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Social Psychology
Chapter 17
Social Psychology- do others have
an influence on our feelings,
thoughts and behaviors?
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Area of psychology that attempts to
explain how the actual, imagined, or
implied presence of others influences that
thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of others
Why are first impressions so
important?
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You are a manager in a fast food
restaurant who is waiting for a prospective
employee to come in for an interview.
The scheduled time for the interview has
passed. The prospect has not called. He
is 10 minutes late.
What are you thinking?
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The applicant arrives after another 10 minutes
have passed. He explains that he has overslept
and had to change a flat tire before coming to
the interview. His hair is uncombed, and he
looks like he hasn’t shaved in a couple of days.
His T-shirt has stains on it, pants are greasy,
nails have dirt under them, and he is wearing
flip flops. Ten minutes into the interview, he
lights a cigarette.
Do you hire him?
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As a manager, do you have any evidence
of how this applicant will perform on the
job?
Again, why are first impressions so
important?
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We are all subject to the primary effect,
the tendency to attend to initial
information more than information that is
presented later
Simple acts have a real impact on first
impressions (a smile, a hand shake)
Once a first impression is formed, the
impression acts as a framework through
which later information is interpreted
How are opinions about behavior formed? 2
types of Attributions
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Definition: An attribution is an inference
about the cause of our own or someone
else’s behavior
Situational attributions: people
attribute the cause of a behavior to some
factor in the environment
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Example: the prospective employee had dirty
jeans on, was late, and dirty nails because he
was changing a tire
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Dispositional attributions: people
attribute the behavior to something
internal- some personal trait, motive, or
attitude
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Example: the prospective employee wore dirty
jeans, had dirty nails and was late because
that is the way this person is- lazy, not
responsible and sloppy.
Actor-Observer Effect
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People tend to attribute their own
behavior usually to situational factors
and the behavior of others usually to
internal or dispositional or internal
factors
“I can’t help what happened…it was
outside of my control.”
“What’s wrong with that person?
Why doesn’t he stop that behavior?”
Attraction
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What makes you like, or even fall in love
with one person and ignore or react
negatively to another?
Proximity and Attraction: a sure
way to “hook up”
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It is easier to develop relationships with people
who are close at hand
Proximity increases the likelihood that there will
be repeated contacts, and mere exposure tends
to increase attraction (the mere-exposure
effect)
Ex.: Internet relationships: may live thousands
of miles apart but experience electronic
proximity via WWW
Brother married his lab partner
Physical Attractiveness and
Attraction: do looks count?
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Major factor in choice of romantic partners
People attribute positive qualities to those
who are physically attractive (halo
effect)
Attractiveness is a generally universal
principle
Details of appearance (meanings of facial
expression) vary across cultures
Teacher bias, (preferential behavior)
shown towards children who are attractive
Other hypothesis concerning
attraction
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People are often attracted to individuals
who are similar to themselves
Others argue that they choose mates
whose characteristics complement their
own (opposites attract)
Evolutionary psychologists argue that men
and women are attracted to one another
on the basis of what each can contribute
to the creation and support to the family
Conformity, Obedience, and
Compliance: are you an individual?
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Conformity is changing or adopting a behavior or
attitude in order to be consistent with the social norms
of a group of the expectations of other people.
Ex.: we conform to other’s expectations to have their
approval, love, or acceptance
Social norms are the standards of behavior and the
attitudes that are expected of members of a particular
group.
Ex.: necessary to have a society- drive on one side of
the road and follow traffic signs
Solomon Asch
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Did a very well-known experiment on
conformity
Eight participants- only one nonconfederate participant, all others
deliberately chose wrong answer
In most cases, subjects conformed to the
incorrect, unanimous majority
Obedience: how atrocities can
happen and be rationalized
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Milgram conducted a classic study of obedience
(see intro to chapter)
Shocking participant even though in apparent
extreme pain
Ordinary citizens delivered potentially lifethreatening shocks until presence of another
person who refused to go along with this- gave
participants the courage to defy authority
Ex.: Nazi Germany concentration camp
Compliance: three ways to get your
own way or what you want
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Acting in accordance with the wishes,
suggestions, or direct requests of other
people
There are 3 techniques (strategies) used
to gain compliance:
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Foot-in-the-door technique
Door-in-the-face technique
Low-ball technique
Foot-in-the-Door Technique
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Strategy designed to gain a favorable
response to a small request at first, with
the intent of making the person more
likely to agree later to a larger request
Ex.: Carpet company that guarantees they
will, at no cost, clean one carpet and then
get you to agree to do the rest of the
house for pay
Door-in-the-Face Technique
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Strategy in which someone makes a large,
unreasonable request with the expectation
that the person will refuse but will be
more likely to respond favorably to a
smaller request later
Guilt often used by charitable
organizations- “please don’t hang up, even
a dollar will help…”
Low-ball Technique
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A very attractive initial offer is made to get
people to commit to an action, then the
terms are made less favorable
Often see this technique on infomercials
on TV- “but that’s not all!”- improve the
deal by slashing the price if you order in
ten minutes
Group Influence-how does being in
a group influence one’s behavior?
