Download Social Psychology - Solon City Schools

Social Psychology
Attitude
Attraction
Aggression
Group Behavior
Studying the way people think about,
influence and relate to others.
Attribution Theory
• Theory of how we
explain someone’s
behavior
It is either a….
• Situational Attribution
– External
• Dispositional Attribution
– Internal
And
• Stable Attribution
• Unstable Attribution
Fundamental Attribution Error
How do you view your
teacher’s behavior?
You probably
attribute it to their
personality rather
than their profession.
But do you really
know?
When you start a
romance, you assume
that they agree with
your world
views….honeymoon
period.
• We tend to
overestimate the role
of dispositional
factors.
Individualistic V.
Collectivistic Cultures
False Consensus Effect
Self-Serving Bias
If you win it is
because you are
awesome…if you
lose, it must have
been the coach or
weather or….
Attitudes
• Feelings, based on
beliefs, that guide
our behavior
• Advertising is ALL
based on attitude
formation.
• Central Route v.
Peripheral Route
Persuasion
Compliance Strategies
• Foot-in-the-door
phenomenon
• Door-in-the-face
phenomenon
• Norms of reciprocity
Role-Playing Affects Attitudes
–Role – set of behaviors
for a specific social
position
–Zimbardo - Stanford
Prison Study
–Abu Ghraib
Cognitive Dissonance
You have a belief
that cheating on
tests is bad.
But you cheat on
a test!!!
The teacher was
really bad so in
that class it is OK.
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
• Leon Festinger
• Discomfort we feel when
your thoughts are behaviors
are inconsistent
• People want to have
consistent attitudes and
behaviors….when they are
not they experience
dissonance (unpleasant
tension).
• Usually they will change
their attitude.
Conformity and Obedience
• Chameleon effect
• Mood
linkage
Conformity
• Adjusting one’s
behavior or thinking
to coincide with a
group standard.
Asch’s Study of Conformity
Asch’s Results
• About 1/3 of the
participants conformed.
• 70% conformed at least
once.
Conditions that Strengthen
Conformity:
•
•
•
•
•
The group is unanimous
One is insecure within the group or
made to feel incompetent
The group is at least three people.
One admires the group’s status
One had made no prior commitment
Reasons for Conforming
–Normative social influence
• Desire to gain approval/avoid
rejection
–Informational social influence
• Accepting other peoples opinions
about reality
Milgram’s Study
Of
Obedience
Results of the Milgram Study
What did we learn from Milgram?
• Ordinary people can
do shocking things.
• Ethical issues….
• Would not have
received approval
from today’s IRB
(Internal Review
Board).
Social Facilitation Theory
• If you are really good at
something (well learned
tasks)….or it is an easy
task…you will perform
BETTER in front of a
group.
• If it is a difficult task or
you are not very good at
it…you will perform
WORSE in front of a group
(aka - social impairment).
• Crowding effects
Social Loafing
• The tendency for
people in a group to
exert less effort
when pooling efforts
toward a common
goal than if they
were individually
accountable.
Deindividuation
• People get swept up
in a group and lose
sense of self.
• Feel anonymous and
aroused.
• Explains rioting
behaviors.
Group Polarization
• If a group is likeminded, discussion
strengthens its
prevailing opinion.
• Groups tend to
make more extreme
decisions than the
individual.
Groupthink
• Group members
suppress reservations
about the ideas
supported by the
group.
• More concerned with
group harmony.
• Worse in highly
cohesive groups.
Cultural Influence
• Culture – behaviors, attitudes,
ideas, values shared by a group
–Culture within animals
–Culture in humans
Variations Across Cultures
• Norm
–Personal space
–Pace of life
Variation Over Time
• Changes over the generations
The Power of Individuals
• Social control vs personal
control
• Minority
influence
Social Relations –
how we relate to one another:
prejudice, aggression, attraction,
altruism, peacemaking
Stereotypes, Prejudice and
Discrimination
Stereotype:
• Overgeneralized beliefs about
a group of people.
• 3 components: beliefs,
emotions and predisposition to
action
•
Example: obese people are gluttonous
Prejudice:
• An unjustifiable and usually
negative attitude toward a
group and its members
•
Example: “I dislike fat people”
Discrimination:
• An action based on a prejudice
(behavior).
•
Example: to not hire an obese person
Prejudice
How Prejudiced Are People?
Automatic Prejudice
Is it just race?
NO
• Palestinians and Jews
• Homosexual and
Heterosexual
• Men and Women
But women have some things going for them
like……
Which person would you want to have
a long term relationship with?
How does prejudice occur?
In-Group versus OutGroups.
Solon vs. Twinsburg
• In-Group Bias
Scapegoat Theory
Girls rule, boys drool
Cognitive Roots of Prejudice
• Categorization
–Out-group homogeneity
–Other-race effect
• Vivid cases
• Just-world
phenomenon
–Hindsight bias
Psychology of Aggression
Aggression – any physical
or verbal behavior
intended to hurt or
destroy
2 Types
1.Instrumental Aggression
2.Hostile Aggression
The Biology of Aggression
• Genetic Influences
• Neural Influences
• Biochemical
Influences
Aggression Theories
Aversive Events
–Frustration-aggression principle
• Fight or flight reaction
Social and cultural influences
–Reinforcement
• Aggression-replacement program
–Bandura’s Social Learning Theory
Aggression
Psychological and Social-Cultural Factors in Aggression
-Observing models of aggression
–Rape myth
-Acquiring social scripts
-Do video games teach, or release
violence?
–Catharsis hypothesis?
Attraction
5 Factors of Attraction
1. Proximity
• Geographic nearness
Mere exposure
effect:
• Increased attraction
to novel stimuli that
become more
familiar
• The more we are
exposed to
something, the more
we like it
2. Reciprocal Liking
• You are more likely
to like someone who
likes you.
• Why?
• Except in
elementary school!!!!
3. Similarity
• Paula Abdul was
wrong- opposites do
NOT attract.
• Birds of the same
feather do flock
together.
• Similarity breeds
content.
4. Reward theory of
Conditioning
• We continue
relationships that
offer more rewards
than costs
5. Physical Attractiveness
The Hotty Factor
• Physically
attractiveness
predicts dating
frequency (they
date more).
• They are perceived
as healthier,
happier, more honest
and successful than
less attractive
counterparts.
Beauty and Culture
Obesity is so revered among Mauritania's
white Moor Arab population that the
young girls are sometimes force-fed to
obtain a weight the government has
described as "life-threatening".
Are these cultures really that different?
Attraction
Romantic Love
• Love
–Passionate Love
• Two Factor Theory of Emotion
(Schachter/Singer)
–Companionate Love
• Equity
• Self-disclosure
Altruism
• Altruism
–Kitty Genovese
• Bystander
Intervention
–Diffusion of
responsibility
–Bystander
effect
Conflict and Peacemaking
• Contact
• Cooperation
–Superordinate goals
• Communication
• Conciliation
–GRIT
Romantic Love
• Passionate love – an aroused state of intense
positive absorption in another person, usually
at the beginning of a relationship
Prosocial Behavior
• Kitty Genovese case
in Kew Gardens NY.
Bystander Effect:
• Conditions in which people
are more or less likely to
help one another. In
general…the more people
around…the less chance of
help….because of…
• Diffusion of Responsibility
Pluralistic Ignorance
• People decide what to do by
looking to others.