1935 Columbia University
 Worked as consultant to
Paramount Pictures
 Discussion
Impressions
 Quick
 Emotional
 Based on available information
 Hard to change
Interpersonal Attraction
 Proximity, similarity, physical
attractiveness
 Reciprocity of liking
Interpersonal Attraction
 Triangular Theory of Love