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When others are present, either as an
audience or as co-actors, a person’s
performance on easy tasks is usually
improved, but performance on difficult
tasks is usually impaired
Social Facilitation
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A term used by psychologists to refer to both
negative and positive effects of the presence of
others on our behavior
Positive effect: before going out, we usually
engage in some type of grooming- combing hair,
putting on makeup, choosing our clothing
carefully
Negative effect: may drink to excess at a party
because others are doing it
Social Loafing
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People’s tendency to put forth less effort
when they are working with others on a
common task than when working alone
Less likely to occur when individual output
is monitored or when people have a
personal stake in the outcome (one grade
shared)
Ex.: group projects, slacker participants
and those who carry the group
Group Polarization
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Following group discussions, group
decisions usually shift to a more extreme
position in whatever direction the
members were leaning toward initially
Groupthink happens when individuals
adopt a group’s opinion without any
objective consideration of the presence or
lack of supporting facts
Social Role Expectations: does our
role dictate how we act?
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Individual behavior can be guided by the
expectations associated with social roles
Ex: in childrearing, mothers and fathers
follow different behavioral guidelinesMoms tend to be the nurturing force, Dad
may be the disciplinarian
Policemen and prison guards are notorious
for their ‘tough guy’ behaviors
Attitudes and Attitude Change
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Attitudes have three components:
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Cognitive: thoughts and beliefs about an
attitudinal object
Emotional: feelings toward the object
Behavioral: how you will behaviorally act
towards the object
What are your attitudes towards
SNAKES?
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How many of you dislike snakes?
Cognitive: snakes can be dangerous
Emotional: they’re creepy and scare me
Behavioral: how would you react if I released a
snake and it slithered by you on the floor?
There is an obvious cognitive-emotionalbehavioral link attached to your attitude about
this object!
Cognitive Dissonance
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The conflict that is associated with
unpleasant feelings that happen when
people become aware of inconsistencies
in their attitudes and behavior
People use defense mechanisms
(rationalization) to terminate the
unpleasant feelings
Bad Habits and Cognitive
Dissonance
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How many of you smoke?
Do you know the dangers associated with smoking?
Do you know anyone who has cancer or who has died of
cancer associated with smoking?
If you know that smoking is associated with lung cancer
and heart disease, why will you not quit smoking?
The rationalization (excuses) are the cognitive
dissonance. “I only smoke when I am drinking. I have
cut back to one pack per day.”
Persuasion
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The deliberate attempt to influence
attitudes and/or behavior of another
person
This occurs at work, in social situations,
and in family life
4 elements of persuasion
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Source: who is doing the persuading
Audience: who is being persuaded
Message: what is being said
Medium: means by which the message is
transmitted
Can we be taught to be persuasive? YES!
You can better persuade your
audience if…
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You are credible- i.e., you have expertise
(knowledge), are trustworthy, possess
integrity
You are attractive- i.e., have celebrity
status, or are similar to your audience
You are likeable
Pro-social Behavior
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What motivates one person to help
another?
What is the by-stander effect, and why
does it occur?
Definition: pro-social behavior is behavior
that benefits others, such as helping,
cooperation, and sympathy
Pro-Social Behavior:
Altruism
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Behavior that is aimed at helping others,
requires some self-sacrifice, and is not
performed for personal gain
We help out of empathy- to put ourselves
in another’s shoes
Volunteering at a homeless shelter
Bystander Effect
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As the number of bystanders at an emergency
increases, the probability that the victim will
receive help from them decreases, and the help,
if given, is likely to be delayed
Kitty Genovese Case: 1964- attacked and
eventually murdered over 1 hour in front of 38
of her neighbors in Queens, NY- not a single
person called police or intervened
Aggression
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The intentional infliction of psychological
or physical harm on others
Can occur at home, work, or on the road
Biological factors: more men than
women display aggressive behavior
Hypothesis: there is a link between
testosterone and aggression
Aggression, continued
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Environmental factors:
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Frustration-aggression hypothesis: frustration
doesn’t always cause aggression, but likely to do so if
it’s intense and seems to be unjustified (arouses
negative emotions)
Scapegoating: targeting someone/population with
displaced aggression (minority groups)
Social learning theory: aggressive behavior
learned through modeling (influence of violent video
games, TV, song lyrics)
Prejudice and Discrimination
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What factors contribute to the
development of prejudice and
discrimination?
Prejudice: attitudes (usually negative)
toward others based on gender, religion,
race, or membership in a particular group
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Involves belief and emotions and can escalate
into hatred
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Discrimination: behavior- actions
(usually negative) towards others based
on their gender, religion, race, or
membership in a group
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Minority racial groups (racism)
Women (sexism)
Elderly (ageism)
Handicapped, homosexuals, religious groups
What are the roots of prejudice and
discrimination?
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Realistic conflict theory: as
competition increases, so does prejudice,
discrimination, hatred amongst
competitive groups
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American settlers and Native Americans (land)
Americans and the Irish and German
immigrants (economic scarcity)
In-Groups and Out-Groups
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In-group: social group with a strong
sense of togetherness, from which others
are excluded
Out-group: individuals specified by the
in-group as not belonging
Social-Cognitive theory
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People learn attitudes of prejudice and hatred
the same way that they learn other attitudes
Social cognition: the ways that people process
social information
Stereotypes: widely shared beliefs about the
characteristic traits, attitudes, behaviors of the
members of the various social groups- including
the assumption that they are all alike