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Social Psychology
Chapter 15
Psychology: An Introduction
Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto
© 2005 Prentice Hall
Social Psychology

The scientific study of the ways in which
the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of
one individual are influenced by the real,
imagined, or inferred behavior or
characteristics of other people
Psychology: An Introduction
Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto
© 2005 Prentice Hall
Social Cognition
Psychology: An Introduction
Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto
© 2005 Prentice Hall
Impression Formation

Schemata
Ready-made categories
 Allow us to make inferences about others
 Also plays a major role in how we interpret
and remember information


Primacy effect

Early information about someone weighs
more than later information in forming
impressions
Psychology: An Introduction
Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto
© 2005 Prentice Hall
Impression Formation

Self-fulfilling prophecy


A person’s expectations about another elicits
behavior from the other person that confirms
the expectations
Stereotypes
A set of characteristics believed to be shared
by all members of a social category
 Can become the basis for self-fulfilling
prophecies

Psychology: An Introduction
Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto
© 2005 Prentice Hall
Attribution
Theory that addresses the question of how
people make judgments about the causes
of behavior
 Three criteria used to judge behavior

Distinctiveness
 Consistency
 Consensus

Psychology: An Introduction
Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto
© 2005 Prentice Hall
Biases in Attribution

Fundamental attribution error


Defensive attribution


Tendency to attribute our successes to our own efforts
and our failures to external factors
Just-world hypothesis


Tendency to overemphasize personal causes for
others’ behavior and underemphasize personal
causes for our own behavior
Assumption bad things happen to bad people and
good things happen to good people
Attribution across cultures varies dramatically
Psychology: An Introduction
Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto
© 2005 Prentice Hall
Interpersonal Attraction

Attraction is closely linked to
Proximity
 Physical attractiveness
 Similarity

 In

attitudes, interests, values, and background
Exchange
 We

like people who appreciate us
Intimacy
 Self
disclosure
Psychology: An Introduction
Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto
© 2005 Prentice Hall
Attitudes

The Nature of Attitudes


Relatively stable beliefs, feelings, and
behaviors
Self-monitoring

High self-monitors look for cues about how
they are expected to behave
 Makes

using attitudes to predict behavior difficult
Low self-monitors express and act on their
attitudes consistently making prediction easier
Psychology: An Introduction
Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto
© 2005 Prentice Hall
Attitude Development

Many factors contribute to the
development of attitudes
Imitation
 Reward
 Teachers
 Peers
 Mass media

Psychology: An Introduction
Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto
© 2005 Prentice Hall
Prejudice and Discrimination

Prejudice


An intolerant, unfavorable, and rigid attitude
toward a group of people
Discrimination

An act or series of acts that denies
opportunities and social esteem to an entire
group of people or individual members of that
group
Psychology: An Introduction
Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto
© 2005 Prentice Hall
Sources of Prejudice

Frustration-aggression theory


Authoritarian personality

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People who are frustrated in their goals may turn their
anger away from the proper target toward another,
less powerful target
Personality pattern characterized by rigid
conventionality, exaggerated respect for authority, and
hostility toward those who defy social norms
Racism

Prejudice and discrimination directed at particular
racial group
Psychology: An Introduction
Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto
© 2005 Prentice Hall
Reducing Prejudice

Recategorization


Controlled processing


Try to expand our schema for a particular group
Train ourselves to be more mindful of people who
differ from us
Improving contact between groups


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Group members must have equal status
Need one-on-one contact with other group
Relations are improved when groups come together
to cooperate
Social norms should encourage contact
Psychology: An Introduction
Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto
© 2005 Prentice Hall
Attitude Change

Process of persuasion
Must pay attention to the message
 Must comprehend the message
 Comprehension leads to acceptance


Communication model
Source
 Message
 Medium
 Audience

Psychology: An Introduction
Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto
© 2005 Prentice Hall
Attitude Change

Cognitive Dissonance
Perceived inconsistency between two
cognitions
 Dissonance can be reduced through attitude
change
 An alternative is to increase the number
thoughts that support one or the other
dissonant cognitions

Psychology: An Introduction
Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto
© 2005 Prentice Hall
Social Influence
Psychology: An Introduction
Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto
© 2005 Prentice Hall
Cultural Influence
Culture greatly influences attitudes and
behaviors
 Cultural truism


Beliefs that most members of a society accept
as self-evidently true
Psychology: An Introduction
Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto
© 2005 Prentice Hall
Cultural Assimilators
Technique of asking why people behave a
certain way
 Encourages maintaining an open mind
about other cultures’ norms and values

Psychology: An Introduction
Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto
© 2005 Prentice Hall
Conformity
Voluntarily yielding to social norms, even
at the expense of one’s own preferences
 Conformity across cultures


Tends to be higher in collectivist cultures
Psychology: An Introduction
Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto
© 2005 Prentice Hall
Compliance


Change in behavior in response to an explicit
request from another person or group
Foot-in-the-door effect

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Lowball procedure

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Get them to say yes to a small request first
Get compliance then raise price of compliance
Door-in-the-face effect

Get them to decline large request then ask something
smaller
Psychology: An Introduction
Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto
© 2005 Prentice Hall
Obedience
Change in behavior in response to a
command from another person, typically
an authority figure
 Milgram’s studies on obedience show
willingness to follow commands

Psychology: An Introduction
Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto
© 2005 Prentice Hall
Social Action

Deindividuation


Loss of personal sense of responsibility in a group
Helping Behavior

Altruistic behavior
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Bystander effect
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Helping behavior that is not linked to personal gain
Helpfulness decreases as bystanders increase
Mood can affect willingness to help
Cultures differ in amount of help offered in response
to requests for minor help
Psychology: An Introduction
Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto
© 2005 Prentice Hall
Group Decision Making

Polarization in group decision making

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Shift toward more extreme position following group
discussion
The effectiveness of groups

Social loafing
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Groupthink
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Tendency to expend less effort when part of a large group
Pressure to conform to group
Leadership

Great person theory

Personal qualities qualify one to lead
Psychology: An Introduction
Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto
© 2005 Prentice Hall
Organizational Behavior

Productivity can be influenced by
psychological and social factors

Hawthorne effect
 Just
the attention of the experimenter changed
behavior

Communication and responsibility
Centralized communication is effective for
simple problems
 Complex problems require decentralized
structure

Psychology: An Introduction
Charles A. Morris & Albert A. Maisto
© 2005 Prentice Hall